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Boardwalk :: Forum List pennfans.net Bullshit! Showtime Series
mindme
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Handicapped - 2007/05/05 21:42 I had a hard time with this show. Penn is a courts/defense/police guy and any laws mandating ramps for the handicapped he has to argue against. And there is certainly abuse of the disability act. They made a good argument about comparing handicapped rights and black rights. There were no laws against handicapped, but there were laws against blacks (and women) from voting, having property rights etc. Good point.

The unintended consequence of the law and the zealousness of people to sue can have a chilling effect on hiring the handicapped. Good point.

But it seems to me there are building codes. X number of people in a building, you need x number of bathrooms. X number of tables in your restaurant you need x parking spaces. You need fire escapes in certain places. You need doors that open in a certain way. We have building codes for health and safety reasons. Handicapped parking and ramps seem justified under reasons of health and safety.

And then I think the three fingered guy committed the False Continuum logical fallacy, if not by intent but the viewer might come away with that.

His quote:

"The ADA is not a civil rights issue. We are all different. You've got capabilities I don't have and I've got capabilities you don't have."

The False Continuum fallacy is when we claim we can't set up an objective demarcation line therefore we deny a problem exists. For example, some people have poor attention spans. Some people have ADHD. Where does one set the line? Since it's problematic, one is then tempted to argue the extreme on the continuum doesn't exist or it isn't a real problem.

(I'll probably repost this to the P&T web board, so don't be surprised if you see it there.)
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Tuesday
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Karma: 3  
Re:Handicapped - 2007/05/06 02:20 We have a lot of laws on the books ostensibly for health and safety reasons--sex, drugs, guns, noise ordinances, etc. The posiion the BS boys take isn't that these things aren't superficially beneficial, it's that they don't need to be be forced upon citizenry by men with guns and prisons with the implicit assumption individuals are not able to manage or decide these things on their own.

Additionally, a law that favors one group over another the way the ADA does over business owners is the very definition of discriminatory legislation. The BS guys are wrong, it is a civil rights issue, but not in the direction the usual suspects claim.
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Chalmers
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Karma: 61  
Re:Handicapped - 2007/05/06 12:40 This episode was very interesting. I definitely am on the side of the parking spot "enforcer", however. If the spots are there, then they need to be used by people with handicapped tags. Sure, there are people using/abusing the system, but that doesn't mean someone without one should be parking there.
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mindme
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Karma: 44  
Re:Handicapped - 2007/05/07 03:38 Oi. Let me suggest anyone who doubts the validity of building codes... come to Asia where there appears to be none. Or if they are, you wish they'd start to enforce them at the point of a gun.

For example, buildings don't have adequate plumbing. This means people don't throw their toilet paper in the toilet after use. It clogs up the narrow little pipes. So people toss their used butt wipe into an open garbage can next to the toilet. Imagine that smell in summer. Fuk.

A building that's not easy for a handicapped person to get in, isn't easy for them to get out of in a fire. People die, and not just the crip.
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Boardwalk :: Forum List pennfans.net Bullshit! Showtime Series

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