Law in Contemporary Society

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WinningTheLottery 19 - 10 Feb 2009 - Main.UchechiAmadi
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Today, in the midst of the broader discussion of the Arnold reading, Professor Moglen talked about “winning the lottery”. I’ve thought about this frequently – that the place where I am today, and indeed most of the places I’ve gone in my life, were predetermined by the time and place where I was born. Obviously there have been choices made along the way, but I’m not interested in addressing how frequently these choices were actually conscious decisions or to what extent a conscious decision can even be reached. Rather, I’d like to address the issues that arise for me when I presume that my privileged position in life is largely due to random chance.
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 The reason that there is this magically attachment to the laissez faire way of life is not because of a psychological attachment. Arnold would probably rather argue that people like the Joe the Plumber have never had that choice to be able to live a non laissez faire way of life. He really never had a choice at all, being born in Ohio.

-- XinpingZhu - 09 Feb 2009

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The discussion in regards to the "American Businessman" and the ideas that cause an Average Joe to become attached to the laissez faire way of life is an interesting one. I would, however, suggest that Arnold would indeed support the idea that there is a psychological attachment of some kind. He makes an argument that the creed that has been reinforced throughout history and celebrated in our institutions of learning suggests that an individual, free from the control of others, stands atop of a mythological hierarchy and shuns governmental interference. The Joe the Plumber example, a case of a man who seems not to acknowledge the very fortune he has been bestowed by virtue of his "lottery" (which I would suggest is not only his status as an American citizen but also his sex, race and other immutable characteristics) seems as though it highlights the deeply rooted psychological fear of Palmer's Devil (p.37).

-- UchechiAmadi - 10 Feb 2009

 
 
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Revision 19r19 - 10 Feb 2009 - 17:01:19 - UchechiAmadi
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