Interesting reading about the "authoritarian personality" in this article. Lots of the opposition to harm reduction policies does seem to be fueled by a desire for "bad people" to suffer.
this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2023
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See also: Conservative policies on the homeless, the living poor, and really anyone who isn't a white upper class Christian.
"Bad people", and those outside their "in" group
Pretty much. That's the old quote, right? It's Good vs. Evil. The Good Guys vs. the Bad Guys. The purpose of society's laws should be to punish and restrain the Bad Guys, and protect the Good Guys.
Although apparently not that old, it's only from 2018.
Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition …There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect. Frank Wilhoit
Well, the idea put to practice is much older.
You have a group of people whose core beliefs, morals and values are deeply rooted in an interpretation of an Abrahamic religion that basically tells it's followers that suffering will absolve them of their sins and allow them into heaven in the afterlife.
So what do you expect?
Plenty of people who are in no way religious still have issues with the way these are being implemented, at least in part due to the highly visible increase in street drug users who are often associated with other crimes.
It's not so much "sin" so much as why should so much be invested in people who seemingly provide little to society and have a few low chance of changing their ways, many of whom for which we may just be postponing the inevitable.
And yes, there is a cost to compassion, both in terms of dollars but also in terms of human resources etc.
People may be more willing to give those resources for a lowball chance at redemption in good times, but for many of us "good times" seem target away. It does become less paletable to many when they start to struggle themselves, have issues getting timely access to medical care or medication for their loved ones, and then see paramedics giving narcanol to the dude multiple times a week a block down from an injection site... to the same dude who just recently broke into their shed and left human waste on their sidewalk. Compassion is becoming a harder cost to bear for some who increasingly have less to give
The conservative agenda is to keep people poor and less educated so that they can't understand that is happening and can't fight back because they're too busy working trying to earn enough money to survive.
Then add on top of it what I said before plus setting the system up so that people rely on charity to make the rich people feel good about making donations to "help the poor" because that's the Christian thing to do.
Instead of implementing a proper social safety net and measures that would prevent people from becoming poor in the first place, like building social housing that would accommodate anyone who can't pay a regular rent, universal basic income, legalizing all drugs to prevent people from going to jail and getting stuck in the loop of being poor from being in jail instead of getting proper care, etc.