That's seems to be the basic argument before the Supreme Court today. The case is Safford United School District v. Redding, which involves school officials strip-searching an honor student in search of prescription ibuprofen. I was listening to a story about it on NPR today, when i heard the school's lawyer making this argument:
"We just have to ask ourselves, as a policy matter, do you really want a drug-free environment? And if you do, then there are going to be some privacy invasions…"
Whatever the merits of the case, this kind of rhetoric has no stopping point. I couldn't help hearing the echoes of justifications for torture and police brutality.
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I couldn't help but hear echoes of Roe v. Wade. Or was it the Scopes Trial?
I forget now.
This is similar to something going on here in southern Ohio. Girls stripped searched when two students reported a gift card, credit card, and some cahs missing. Credit card later found in the car of one of the students who reported the theft. Here's a link to the original story:
http://www.redorbit.com/news/education/372180/state_to_investigate_stripsearch_at_vocational_school_staff_followed_rules/
Can students conduct cavity searches and strip searches on teachers in order to protect students?
What does it mean when a person falsely portrays an argument in a direct and blatant maneuver to discredit the source?
I know what it means. It means the topic was intimidating and a lower one has more fruit for the fools to eat. That is why it is a tactic used by the intellectually dishonest at every level.
Misstatement + misquote + rhetoric = intellectual dishonesty
regards,
Noah