[rayiner]

The drug war is a symptom of something more basic: Americans lack compassion. Consider something in the non-drug context: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/02/georgia-probatio.... You can bring up private prisons and probation companies, but the fact is that these laws have been on the books all along. They were passed by part-time state legislators, who are pretty representative of ordinary people in the state.

[MrZongle2]

"The drug war is a symptom of something more basic: Americans lack compassion."

Really?

http://www.nptrust.org/philanthropic-resources/charitable-gi...

[wwweston]

It's probably worth noting that not all charitable giving is compassionate giving. From your link:

>In 2013, the majority of charitable dollars went to religion (31%), education (16%), human services (12%), and grantmaking foundations (11%).2

That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with those donations, it just means they might be to keep the lights on at religious, academic, or arts institutions.

It also doesn't mean that Americans aren't at all compassionate givers... I think we are. It's just that we're also all too often anxious to draw lines about deserving or undeserving, though (criminals, of course, being deserving of punishment rather than charity).

[njharman]

I would argue that most people contribute out of guilt rather than compassion.

[MrZongle2]

[Citation needed]

[njharman]

Not for opinion which "I would argue" flags this as such.

[harryh]

This brings to mind the most famous quote from America's Greatest Poet:

"Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes."

[MrZongle2]

America and Americans (myself included) are full of inconsistencies and contradictions, but then I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a country that couldn't be described similarly to some degree.

My point is that I take issue with Americans being painted with a big, wide brush of "compassionless" when there is plenty of evidence to the contrary.

Is there perhaps less compassion or concern (in general) directed towards criminals or individuals who are perceived to have engaged in criminal activities, here in the United States? Probably. But implying that such mindset reveals a lack of compassion in toto is ignorant.

[gknoy]

In the context of the justice system, I think we tend to lack compassion. Most of the Americans I know (family, etc) seem more intent on __retribution__ and punishing Bad People, rather than compassion. Once someone is a Bad Person (criminal, poor, or even just someone they don't like), compassion seems to go out the window.

[dragonwriter]

> Once someone is a Bad Person (criminal, poor, or even just someone they don't like), compassion seems to go out the window.

More importantly, being a member of some group that is unliked, often because of the actions of some individual(s) that aren't really general to the group, is enough to make someone a Bad Person in many people's eyes.

Even being supported by a person who is viewed as a Bad Person (potentially for the same reason described in the preceding paragraph) is enough to make a person a Bad Person.

[LLWM]

And if you are not a Bad Person, there is plenty of compassion. Sounds like a more efficient system than blindly distributing compassion to everyone regardless of merit.