Ask500

Do we know that? Everyone medicated with anti-psychotics tries to quit them? *Everyone*? I could see perhaps many, or even a very large percentage do... but every single person seems dubious to me. I don't know, you may be correct... I do know, however, that no two people experience exactly the same effect from taking psychotropic medications. Different people, different brain chemistry.

I also know that people taking psychotropic meds may stop taking them for any number of reasons, or no reason at all.

It's an interesting question, and a difficult one, even with four possible answers. It seems to me that a question of "did he or did he not know what he was doing, both when he didn't take the medication and when he committed the crime?" would be very difficult to prosecute in a criminal proceeding. The Prosecutor has to get all twelve jurors to be certain "yes"-es to both questions, but the defense only has to get *one* of them to *doubt* it.

No way to answer the question, because comedy is not absolute. Sophisticated, unsophisticated, highbrow, lowbrow, elegant wit, bathroom humor, slapstick, whatever - it doesn't matter. Any joke may or may not be funnier to a given person than another joke, regardless of what type of humor each joke is. It depends on all kinds of different things - how the joke is constructed, how well it is performed and by whom, timing, etc, etc.

Yes, exactly. Neither of the answer choices to the question is correct.

Sorry to be nitpicky, but I think the question as it is worded presents a false dilemma. It is difficult to condemn someone for doing something atrocious if the atrocity was absolutely, truly and without question the only way to save the lives of the person's family.

The problem is, how would such a scenario ever happen in the *real world*? The question seems to imply the hypothetical "ticking time bomb" scenario that torture apologists love to cite. Examples of the scenario happening, though, are limited to movies and TV shows like "24."

Not only is torture reprehensible and wrong, but it also doesn't work. The torture victim will say whatever he thinks will get his captors to stop torturing him.

They both dream they were In-n-Out Burger, and then they wake up and apologize.

By all means, stay in college as long as possible. It beats the real world by a mile.

These days, no one can handle the truth.

Sing it, brutha. There are a lot of Americans who simply refuse to admit that there are some things other countries do better than we do. Things we would be wise to emulate.

Also, you've hit upon perhaps *the* major problem of today's American culture: profit is the only justification you need for ANYTHING. If something is profitable, it is therefore respectable - at *least* respectable, and probably praiseworthy. The opposite also applies: something that is unprofitable is therefore a loser, a failure. Public policy that is insufficietly profit-driven is called "socialist," or yes, "European." I know... as though affordable universal health care, low crime rates and 8 weeks of vacation per year are some kind of dystopian hell.

To answer your question: isn't the very notion of profiting off of our fellow citizens' suffering enough to turn our stomachs? In my case, the answer is yes, it absolutely does. Unfortunately a lot of Americans don't feel the same way. Like I've said, there are plenty of people who would push little kids in front of trains if there was enough profit to be made from doing so. How much would be enough? Enough to buy legal cover for throwing kids under trains and still have profit left over. Think I'm exaggerating? Investment bankers and derivatives traders saw enough short-term profit to justify making so many crazy bets with their customers' money that they crashed the global economy.

But why listen to me - I'm a heretic to the church of profit.

Aargh. The question assumes that you *have* one whom you love above all others. I don't care to regard my loved ones hierarchically.

Sadly, I still think it's a major longshot that any high-level members of the Bush junta will be held to account in a meaningful way for what they did.