Since I've heard this type of comment hundreds of times I'm willing to bet you've also heard this type of remark many times as well. What immediately strikes me about this type of "reasoning" is the inconsistency that would be exposed if any type of follow up questioning would occur. Should we not provide inmates the level of care we currently provide them?
We seem to be under some impression that inmates live in a Disneyland atmosphere because they have a community television (with cable even), cigarettes, weights, three meals a day, and medical attention. Everything they get is given to them by us, the citizens that have removed them from society. They don't have a union that fights for their rights. The rules the inmates go by are the laws we have drafted. We have decided how much yard time, conjugal visits, television, weightlifting time they receive. We haven't made the rules with being nice to them in mind. Quite simply, we've made the rules to provide for their basic needs as a human and not much more. Should they only eat twice a day? Should they never leave their cell ever? Should they not receive access to a dentist or a doctor? Should they not be allowed to make telephone calls to family?
It would seem the punishment for someone who has violated the law to the severity they need to be removed from society is just that, being removed from society. The punishment isn't how we fail to provide for them too while they are incarcerated, is it? We don't have legal precedent that judges base sentencing guidelines on how rough the living conditions are in prison, do we?
"Based on the fact you were driving while intoxicated, killed a family of four, and weren't wearing your seat belt, the court sentences you to twelve years in prison and you shall only eat once a day and no toothaches shall ever be treated. The court could have issued leniency and fed you twice a day if it had only been a family of two."
The punishment is being extracted from the world and placed in a confined area where your basic needs are met and you can't affect the rest of us. If these guys (and gals for that matter) were throwing potlucks, visiting manicurists, taking vacations, and wearing expensive clothing all on the dime of the taxpayer then I would be concerned. However, if my taxpayer money is simply providing for a very minimal standard of living for these inmates then I truly don't have an objection.
Now I've invested a lot of time discussing inmates and their care but I only set it up this way to examine how we are inconsistent in our approach to life. I'm not truly that concerned about the topic of prison care but it seems such a perfect example to examine. We live in a society of rules and when someone exhibits behavior that demonstrates they can't follow the rules then we remove them. We accept the fact that we are all going to chip in and pay for the expenses these people accrue and the rest of us are going to go about our merry way without the havoc these people wreak out in the free world. To use my absolute favorite cliche, it is was it is.
So when someone complains (or jokes) about how "good" inmates have it then there are two possibilities. One, they truly have a barbaric take on how we should treat our incarcerated and don't feel we should provide for them beyond air, bread, and water. Or two, they harbor inconsistent views and haven't even invested a couple of minutes to proofread their own thoughts.
I contend most people aren't truly that bothered by the humane treatment of the incarcerated. Moreover, it is based on some form of resentment for the things they don't have or things they do have and pay too much for the services. The phenomenon on the public mediums of demanding welfare recipients receive drug testing seems along the same lines to me. It really isn't focused on the bigger picture at all, it's centered on the individual's concern. You have all of your medical needs attended to and I don't so I resent that. I have to get a drug test before I get a job and you don't so I resent that. Never mind the fact you are in jail or you don't have a job and an income, I'm focused on me.
This isn't to say that we can't have different opinions on any specific issue, but we have to be able to have common ground when we discuss any issue. When we talk about politics and the policies and laws we will enact because of our politics then it is imperative we have some starting point to begin. If you begin with only the concern of how laws impact you specifically and only walk your thought process through one layer then we aren't going to find common ground. When I vote on the issue of gay marriage it has nothing to do with me. It has to do with how I see the guidelines and laws for all involved. If you vote on gay marriage because you have some belief about how the world should be according to you and your sect then we have no common ground.
If you're an M. Night fan you might have thought the twist was when I shifted from talking about the care of the incarcerated to finding common ground in our approach to politics and society. However, I'm more of a Tarantino type of guy and for all we know the ending might be the second paragraph and the stuff I'm about to write is just the prologue. Either way me must find common ground and push forward. It appears we both like Bruce Willis in our movies and that's good enough for me. Hey, can you hide this watch for me?
Continuing on, this is truly about happiness and our pursuit of it. We are our own worst enemies. We create impossible scenarios that can't come to fruition and then let that outcome burden our happiness. We become unhappy about some issue and then project it onto another. We eagerly use wrong recipes repeatedly and encourage others to do so as well. We never take the time to not only seek, but simply just understand our own happiness.
The idea of some form of "enlightenment" has been around for thousands of years. People have spoken and written of self actualization and nirvana and bodhi and called it hundreds of names. It seems so magical and mystical to the outside observer that they usually don't take the time to understand it. Ironically, it's only guilty of simplicity and nothing more. All of these ideas find their common ground in the beginning where one most start breaking away from the "untruths" of reality and only focus on the "truths".
We live in a time of many "untruths". We have a weaved a web so tangled in "untruths" we could catch an elephant in it. If you truly believe there is a problem with inmate care, gay people getting married, that certain words are actually evil, that science and faith are on equal footing, that fighting and imposing will trumps agreeing and compromise, then the "truth" of reality can't be seen through the solid thick webbing of lies. Happiness, at any long term sustainable level, becomes impossible under these conditions.
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