all because of a name

Oct 24 2004
Hypothetically Speaking ...
Copyright ©2004 Krista Mifflin

Imagine a conversation between an American businessman, and an Ontario border guard. Just change the name, and see what happens.

"Good afternoon sir, welcome to Ontario. Please state your name and duration of your stay."

"Robert Smith, I'll be here for a week on business."

"I'm sorry sir, you won't be allowed over the border."

"Excuse me?"

"That's correct Mr. Smith. There's currently a ban on all Roberts in Ontario."

"What?!"

"I'm sorry Mr. Smith. The government has decided that all men named Robert are hazardous, and in fact, nothing more than criminals who just haven't been caught yet, and so have issued a legislation prohibitting all Roberts from entering the province, and all existing Roberts have been placed under house arrest."

"That's ridiculous! Who thought up such a stupid law?"

"Our government officials, after they saw that thirty percent of all violent criminals in our prisons have 'Robert' in their name somewhere."

A moment of stunned silence ... "What about children?"

"Well sir, as soon as they turn six years old, they are pulled from the school system, and placed under house arrest. There will be no new children born with the name Robert, unless parents are willing to pay a fine of ten thousand dollars."

"Even if it's a middle or last name?"

"Mr. Smith, all families with the last name Robert or any variation thereof, have been removed to Manitoba. A middle or last name of Robert, sir, is still a Robert."

________________________

Breed banning affects us all.

The term "pit bull" is an umbrella that encompasses at least five different dog breeds: American bulldog, Staffordshire Terrier, American Staffordshire, Bull Terrier, and American Pit Bull Terriers (although, this is not even a "breed" according to the CKC).

Imagine you are looking at banning Retrievers, ALL Retrievers: Golden Retrievers, Labrador Retrievers, Nova Scotia Duck Tolling, Flat-Coated, Curly-Coated, etc. Do you see how quickly bite statistics can be twisted? If we look at it like that, is it any wonder that suddenly Retriever bite incidents far outnumber the incidents of any other single breed?

http://dogs.about.com/od/dogbreeds/a/name_banning.htm

thats very well put and thought provoking, but the ignoarant few wont get it, they never do!!

How true candie!!