The infamous Sydney pirate, Peter Fitzsimons, jumps the shark today with this classic long bow to draw:
Not testing illegal drugs at music festivals is like the Vietnam War.
It’s not a parody. He starts by quoting John Kerry’s famous 1971 appearance before the Senate;
How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?
And then makes the comparison with young people taking illegal drugs whilst dancing to music;
How do we ask another festival-goer to die for want of instituting the very policy advocated by most of those on the front-line – the police, doctors, and emergency workers?
Of course, this is written in a left wing newspaper so the claim that most professionals back drug testing doesn’t need to be qualified or supported with data.
We’ve written about this previously and the false dichotomy being presented for political purposes.
Do your own research to discover quite how effective drug testing at festivals has been in other countries and, indeed, whether the news that the pill one has just purchased is going to be bad for you has much effect on people’s intention to consume it.
The nearest he gets to a nuanced argument is that, although drug testing isn’t that accurate currently, it will be one day so we should do it now so that we’re ready. Ok, Pete.
Meanwhile, let’s just have a minute’s silence for the 58,220 dead American men who probably would have much preferred to have gone to a music festival instead.
Bill’s Opinion
The great value Peter Fitzsimons brings to society is that, for any issue other than sports-induced head injuries, if you can’t be bothered to spend the time to work out what the best position is to take, take the opposite of Peter’s.
