Mass hysteria is a form of groupthink, in which several
people with something in common begin to think in the same way. In mass
hysteria, the group members all develop a common fear that often spirals into a
panic. The group members feed off each other's emotional reactions, causing the
panic to escalate.Some riots, witch hunts and other events can be linked to
mass hysteria. (about.com)
DWI has turned into a
sociological mass hysteria. Our highways blare out Drink.Drive.Go to Jail.
and other similar campaigns, our radios
and tv networks broadcast DWI commercials, nationwide many companies have
policies that terminate an employee or refuses to hire one based on a DWI,
apartment and housing complexes are turning away tenants for a DWI, families
are becoming divorced over DWI. Thus the ever present need for a Good Lawyer. The
public is scared of DWI only second to terrorism. This groupthink people with something in common that started
this hysteria was MADD. Now the groupthink has infiltrated the American
population. Mass hysterias of the past
include the Salem Witch Hunts of the 1690s. Over 2500 people died on 'specter evidence'
. In the French Revolution of the 1790s, over 16,000 were beheaded, the
majority for the mere fact they were
wealthy aristocrats and no other crime as the masses would gather to witness
the heads roll off the guillotine in
public spectacles. In the 1950s, Senator Joe McCarthy took advantage of the public's fear of the
Cold War by accusing many of being a Communist in the Red Scare. Predating all
this was the mass hysteria of the Spanish Inquisition. In an attempt to convert
all to Catholicism the government in 1478 under King Ferdinand and Queen
Isabella established a tribunal to subject its citizens to an Inquisition which
eventually evolved into widespread torture and over 3,000 deaths for those who
would not convert. Fear causes the
masses to act irrationally. Money and politics drives governments to tyranny.
With DWI, MADD conveniently has both. Fear is used to justify action and money
and politics are the machines that drive tyrannical laws and sentencing.
Fear. More than half of highway fatalities are due to
deficient road conditions and 59 billion a year is spent by the government on
this. (http://www.autoblog.com/2009/07/02/study-majority-of-highway-fatalities-caused-by-deficient-road-c/
). Yet the public mistakenly believes that
drinking while driving is the number one cause of highway deaths. Laws which were meant to
discourage irresponsible drinking and then driving have turned into mechanisms
for punishing anyone who drinks and drives as legal definitions across the US
vary from ‘impaired to the slightest degree’ to alcohol concentrations as low
as .02. What started out as an attempt to enact laws that correlate to
intoxication has turned into an attempt at bringing back Prohibition
(neoprohibition). Lost in the system is the
person who drove who was not intoxicated but smelled like alcohol; the person
who gets convicted on inaccurate breath tests
(infrared spectroscopy has widely known limitations even admitted to by
state scientists), the person who gets convicted on balance tests which have no
scientific correlation (outside of criticized NHTSA funded studies that don’t
meet minimal criteria for scientific peer review per the sfst creator’s own admissions- Dr. Marcelline Burns “it’s getting
there”); the person who gets convicted on blood tests in states like Texas
where there are no regulations for what is acceptable standard operating
guidelines and where unacceptable practices like single point calibration which
reports inaccurate results is the norm.
It is time to bring back common sense to the DWI table. Just
as Senator Alan Simpson released a report on Joe McCarthy on the Red Scare that
eventually brought it to a close, we
need to stand up to MADD. We need to change Mothers Against Drunk Driving
(albeit started with good intentions) into Masses Against Deceptive Disorder. We need
to demand laws that reflect science not a groupthink’s ‘morals’. We need to demand DAs and Judges stand up for
evidence not junk science and moralistic grandstanding. We need to end the mass
hysteria and start responsible actions toward justice. It is not illegal to drink unintoxicated and then
drive. We need to stop the public flogging of our own citizens in the manner
which exists today. We need to honor the Constitution’s 8th
amendment which forbids unreasonable punishment. It is time to take back America and the honored
freedom to drink and then drive responsibly. How can we follow the laws when the
laws are not ethical, legal and are unconstitutional ? In conclusion, as our proprietors who make
and sell alcohol remind us: Drink Responsibly.
Let’s stop the mass hysteria. Mimi Coffey
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