CodnmeDuchess

I think that's definitely part of it.

I also think another large part is resentment. Not jealousy, but systemic resentment.

Think of the two big ones when it comes to illicit activity--sex work, and drugs--theyre seen as "easy money," that leads to "undeserved, unearned" wealth for people that typically eschew the "normal" status quo trappings of capitalist society, done by people grossly undervalued in our system (women, people of color, etc.). A capitalist system sees these professions as an undesirable because it helps buck the status quo. The system, and.really, the owner class, has a difficult time benefitting and profiting off of these professions. Theyre representative of the type of decentralization that will always be at odds with modern capitalism.

Like, wonder why strip clubs are legal and sex work isn't in most of the country? That's why. It's easy for the owner class to benefit from one and difficult for it to benefit from the other.

Sex workers and drug dealers are criminalized in part because they are seen as taking the "easy road" to money and not going through the gauntlet of the capitalist system which, for most of us, forces us to mortgage out futures for nothing more than the opportunity to become wage slaves and "good consumers."

I also don't subscribe to this point of view, but it's a theory of mine.

It can only be used in very specific ways. Check out the Federal Rules of Evidence. You can't use past criminal history simply to suggest that because a defendant committed a crime before, they are more likely to be guilty of the crime they are currently charged with.

Hah! Thanks for the reply. I'm pretty sure it was you, it was such a sudden and specific jump to "is that Wyatt Cenac?" But I have a general policy of not bothering recognizable people going about their lives unless an interaction happens organically. A couple summers ago I saw Neil Degrasse Tyson just a few blocks away on Vanderbilt. I was sitting on my bike waiting for someone and gave him a silent thumbs up, he smiled and gave me one in return. I guess he lives in the neighborhood too.

Do you or did you ever live in Prospect Heights Brooklyn? Pretty sure you lived a block from me...either that or I've weirdly stared at some random dude trying to figure out if he was you on a few occasions. If that's the case, sorry random dude that looks like Wyatt Cenac.