On Coercion... And Torts... And Ganja

We are all being coerced into paying compensation for the victims of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. As this news report says, the tax-payer is picking up the 1500 crore rupee tab. This money is being coerced out of us. We can go to jail if we do not pay taxes. All this should be borne in mind when the Nuclear Civil Liability Bill comes up in Parliament, for in that too, it is contemplated that, rather than the tortfeasor, it is the tax-payer who will pay. Coercion heaped upon coercion.

Now, the interesting thing is that coercion is an actionable tort. Coercion is actually a horrible thing. The libertarian ideal is a society wherein there is no coercion and every exchange is voluntary. That is a free society. That is the ideal. In this Utopia, he who coerces another commits a tort - and pays compensation to the wronged party.

I hate coercion because I have been its victim many times - and all over ganja. The fucked-up State police coerced me in Mangalore. And some of my fucked-up relatives coerced me in Delhi - by forcing me into a lunatic asylum against my will on alleged "cannabis induced psychosis." The psychiatrist, on meeting me first, said I was "schizophrenic." Luckily, my wardmate was a smackie named Lala Hardyal who was carrying a goodly quantity of hash on him. We smoked his hash every day in the hospital. I was let off after a month of smoking hash! By then the doctor had revised his diagnosis and said I was "bipolar." Today they say I suffer from "hypomania" - a condition I share with every driven entrepreneur. The doctors were wrong.

This is coercion. It is an actionable tort. I should be able to sue the doctor and my fucked-up relatives some day.

Now look at the photo accompanying this post. It shows a sadhu exhaling a nimbus cloud of ganja smoke in front of an image of the Lord Shiva, the greatest of all Hindu gods. Why does the law treat sadhus differently from non-sadhus? Why is this coercion so arbitrary? This is because the fucked-up police coerce only those they can, and leave alone those they can't. The law cannot be applied uniformly because it goes against Indian "culture."

Property, Contracts, Torts - this is the world of "private law." This is all the law we need. Say no to coercion - including taxation. Say no to the Nuclear Civil Liability Bill. And say yes to ganja - the smoke of the "holy man."