Leftists are now describing criminal drug dealers as “drug workers,” in the latest newspeak to enter the public discourse.
Last week, Michelle Tandler, a former Democrat and resident of San Francisco who posts online about the leftist-run city’s massive crime problem, posed a hypothetical question. “If publicly hanging say, 5 fentanyl dealers led to saving the lives of hundreds, is it morally reasonable,” Tandler asked.
Following Tandler’s thread going viral, she received a number of violent death threats from online leftists, demanding that she be hanged just for posting her tweets.
+ Theoretically, if publicly hanging say, 5 fentanyl dealers led to saving the lives of hundreds, is it morally reasonable?
+ Why would most San Francisco residents view my question above as horrifying and immoral?
+ What do other countries do with their fentanyl dealers?— Michelle Tandler (@michelletandler) April 9, 2023
I saw hundreds of these yesterday.
As a reminder, I was asking a theoretical question. I studied philosophy in college.
I was asking about the morality of the death penalty. I do not advocate for it.
These people, however… pic.twitter.com/LNbiwXySyX
— Michelle Tandler (@michelletandler) April 11, 2023
Hilary Agro, a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia, who focuses on drug use and policy, seemingly took issue with another, far-less important point from Tandler’s tweet. While describing her original post as “abhorrent,” Agro referred to violent, criminal drug dealers as “drug workers.”
“Most fentanyl sellers are people who use it as well, and they are trying to survive under the same destructive, racist system that replaced opium with morphine, then heroin, then fentanyl: the War on Drugs,” Agro concluded.
This kind of violent rhetoric against drug workers is abhorrent.
Most fentanyl sellers are people who use it as well, and they are trying to survive under the same destructive, racist system that replaced opium with morphine, then heroin, then fentanyl: the War on Drugs pic.twitter.com/NJ3rOe0v5S
— Hilary Agro 🍄 (@hilaryagro) April 10, 2023
Understandably, Agro herself then received blowback from conservatives and moderates online, for defending criminals that deal the dangerous chemicals. “I prefer ‘gun worker’ over ‘murderer’,” one quipped in the Twitter replies.
https://t.co/QgbgjawLSs pic.twitter.com/918RAlq0Sb
— Poe's Law, Esq: Poe's Lawyer (@dyingscribe) April 11, 2023
Drug workers! Are they also product liberation specialists? Careful on the bus! They may have anger displacement issues. You sling the newspeak, but none of it's persuasive.
— Lone gardener of the apocalypse (@lone_gardener) April 11, 2023
I prefer "gun worker" over "murderer" as well
— Nick Huber (@sweatystartup) April 11, 2023
No. No depths are too deep.
— Rando Calrissian 🇷🇸 🇧🇼🇧🇷 (@RantsOnMute) April 11, 2023
However, it seems that the “drug worker” phrase was ready to be defended by those who preferred having drugs on the streets.
“The reaction that “drug workers” has gotten is really illuminating,” tweeted Claire Zagorski, a “harm reduction” advocate. “The argument seems to be that if you don’t like or respect someone because of what they do for a living, it isn’t work? If that were true then I wouldn’t consider DEA staff “workers” and yet they still are.”
“‘Drug workers’ is such an innocuous, accurate phrase,” added Alex Garcia. “The discourse here seems to just be about dehumanizing people who use and sell drugs.” Agro’s position was also seemingly supported by the Drug Policy Alliance, an organisation that promotes “drug policies grounded in health, equity, and human rights.”
The reaction that “drug workers” has gotten is really illuminating.
The argument seems to be that if you don’t like or respect someone because of what they do for a living, it isn’t work?
If that were true then I wouldn’t consider DEA staff “workers” and yet they still are. https://t.co/CFAlEmpdp3
— Claire “smart gal” Zagorski, MSc, LP (@clairezagorski) April 11, 2023
It’s so true. “Drug workers” is such an innocuous, accurate phrase
The discourse here seems to just be about dehumanizing people who use and sell drugs.
Literally, @hilaryagro says “let’s not do public murder for drug workers” and she gets ratio’d to hell for saying that https://t.co/XUd16pQXte
— Alex Garcia (@alex_here_now) April 11, 2023
All of this. https://t.co/0KABuQHhbT
— Drug Policy Alliance (@DrugPolicyOrg) April 11, 2023
I'm 💯% for making drug worker our new term
1. Drug work is work. U think we like being called at antisocial hours to deliver ur 💊?
2. Selling drugs isn't inherently evil. Al Capone wasn't bad b/c he got mofos tipsy. He was bad b/c he lined 'em up against walls & let bullets fly https://t.co/B8GFKaIpIS— Niko Vorobyov (@Narco_Polo420) April 11, 2023
During his official announcement for the 2024 presidential race, 45th President Donald Trump, who remains the front-runner for the Republican nomination, declared that one of his policies would be to implement the death penalty for every drug dealer in the country, highlighting that overall, they will kill “500 people with the drugs they sell, not to mention the destruction of families.”
TRUMP: "Every drug dealer during his or her life on average will kill 500 people with the drugs they sell, not to mention the destruction of families. We are going to be asking everyone who sells drugs, gets caught selling drugs to receive the death penalty." pic.twitter.com/9CzX6Bm1ns
— MAGA War Room (@MAGAIncWarRoom) November 16, 2022
