Legal Loopiness

San Juan Star, Monday, August 8th, Business Monday Section, page B-5, somewhere in the middle of Column Two is a statement that The Jenius believes just reeks of stupidity. The topic is unionization, with special emphasis on unionizing public workers. Leonardo Delgado, legal counsel to the local Teamsters and the local Trucker's Union was referring to the difficulty in unionizing pharmaceutical workers: "...Plus, chemists and biologists don't have much of a labor conscience. It was not something that was planted in them in college."

The Jenius can only hope that the law profession is not proud of this specimen.

Let Me start by stating: "Smart, talented and capable people don't need unions." Lest you start crowing, Legal Leo, you belong to a union, only you call it "Colegio de Abogados." (Here's a definition to help you see the truth.)

Second of all, there is no such thing as "a labor conscience." This is cheap sophistry that The Jenius is sure you copied from someone else. One can and often is conscious of labor issues, but to equate such awareness to being a moral/ethical requirement is the recourse of a shallow mind. Saying that these people lack what is obviously a false "trait" is your problem, not that of chemists, biologists and other such professionals.

Second, a conscience is not "planted": it emerges and is molded as part of growth and maturity. It is the product of teachings, experiences, decisions and conclusions that must be voluntarily internalized, not "planted." It seems to Me that having a conscience would disqualify a person from going to law school, so The Jenius will forgive your ignorance on this point.

In third place, you state that college is where your so-called "labor conscience" is "planted". (The Jenius hesitates to ask what farm you attended for "higher education"...) Is that the function college has in your legaloid mind? That of "planting" false and useless concepts in young minds? That the miseducation of the "laboring" class so as to be easily manipulated by drudges in and around unions is a primary activity at the university level? Again, it seems to Me you have confused law school with reality.

Unions had their place in the general labor force, but laws have caught up and even surpassed what unions sought for decades. They are still needed where inequalities exist (Wal-Mart, anyone?) but by and large, unions now serve largely as cash cows for parasitic "leadership." And many of their advisors.

Highly-educated and highly-talented people don't need unions: they have the intellectual wherewithal to write their own tickets and make their own way through the world. It takes brains and ego to make a career in sciences, medicine, math and a myriad of other fields, a lethal combination to "unionizers" who prey on ignorance and fear. And if the need arises to band together against a common foe, rest assured these same educated and talented people will do so. But in their own way, on their own terms. That's not a hollow "labor conscience": that's true conscience.

Next time, counselor, try picking on somebody your own size. The Jenius hears that Aedes aegypti are looking to band together to fight these new-fangled insecticides...

The Jenius Has Spoken.