These types of people are irrational, irritating, and the root cause of so much social strife: "But prostitution is wrong!" So we make it illegal and cause pro

These types of people are irrational, irritating, and the root cause of so much social strife: "But prostitution is wrong!" So we make it illegal and cause prostitutes to get roughed up by pimps and Johns. They attract more diseases and end up straining our social support system. "But drugs are bad for the community!" So we make drugs illegal and we have gang turf wars and a "fuck the police" vibe from the poorer areas of our cities. Tell me again, what was worse for the community? "But I don't want to live in a city with lots of condos!" So we make it illegal to build new condos. Then a bunch of google employees start moving in and now the original votes are economically squeezed out. "It isn't right that Wallmart's (or McDonalds, etc) employees require subsidies from the government!" So we raise minimum wage and (through perverse incentives and lobbying) cut welfare benefits to the partially employed. Minimum wage companies replace people with machines and the government gets higher unemployment and less productivity (since engineers are creating machines to replace the unskilled, instead of the skilled). It's all the same thinking over and over again. An emotional appeal that has nothing to do with good policy. This is why Khan's video is so important. It reaches out to people and educates them without judgement. Talking to your friend he may feel like he needs to stick to his decision, otherwise his friends will see him as weak, but if he comes to these facts on his own maybe it will enlighten him.