There was an interesting book, published in 1979 by Gary Silver, titled "THE DOPE CHRONICLES". It is composed entirely of news clippings, some dating back to the 1870's, and all dealing with the media's perception of the Drug War.

Fulimanting preachers, unctuous, conniving bureaucrats, self-apointed moral proctors (who would thoughtlessly spout racially bigoted epithets with the same ease as they breathed, i.e Harry Anslinger's famous reference to a 'ginger colored n-----.') were as common then as they are now. Nothing has changed, save for the Internet.

But one thing of note strikes the reader: during the period of alcohol prohibition, there are mentions in the newsclippings of innocents being gunned down by 'dry' law enforcement. These people whose lives were taken without any due process whatsoever, who were never convicted of any crime, were commemerated by the newspapers keeping a talley.

There are numerous mentions of 1360 victims, and editorial cartoons of a tall, bespectacled, wrinkle-faced man representing 'fanatical dry law' throwing the bodies of innocent victims upon an altar labeled 'Prohibition'.

The analogy is obvious. We have the same types of fanatics loose, who are performing the same kind of piecemeal 'cultural cleansing' (as opposed to the ethnic sort, though, that too, may be arguable) and the results are the same.