2008/05/20
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Facist Nanny State and Sheeple.
I debated whether to take the time to jot these thoughts down, and obviously decided to give in.
In about a 15 minute period today, I my visual and auditory senses were assaulted with facist and facist nanny messages.
I ran out to drop off one of my kids to his early orchestra class, and then get the tags renewed on my motorcycle trip (of course it's raining today), and get a new tirevalve stem valve for my motorcycle as well.
In the 15-20 minutes or so it took to run those errands, I saw 1 bilboard, and listened to multiple ads covering the following:
I'm not against littering, but I am painfully reminded of the Nazi (and other Facist countries) messages to turn in your fellow citizens.
I'm not against requirements to HAVE a sealt belt in a car, but for the government to mandate I wear it? That has always irked me.
If I want to earn a "Darwin Award" for studpidity, and remove myself from the gene pool, that should be my choice. The issue gets a little trickier with children, it might be considered neglectful if parents don't enforce it with their kids, but there is such a thing as the government getting far too involved in a families decision making process. "Education programs" about the risks. Fine.
Pet licensing? I'm reminded of the Monty Python routine "Hello, I'd like to purchase a fish license". Pretty soon I'll be taxed for my amount of air I breathe, and oh wait, my "carbon footprint". That has to be just around the corner. At least in this state.
The whole seat belt issue, many could see from miles away. This is a perfect model of incremental facist implementation. I always wore my seat belt long before there were any laws on the books. I had an incident when I was 4 years old and the car door opened on the highway while I was leaning against it and my mother was taking a turn. I barely held on. That encouraged me to keep the door locked, seat belt on, and not lean much on the door. Fortunately (or not, depending on your perspective), i survived that potential Darwinian-potential-elimination moment. Neither I, nor my parents would have tried to sue anyone (car manufacturer, highway, parents, whatever). Nowadays, it seems that is exactly what too many people would do. That's a whole other topic of course. I digress.
First they made it a "secondary" ticket (offense) to not have your seat belt on when pulled over for something else. Of course, a few years later, it's now a primary offense. And now they have this gravel-voiced commercial saying "if you think you're safe from our patrols, think again". Are you kidding me?
I am certainly for the "rule of law", but there is a balance. And it really feels like in the past 15-20 years that balanced has slipped over the line.
Worse yet, it seems the "Average" people are just fine with it. The whole "boiled frog" approach works all to well. <sigh>
Anyhow, I needed to vent. At least I'm (for now) allolwed to do so (in this country), without having to worry about getting fined (yet) or taxed (yet) for it. Of course, that is exactly why services like TOR (The Onion Router) to anonymize and re-route and obfuscate your location, exist. Just a shame it's headed so quickly in that direction. It's like being in a bus stuck on the wrong side of the railroad tracks. I can see the other oncoming train, and am yelling to the driver an dthe people to move the bus off the tracks, or get out of the bus ASAP, but everyone is just smiling and saying "the bus driver knows what's best for us". meanwhile all the exists are blocked by these "sheep-people" (sheeple? sheople?). <Sigh>
Ok, enough of the rant for now. Let's see if i can get out and ride the motorcycle for the day for some taste of freedom. ;-)
Ciao for now.
In about a 15 minute period today, I my visual and auditory senses were assaulted with facist and facist nanny messages.
I ran out to drop off one of my kids to his early orchestra class, and then get the tags renewed on my motorcycle trip (of course it's raining today), and get a new tirevalve stem valve for my motorcycle as well.
In the 15-20 minutes or so it took to run those errands, I saw 1 bilboard, and listened to multiple ads covering the following:
- Billboard: "We're watching for literrers. Are you?" "Litter and it will hurt". - With a zoom in picture on someone's eyes peering sideways while on a cell phone.
- Radio ad: "Click it or ticket". "Whether you are in the city or the countryside, we'll catch you if you do'nt buckle up". "...you think you're safe? Think again."
- Radio ad: "All your pets must be licensed..." ".. the amnesty period is right now...."
I'm not against littering, but I am painfully reminded of the Nazi (and other Facist countries) messages to turn in your fellow citizens.
I'm not against requirements to HAVE a sealt belt in a car, but for the government to mandate I wear it? That has always irked me.
If I want to earn a "Darwin Award" for studpidity, and remove myself from the gene pool, that should be my choice. The issue gets a little trickier with children, it might be considered neglectful if parents don't enforce it with their kids, but there is such a thing as the government getting far too involved in a families decision making process. "Education programs" about the risks. Fine.
Pet licensing? I'm reminded of the Monty Python routine "Hello, I'd like to purchase a fish license". Pretty soon I'll be taxed for my amount of air I breathe, and oh wait, my "carbon footprint". That has to be just around the corner. At least in this state.
The whole seat belt issue, many could see from miles away. This is a perfect model of incremental facist implementation. I always wore my seat belt long before there were any laws on the books. I had an incident when I was 4 years old and the car door opened on the highway while I was leaning against it and my mother was taking a turn. I barely held on. That encouraged me to keep the door locked, seat belt on, and not lean much on the door. Fortunately (or not, depending on your perspective), i survived that potential Darwinian-potential-elimination moment. Neither I, nor my parents would have tried to sue anyone (car manufacturer, highway, parents, whatever). Nowadays, it seems that is exactly what too many people would do. That's a whole other topic of course. I digress.
First they made it a "secondary" ticket (offense) to not have your seat belt on when pulled over for something else. Of course, a few years later, it's now a primary offense. And now they have this gravel-voiced commercial saying "if you think you're safe from our patrols, think again". Are you kidding me?
I am certainly for the "rule of law", but there is a balance. And it really feels like in the past 15-20 years that balanced has slipped over the line.
Worse yet, it seems the "Average" people are just fine with it. The whole "boiled frog" approach works all to well. <sigh>
Anyhow, I needed to vent. At least I'm (for now) allolwed to do so (in this country), without having to worry about getting fined (yet) or taxed (yet) for it. Of course, that is exactly why services like TOR (The Onion Router) to anonymize and re-route and obfuscate your location, exist. Just a shame it's headed so quickly in that direction. It's like being in a bus stuck on the wrong side of the railroad tracks. I can see the other oncoming train, and am yelling to the driver an dthe people to move the bus off the tracks, or get out of the bus ASAP, but everyone is just smiling and saying "the bus driver knows what's best for us". meanwhile all the exists are blocked by these "sheep-people" (sheeple? sheople?). <Sigh>
Ok, enough of the rant for now. Let's see if i can get out and ride the motorcycle for the day for some taste of freedom. ;-)
Ciao for now.
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