Governing stupidity
If you were here in Florida, you probably would have seen the "click it or ticket" commercials by now. Basically, the cop stands there and says, "Even though it should be insanely obvious to even the most dimwitted individual that wearing your seatbelt, the attachment of which is a mere 2 second process, greatly increases your chance of surviving an automobile accident, many of you still choose not to do it." (Okay, that middle part was paraphrased.) He concludes by saying that, because people still want to be morons, they're going to continue ticketing people for not wearing their seatbelts.
A few times watching this commercial, and I still reach the same conclusion: there should not be legislation of any variety requiring someone to wear their seatbelt.
In defending people's right to burn the flag to just about anyone else who ever served in the military, my dad used to say that the reason he fought for this country was to protect the right of its citizens to be stupid.
The same applies to wearing a seatbelt. If you're dumb enough to not want a seatbelt while traveling 70 down an interstate, that's your problem. It is not the job of the government to tell you not to be stupid.
(A brief, not-thought-out rant because I hadn't posted in a while. I'm sure there are holes in the argument the size of the Grand Canyon.)
(Oh, and five songs into the new Pearl Jam CD, it rocks.)
Song lyric of the day:
"Stupid, you could call it that
Stupid, but you have no idea
How stupid I would feel
If fifteen years from now I see her
And she says, 'Why didn't it happen between us, stupid?'"
- the Long Winters, Stupid
A few times watching this commercial, and I still reach the same conclusion: there should not be legislation of any variety requiring someone to wear their seatbelt.
In defending people's right to burn the flag to just about anyone else who ever served in the military, my dad used to say that the reason he fought for this country was to protect the right of its citizens to be stupid.
The same applies to wearing a seatbelt. If you're dumb enough to not want a seatbelt while traveling 70 down an interstate, that's your problem. It is not the job of the government to tell you not to be stupid.
(A brief, not-thought-out rant because I hadn't posted in a while. I'm sure there are holes in the argument the size of the Grand Canyon.)
(Oh, and five songs into the new Pearl Jam CD, it rocks.)
Song lyric of the day:
"Stupid, you could call it that
Stupid, but you have no idea
How stupid I would feel
If fifteen years from now I see her
And she says, 'Why didn't it happen between us, stupid?'"
- the Long Winters, Stupid
9 Comments:
I see your point, but on the other hand ....
guy#1 is driving without seat belt and crosses into oncoming traffic.
Guy#2 is in said traffic and is driving a late 90's camaro/firebird.
Guy#1 smashs into firebird and is ejected out into and through windshield of firebird killing
Guy#2 and leaving guy#2's family fatherless/husbandless/etc.
Now the reason I used the mid/late 90's firebird/camaro is because it is TOPS in frontal/head on crash test ratings. Odds are that he would have lived if the guy didn't go through the windshields.
That law is there for reasons other then the offending drivers saftey.
But if Guy #2 were, say, me, who is neither a father nor a husband, it would be okay?
Seriously, leave it to you to come up with a bizarre counterpoint. Okay, I guess if we're worried about other people getting hit by a flying body, then the seatbelt law is okay if for no other reason than it protects against that enormously improbable scenario.
So, replace seatbelt law with helmet law, and continue.
no, not anyless important. Just saying it could possibly effect more then one life, maybe 2, 3, 10, etc. And what improbable scenario. People get ejected all the time out of the front windshield. If the law saves one life then it would be worth it, correct?
Helmet laws I agree with. Wear them if ya want. Though I do like the law that requires kids to wear them.
Yeah, I'm okay with kids laws. Note I similarly didn't complain about child safety seat laws and the like. You have to protect kids until they're old enough to protect themselves. When that is is up for debate.
Well, for all the arbitrariness of age 16 being the driving age and age 21 being the *cough* drinking age, it's probably easier than an individualized assessment of maturity re: driving / seatbelts / alcohol.
As for seatbelt laws.....while I suppose I could work up a libertarian desire to avoid over-government......I guess I'd rather avoid needless tragedy. If it takes an economic incentive to get people to be less stupid and not deprive their children/spouse/imaginary friend of their existence, then so be it. Now if it can be shown that such laws have negligible effect, then, yeah, I'd say it's a waste of resources.
Ben: the arbitrary age thing discourages mature decision-making in all those people under the arbitrary age. It has failed spectacularly and completely with respect to alcohol and should be abolished wherever possible. It has failed (though not as spectacularly) with respect to contract-making and sex too. Age limits are fine for physical protection, but we need to shy away from such restrictions (or at least move them back significantly) when it comes to life decisions.
As for seat belts, I'm in agreement with Meat Boy here. Seat belt laws protect people besides the wearer, and we're not talking an egregious invasion of civil liberties here.
As I pointed out to Meat Boy (I like that moniker) on the phone last night, this rant really stemmed from the commercial itself, which focuses much more on the legislation of stupidity angle. While I still think that the killer flying body scenario is (thankfully) an extreme outlier, I ultimately agree with Porky that if it saves even one life, it's worth it.
I'm not as concerned about the invasion of liberty of the seatbelt law as I am the superfluity (if that's a word). However, I will concede to its life-saving abilities.
Since the varying age limitations discussion appears to have sparked some interest, perhaps I shall post on that soon.
yes, lets debate age. Write something up.
Porky, until Mike decides to throw us a bone, there's one over at my blog. opinionsnobodyaskedfor.blogspot.com
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