NOT SO FREE, NOT SO SECURE
March 01, 2007
by: jovial_cynic
by: jovial_cynic
The line between freedom and security is often blurred, especially during times of national secrecy and irresponsible warfare. As a result, I feel a little less free and a little less secure, but not because of the "bad guys." The government institutions are mostly to blame for it. It's mostly an issue of unchecked power, I think.
Shooting at people, with a camera:
The problem with the "increased security" that's imposed on folks is that the security personnel end up feeling like they do whatever they want -- they're the ones with the guns, after all. In the case of Miami photojournalist Carlos Miller, the police felt it necessary protect the community from random acts of photography.
Worse than the abuse of power by the Miami police is the increased use of SWAT teams (and subsequent increase in the death of innocents), to the point of even using them to enforce copyright law. There's a growing concern among common citizens that the use of paramilitary "security" is making everyone a bit less secure.
Truck nuts:
Maryland Delagate LeRoy Myers Jr., (R-Washington), in order to create greater moral security, suggests that truckers should be prohibited from displaying dangling "truck nuts." He's filed legislation to outlaw them. I guess truck nuts are dangerous. But hanging a shotgun on the back of a truck window is perfectly ok.
To some truckers, they are manly expressions of rural chic. But Myers, who says his Western Maryland district is brimming with giant fakes on the roadways, calls them vulgar and immoral -- and filed legislation this week to outlaw them.
"People are making a joke out of it," Myers said yesterday. "But I think it's a pretty serious problem. You have body parts hanging from the hitches of cars. We've crossed a line."
However, the article also states, "A hunter could still throw a freshly killed and uncovered deer in the back of his pickup, though, because the deer's body parts would be real, Myers said."
Apparently it is legal to dangle real testicles out of the back of a pickup truck. It just doesn't make any sense. None of this makes any sense. Nobody feels safer knowing that photojournalists will get locked up if they legally take pictures of police officers doing their job. Nobody feels safer knowing that SWAT teams might break down their door if they're creating mix tapes of their favorite artists. Nobody feels safer as a result of a ban on truck nuts.
Shooting at people, with a camera:
The problem with the "increased security" that's imposed on folks is that the security personnel end up feeling like they do whatever they want -- they're the ones with the guns, after all. In the case of Miami photojournalist Carlos Miller, the police felt it necessary protect the community from random acts of photography.
Worse than the abuse of power by the Miami police is the increased use of SWAT teams (and subsequent increase in the death of innocents), to the point of even using them to enforce copyright law. There's a growing concern among common citizens that the use of paramilitary "security" is making everyone a bit less secure.
Truck nuts:
Maryland Delagate LeRoy Myers Jr., (R-Washington), in order to create greater moral security, suggests that truckers should be prohibited from displaying dangling "truck nuts." He's filed legislation to outlaw them. I guess truck nuts are dangerous. But hanging a shotgun on the back of a truck window is perfectly ok.
To some truckers, they are manly expressions of rural chic. But Myers, who says his Western Maryland district is brimming with giant fakes on the roadways, calls them vulgar and immoral -- and filed legislation this week to outlaw them.
"People are making a joke out of it," Myers said yesterday. "But I think it's a pretty serious problem. You have body parts hanging from the hitches of cars. We've crossed a line."
However, the article also states, "A hunter could still throw a freshly killed and uncovered deer in the back of his pickup, though, because the deer's body parts would be real, Myers said."
Apparently it is legal to dangle real testicles out of the back of a pickup truck. It just doesn't make any sense. None of this makes any sense. Nobody feels safer knowing that photojournalists will get locked up if they legally take pictures of police officers doing their job. Nobody feels safer knowing that SWAT teams might break down their door if they're creating mix tapes of their favorite artists. Nobody feels safer as a result of a ban on truck nuts.