Does anyone think that it is kind of ridiculous that we are forced by law to wear our seatbelts? I think it is for a few reasons.
A. It really should be the individual person's decision. Why in the world would it be the government's business whether or not you wear a seatbelt? The are protecting you? That's the same reasoning that the government uses in Fahrenheit 451 to make books illegal. If you were putting other people in danger then it makes sense, but no you are just making a personal decision.
B. Letting people make their own decisions about their safety, especially in the seatbelt game, is a way of making the world safer. Think about it. If everyone who is stupid enough not to wear a seatbelt while they are driving a 6,000 lb giant metal machine up to speeds 70+ miles per hour with other equally as dangerous machines being driven just as fast all around you dies in a car crash, then we are better off without them. It was natural selection that helped our society get as advanced as it is. We shouldn't need a bunch of people wasting their time and our resources running around making sure people actually do something as simple as putting on a seatbelt. Especially when there are real problems out there. If we fight to keep those genes in our gene-pool, we are fighting to keep progress in our society stagnant.
C. It's ironic. Who in their right mind thinks it is a good idea to spend so much effort fighting against those evil non-seatbelt wearers, when it is perfectly legal for other people to ride motorcycles. In many states it's not even required for motorcyclists to wear helmets, but they are still enforcing the seatbelt law in that same state (cough, cough, Idaho, cough). In some states it's even legal for motorcyclists to ride in middle between two lanes. So let me see if I have this straight, the government has decided to crack down on seatbelt wearing, while they have no problem with people riding the most dangerous vehicle ever invented, and in some cases, either relaxing the safety rules for those people, or just creating altogether new road rules specific to those dangerous vehicles that make riding them even more dangerous.
Hmmm... are they really concerned with safety? Or is it just a good easy way for them do a little more fundraising? At this point it's hard to know what the intentions are. All I know is last week I got a ticket for not wearing my seatbelt. Who did I get it from? A motorcycle cop.
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10 years ago
1 comment:
Excellent reference to F451. I totally agree about seat belt regulation just being another way for the government to insert their control on our day to day lives (why can't they "STRONGLY suggest" that everyone wear a seat belt? why must we be forced to pay - in every sense of the word - for our own stupidity at not being belted?).
Joe is jealous of our long distance "book club" and wants in on the action. Ironically, he just finished reading F451, too. I told him to read "Franny and Zooey," and then get back to me. We're changing the world, one obscure text at a time...just kidding - I'm really enjoying the book so far! Salinger has an almost "stream of consciousness" style that reflects in his characters' dialogue and thought processes. I find it engaging and refreshingly different.
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