Seabelts in cars are not unlike the “vaccines” in that those pushing both of these things say we ought to have no choice about such things. It’s especially obnoxious as regards seatbelts because it is impossible to make even the cloying argument that someone else’s not “buckling-up” threatens the “safety” of anyone else.
Keeping people “safe” – especially from themselves – is the proper business of the parents of minor children. When it becomes the business of government, the government has become the parent.
That is no way for grown-ups to live.
Seat belts are not objectionable, as such. Although that is how opposition to forcing people to “buckle up” is generally framed. Because it is much easier to shut people up by framing them as being opposed to something that might be reasonable and sensible, as such.
Like seat belts.
They can decrease your chances of being hurt – or hurt more seriously – if you crash your car. Wearing a seatbelt may even save your life, if the crash is severe enough. No one possessed of any sense questions this – because sensible people do not question objectively true things.
But note the italics above.
The words “can,” “if” and “may” have been italicized to emphasize another thing that is objectively true about seatbelt-wearing.
Or not.
It is that seabelts are a potential benefit. “Buckling up” can decrease your chances of being hurt – if you crash your car. Wearing a seatbelt may even save your life, if the crash is severe enough.
But if you do not crash, “buckling up” makes no difference. This distinction is important. It is the difference between something actually happening and something that might happen. Put another way, it is a risk-reward evaluation. The kind of judgment call it was once generally understood adults had a right to make. If you choose to enlist in the Marines because you want to receive the rewards that attend being trained and acquiring marketable job skills, you run the risk of being sent into a combat zone in the event there’s a war.
You might be killed.
But you run the risk because you decide that – on balance – it is worth taking.
Seatbelts are not dissimilar. Some prefer to run the risk of not “buckling up” because they just don’t want to buckle up – and that ought to be enough. Adults – in a free society – ought to have and once did have the right to just hop in their car and go for a drive without having to worry about being forced to “pull over” by a “buckle up” enforcer.
There was a time – it was not so long ago – when the very idea of being parented in this was regarded by most adult Americans as preposterous; the worst sort of effeminate tyranny.
But that was before America became an effeminate police state. On in which “safety” is of more “concern” than crime.
That happened because “for your own good” (and “the good of society”) was accepted by too many Americans. Once an adult submits to being parented on this basis he can expect to be parented further. There is no end-point to it because risk attends life and so there is always something the tyrants who think of themselves as our parents can claim will make things less “risky” – “safer” – for us. And so they have – and will continue to do – until enough of us decide we have had enough of being parented by tryrants, including within our own cars.
At some point – probably not far off – the nannies will say it is too risky to allow people to drive when it is raining. Certainly when it is snowing. If that sounds silly – think about it.
It is time to unbuckle.
More finely, it is time to get the government out of the business of forcing people to “buckle up.” And not just because forcing people to “buckle up” is a petty tyranny but because of the greater tyranny it has empowered. If the government has the rightful authority to force grown adults to “buckle up” then it also implicitly has the same authority to impose a million other tyrannical things, too.
During the “pandemic,” people were subjected to effronterous tyranny in the name of “health” – a working synonym for “safety.”
Observe the two words are often used together.
It is not a stretch to argue that “masking” was enabled by the whole “buckle up” thing by habituating the populace to this sort of thing. The slippery slope isn’t a cliche. It’s a truism. It ought to be etched in stone.
It ought to be taught to kids.
“Masking up” would have never been the thing it became if enough of us had refused the tyrannical orders to to “mask up.” If enough of us had found the balls to ignore signs and defy teenagers peddling “masks” at the entrances to stores, the “masks” would have come off a lot sooner than they did.
It is important to be clear here: Refusing to wear the “mask” if you did not want to wear a “mask” was not a repudiation of “masking” as such. Just the same as not “buckling up” does not mean you are demanding others not “buckle up.”
It is a stand against everyone being forced to wear both of them. As far as the “masks,” those of us who did not want to wear one never went after the people who did. It was always the reverse, which is very telling about the actual motives of the people who insisted everyone else “mask up.”
Of a piece with the motivations of those who insist everyone else “buckle up.” We who prefer not to are targeted – but do not support targeting those who “buckle up,” if they want to. Because we regard them as adults who have a right to decide for themselves and not as our children over whom we (or the government, on our behalf) have parental authority.
If enough of us refuse to be forced to “buckle up,” it will become harder to enforce “buckle up” laws. Those who think otherwise ought to remember that it was mass disregard for the 55 MPH National Maximum Speed Limit (NMSL) law that eventually led to its repeal after 20 long years.
Mass disregard causes whatever-the-edict-is to appear absurd after a time – because most people are reasonable and (ipso facto) if most people scorn and ignore an edict, the obvious implication is that the edict is absurd. The event styled “Prohibition” furnishes another example. Back in the 1920s, the government – effeminate neurotics – tried to force people to stop drinking alcohol, even a glass of beer, on the basis of absurd claims that even a glass beer led to alcoholism, wife-beating and worse.
When people had enough, it was over.
As easy as that.
. . .
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It’s great to find a community of like-minded people! Personally, I never wear a seatbelt and have always been vehemently against seatbelt laws. I have done my own risk calculation and decided the benefits of not wearing one outweigh the risk. I can’t believe so many people comply with whatever the nanny state tells them to do instead of thinking for themselves!
Thanks, Jake!
And – amen. It also boggles me that so many are so readily obedient. I can remember when almost no one except a few ninnies “bucked up.” Then the government began its routine of propagandizing people – followed up with force, as government always employs – and now almost everyone “buckles up.”
Like trained seals, eh?
RE: “I can’t believe so many people comply”
Is there a more suitable word for, ‘comply’? Our overlords use the strong-arm & run saturation patrols focusing/zeroing-in on those not wearing the car-seat-chains/straps. The fines are relatively heavy, a person risks them ‘finding’ even more reason to jack-up the shake down price by not wearing one & getting pulled over. Not too mention the time lost in such encounters.
Many employers have 3-strikes & you’re fired from the job if you’re late to work more than 3 times per year, if you have 2 strikes already from the stuff-of-life, like your sickness or your child’s sickness, getting pulled over on the way to work for not wearing a seatbelt means = you’re fired!
Certain times of the year, maybe it’s easier to get by not wearing one, but during the holidays they ramp up enforcement & they will hide to look for you, or do U-turns to chase you down, moreso than other times of the year.
…Just seems like, ‘comply’ isn’t the right word, especially when you’re the only one doing it.
Or, am I wrong here? And, it’s just like face diapers?
It just seems different, somehow. …Perplexing.
My apologies to Raider girl….. As prohibition came in after a certain gender was allowed to “vote” just saying. I have only worn a seatbelt once in 45 years. Had to take a driving test with DMV employee riding shotgun to get a chauffeur’s license in a 20 passenger van. Drove the whole tour with one hand , paralled parked the bitch on Prince street in Truro. She mentioned one hand driving was a demerit and that I was a bit over confident. I replied whats the verdict , she laughed. Pushing 2 million KM without a crash. Some of us can drive and dont need big brother making more rules by the second.
PS Keep up the good work Eric
Thanks for the kind words, Nova!
Since I have started daily driving my 79 Firebird, I have been forced off the road twice by government parasites for not wearing a seatbelt. See, the thing is, when I’m in the Firebird, I am transported back to a freer time in history, the 70’s.
Government parasites do not agree that I should be free. They think they are my daddy and mommy, apparently, and know what’s best for their little boy.
The first time, I got a $20 “ticket” that I threw in the trash. The 2nd time, he just told me to put on my seatbelt, and he left. I did not comply.
Screw them all. Mind your business. Leave me alone.
So, won’t you mind your own business
Mind your own business
‘Cause if you mind your business
Then you won’t be mindin’ mine
Don’t forget our “friends” at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, whose funding is extorted from us complements of each State of the Union that will only extend the privilege of legal driving to those who can prove insurance coverage to their arbitrary specification. Pay no attention to the “hand-in-glove” arrangement of these two.
Personal responsibility was implicit in Americans decades ago, but now where is this taught in our enlightened day? This is one of the logical conclusions resulting from a society that subscribes to “freedom from responsibility”. You can now “buy” responsibility from a third party. It’s part of our licentious culture now – like it or not. As can be seen, someone will always be left having to take responsibility for their actions. Today, government forces responsibility on drivers, who may otherwise leave others on the hook.
You may think that your personal life is yours to do with as you please. Fine – just make sure you have no contact with anybody – period. Then your personal behavior remains just that. For those of us who have family, or enjoy and benefit from interaction with society, there is implied responsibility. Our freedoms cannot be freed from this common law.
Responsible people chafe at this, in the same way as we chafe at the rest of the costs of law enforcement. We pay for jails and judges even if we never see or meet either as the outcome of our day-to-day lives.
Coercive government laws uphold the “lowest common denominator” of society. It would be interesting to see how this has changed over the 125 years of the automobile. This is just one example of how all of us end up paying for the irresponsible behavior of others.
I wear seat belts, and I wear a helmet on my motorcycle. I do it because I want to. And that’s how it should be. Every law actually defines a criminal behavior. So even with no accident and no injury to anyone, you can occur a penalty. It’s a pure grift, and it saddens me that most don’t recognize it. But all of our problems stem from the ignorance that has subsumed our culture. Pogo was right. We have met the enemy, and he is us.
Long time reader, first time caller…
Nearly 25 years ago my best friend from birth died BY seatbelt. His dad was one of the few that never wore one, and Chris himself almost always forgot to buckle up.
Cruel Fate, that night he was wearing a seatbelt in the passenger seat while his dad drove home the ‘95 Ford Explorer on a US highway. A flatbed semi pulled into the road from a shoulder stop just as they were approaching at full speed. Quick reaction, and the collision was avoided— Dad managed to get past the trailor with the lighest scrape… heard the contact but didn’t feel it.
Deep breath and the wheels still rolling down the road, he reached out to Chris and asked if he was alright. No response.
He turned on the light and saw his son lifeless, no blood, no guts. Simply squeezed to death… the vertical panel between the front and rear doors had touched the corner of the trailer, exactly where the seatbelt mounted.
We were all crushed that day, lost one of the state’s best and brightest kids. For one of us, at least, the maxim that seatbelts save lives was crushed as well, and to this day I think and choose with intention when and where I wear a seatbelt. Almost always on crowded streets now that the sudden death cult is still active and driving, but in situations where I am in control, there are also moments when I absolutely will not wear it. And my $2 buckle silences the bells and whistles.
Thank you, Eric, for yet another article which moves me… this time deep into the archive to revisit the the most horrific car story in my life.
So you are basically saying that he wrote the seatbelt incorrectly. Yes, I see that all the time with children – the belt should not go on the neck. It is irresponsible and in most cases requires a childseat.
So you are basically saying that he wore the seatbelt incorrectly. Yes, I see that all the time with children – the belt should not go on the neck. It is irresponsible and in most cases requires a childseat.
No, I’m saying he died by seatbelt in a soft-touch incident. Wasn’t a kid, he 19 years old and playing university baseball.
One thing I’ve always thought was that a seat belt violation might be grounds to raise your insurance premiums, just like speeding tickets. Failure to wear a seat belt might be an excuse to not pay out in a collision too.
So I asked ChatGPT if there’s any examples.
https://chatgpt.com/share/6738bdc2-1914-8004-a357-e6e9df16aefa
In a libertarian world driven by contract law I imagine there’d be language in your insurance policy that required seatbelt use by all occupants. Of course ideally you could cross out that paragraph and both parties could initial agreement, probably with a higher premium. But in all likelihood if one insurance company required it, they all would and effectively there’d be a seat belt law anyway.
Thing is, a seat belt is a very inexpensive solution to keeping you planted in case of an accident. There’s a reason why they’re in everything from cars to spaceships. But if you don’t want to wear one I’m not gonna make you (unless you’re in my vehicle).
Or on a motorcycle. Hell, don’t bother with a helmet either!
My wife often likes to take off her seatbelt to remove a jacket (or something), or put one back on or whatever. And she lags like hell, so I have to hear that infernal fucking noise. I’m literally (by hearing tests) 50% hearing or less in both ears. God, I can’t imagine how obnoxious that noise is to fully hearing people. The car mutes the radio/media and turns up that noise — which I’m sure was the product of much research to be as irritating as possible.
I mean, I don’t care if she or anyone else wears a seatbelt. But, anyway, on the last trip it was so fucking irritating that I vowed to go find a seatbelt in junk yard, cut off the clip and use it as a seatbelt silencer! To which my wife laughed and agreed.
But, whattaya know! Turns out only everyone has already thought of that! You can buy ’em on Amazon! I just ordered a pair as this article reminded me about it! Ten bucks! Worth their weight in gold!
XM, there are ways to turn off the seatbelt chime(s). Our ram’s and jeeps have a ‘trick’ to turn them off permanently. you tube will show you how. the car still ‘shows’ you in the cluster to ‘buckle up!!!’ every time you stop, but no fricken noise.
My friend has a subaru and i don’t buckle when we’re going into town on 25mph side streets, so it’s beeping gets louder and louder, OMG!!!! did a quick search on the stupid phone and I couldn’t believe the cars of ‘safety and love’ had a cheat code to disable it. it was a daunting task (25 clicks of the seatbelt), but we got it the 3rd time and it worked, no noise.
He had his battery replaced and it came back, we fixed it again.
If even subi has a cheat code, I’m guessing most do too.
“Once the principle is admitted that it is the duty of government to protect the individual against his own foolishness, no serious objections can be advanced against further encroachments.” Ludwig von Mises
Eric: “The event styled “Prohibition” furnishes another example. Back in the 1920s,
the government – effeminate neurotics – tried to force people to stop drinking
alcohol… When people had enough, it was over. As easy as that [?].”
Alcohol prohibition was an example of a functioning Constitutional Republic.
For alcohol Prohibition to be Constitutional an amendment was passed (18th),
resulting in gangs being formed to supply “customers”. Stills popped up
like dandelions. Jury nullification was at play – moonshiners got a pass.
To end failed Prohibition, another amendment was required, the 21st –
Repeal of Prohibition. I’m still waiting for a drug prohibition
amendment. Without one, all the “enforcers” should be in prison.
Undoubtedly, Libertyx. All fiat poppycock.
One can hope for an improvement in drug policy with RFK Jr.’s appointment as secretary of the DHHS, but I won’t be holding my breath.
I hear next to no talk about why Mexico doesn’t seem to have a “fentanyl crisis”, but people might be wise to guess it’s because you can just go to the farmacia and buy the pain meds of your choice. Thousands of Americans make the pilgrimage to Mexico to do so everyday.
The amendment was ginned up and rammed through by the Millennial Pietists led by the WCTU. Socialist women made it happen. Period.
Here in California, seat bet laws are not considered “primary enforcement,” which means a cop (necessarily going the opposite direction) is not going to hang a U-ie and pursue at high speed to write you up for not being “in harness.”
What it *does* mean, is that if you are pulled over for some other traffic violation, the bureaucrat from the Department of Collections who showed you his bubble gum machine can, and will, add a “seat belt violation” to your “traffic ticket.”
IOW, “seat belt laws” are a “revenue enhancement tool,” nothing more.
BTW, I am heavily in favor of seat belt use, because I do not like the idea of my face flying through the windshield in case of a collision, which is what *will* happen if you are not buckled up.
Ever hear of a race car driver who insisted on being “brave” and not wearing a harness? I thought not.
“Ever hear of a race car driver who insisted on being “brave” and not wearing a harness?”
As a matter of fact, yes. His name was Dale Earnhardt.
Enough said.
https://www.gadsdentimes.com/story/news/2001/08/22/nascar-releases-report-on-earnhardt-crash-concludes-seat-belt-was-broken/32364170007/
’’The physical evidence is clear,’’ said Raddin, who showed a blown
up photo of Earnhardt’s seat belt. ’’This was not a cutting of a belt afterward.
This was a belt that separated under load.’’
Adi, no offense intended, you are not going to go through the windshield in the largest majority of accidents. I am proof of such. I totaled a lot of cars in my youth, lots, hit poles, trees, etc… all were self inflicted, cars destroyed. The worst one was a pole I center punched at about 20-30mph, and by all rights, with the sudden stop, I should have gone through the windshield. I didn’t. What I did do was stiff arm the steering wheel, bent it and my body rotated off my extended arms and my head dented the roof. yes, i was lucky. Seatbelt would have been smart on that one.
I am in no way saying seatbelts are not worth it, they are in nasty wrecks.
In today’s world, head on’s are much more prevalent, but again, most are corner to corner and your not going through the windshield. If they get to around past center, then yes, you’re in trouble (even with the seatbelt and airbag too). It’s all about mass vs speed. head on’s can easily have differential speeds of 80-120mph, not good.
most two lanes are adding the rumble strips which is smart with inattentive drivers these days. I do make note if the center rumble strips are present on 40mph+ two lanes and pay a lot more attention to the cars coming at me. Been in two very close calls already.
“BTW, I am heavily in favor of seat belt use, because I do not like the idea of my face flying through the windshield in case of a collision, which is what *will* happen if you are not buckled up.”
Heavily in favor of seatbelt use for yourself? Great! I understand and respect your personal preference.
Seat belts were rendered “primary”, i.e., as enforceable as any moving violation, in Calipornia as of 2009, during the second “reign of error” of Edmund G Brown, Junior, aka “Moonbeam “. So indeed you can be stopped and subjected to a “drive-by mulcting” for not wearing your harness, and the cop’s assertion is PRESUMED true. Ever more the reason for a dash cam that also records the cabin and the rear of the vehicle.
The issue is not the engineering nor physiological aspects of seat belts and their use. Yes, regular proper use will save lives, and they’re easy to use and not overly intrusive. However, MANDATING them is an entirely different matter. It smacks of the NANNY STATE. In a freedom-loving society, car buyers will decide if they want them as a feature for their ride, and if the vehicle they want doesn’t have them, well, Americans have been customizing and modifying cars ever since the Model T, so they can add seat belts, just like my son and I are putting in over-the-shoulder retractable belts in the 1966 Plymouth Fury II, which came only with a lap belt. FWIW, we’ve also made a common upgrade to the braking system, replacing the stock single master cylinder and front drum brakes with a power brake booster, dual master cylinder with associated hardware, and front disc brakes (off a 1974 Chrysler Newport). Not even CARB or the CA DMV mandated this, we made that decision ourselves, based on a reasonable assessment of what this “cruiser” should have, and the mods were relatively cheap and readily adapted.
Remember, the issue is seldom engineering or technology, it’s FREEDOM, that great “Yang worship word!”
Are they going to manage my diet too? And how much liquor I drink? And how often I have to perform which exercises? We are actually already headed there.
Personally, and privately, I like seatbelts. They keep me in the driver’s seat in an accident, giving me a chance to drive out of it. Also keeps my front seat passenger out of my lap in such incident. But it is in no way the state’s business.
Have they installed seat belts in school buses?
Personally I use seat belts (and wear full-face motorcycle helmets) 100% of the time and I would do it even if the state did not require it.
But who the hell are they to force me to do it for my own good? If I die because I am not wearing a seatbelt, how does it affect anyone else? The irony is that assisted suicide is a big thing among the lefties and progressives. Several states and Canada have it.
If you want to kill yourself they are eager to have a “doctor” help you, but if you choose to increase the risk of killing yourself by flying through the windshield in a head-on crash, that’s illegal.
WTF.
Aren’t these the same people shrieking “Keep your laws off my body” when they want to kill a baby — that is not actually their body?
Indeed, X –
I have full track gear. Armored race suit and gloves; race boots, etc. If I wanted to be as “safe” as possible on a bike – on the street – I’d wear the whole getup every time I ride. Hell, if helmets are mandated – because “safety” – why not the full track suit getup?
I’ll tell you why: Because it’s all an arbitrary power trip.
Mike Rowe (of “dirty jobs” fame) wrote an excellent article on why “safety” is not the end all or most important thing in the work world.
Paying attention to “safety” results in the job not getting done.
Safety has a place and role, but is not the most important thing…
His motto, safety third.
If safety is your most important consideration, may as well stay home. And in bed.
[Nie Wieder Maske][1]
[1]: https://nie-wieder-krieg.org
It’s another excuse to increase government intrusion into our lives, for our “own good”. Fook that.
Does it surprise you that libtards are SCHIZO?
Yes, save the whales, but murder an unborn child, even as it’s about to be born(ed), or even minutes AFTER it was born. I shite you not, that’s what these monsters clamor for!
To any reluctant mother: I say, unless you credibly assert that you were raped or the victim of incest, YOU had the ability to keep a certain “someone’s” hands (and ANOTHER appendage!) off YOUR body, and you CHOSE instead to let him have his way, and are now experiencing what’s termed BUYER’S REMORSE. Feel it all you want, but don’t make an innocent child pay the “return to sender” cost!
Forget that, the libs are pushing for post-birth abortions up to the age of 3. And the ones they do not kill they are maiming via “transgender care”. Such as with the recent ruling in California where the mother has now been given the green light by the courts in California to chemically and physically castrate her 12 year old son against the father’s wishes (Save James on Facebook).
Hey John,
Outside of the coming and temporary speed Trump speed bump, I’m pretty sure the medical tyrants are planning on doing exactly that. That’s what it looks like anyway. First, they’re going to bring it in the name of the “carbon footprint” lie, i.e., where every single transaction will be monitored, limited/throttled, or flat-out denied if they deem the person’s “record” to be unworthy.
It’ll be a short trip from there to making sure that we don’t have too much cholesterol, or sugar, or alcohol, or whatever the hell they make up out of whole cloth.
Notice that the establishment reaction to the Trump speedbump is not one of self-reflection, but rather battle stations, red alert, call the hoard of flying monkeys (aka liberal lawyers). The plan is clearly to reduce the impact of the speed bump so that when they get back in power, they can pick up the pieces and restart the tyranny with little effort.
Well, John, the powers that be want us plebs to eat bugs for the earth, and are trying to make it nearly impossible to eat meat. So yes, they want to dictate what we eat, and what medicines and vaccines we get. “My Body, My Choice”? Only when it comes to abortion. Beyond that, “Your Body, Their Choice”.
John , your quota for Victory gin has been terminated
Follow the money – enact the “law”, then it has to be enforced of course. Another revenue generator for the system (fines). Then comes the feather bedding of the state government employment. New law? Well, we need to educate the public! So, another state gov dept with managers, assistants, staff, researchers, etc getting the word out to those ignorant tax slaves. “Click it or ticket” PSAs, car seat PSAs, drunk driving PSAs on and on. Any born and raised American citizen already knows all this well before they get a driver license.
It’s all just a giant grifting scam. The mayhem here in Washington State is majority illegals. This is a sanctuary state so nothing is done to rein it in. Repeat drunk drivers out and about unless they kill someone in a wreck, then it’s a short stint in the slammer. Yet, the PSAs continue to be broadcast burning up our tax money with nothing to show for it. You’re either a sensible responsible adult or you’re not, no PSA is going to change that.
“Oh Sparkey, you’re just a xenophobe where is your proof?” You can start with the “most wanted list” via the State police. Here is ours for WA:
https://wsp.wa.gov/crime/wsp-most-wanted/
Tucker & Vivek discuss the nanny bureaucrats:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukZB0w76Q6o
A number of years ago, a Michigan State Police trooper was killed in an rollover auto accident. The concern for this trooper was not only lavish but was also effective in removing blame from himself for his own actions.
I posed a question on various sites about this incident with one simple question: “Was the trooper wearing his seat belt?” (He wasn’t)…
The vitriolic responses I received for posing such a simple question ranged from mild to outright threatening. To wit: “How DARE you question the trooper’s actions. He’s DEAD”.
Once again, the “double standard” rears its head. We are told that police officers are “specially trained” to drive and look at their computers and cell phones (yeah, right…) while us “unwashed masses (who pay their salaries and bloated pensions)” would be cited and heavily fined for the same actions.
This is merely more proof that the “sheeple” have been conditioned to accept their third-class status.
One phrase that emerged from the Covid calamity was “with an abundance of caution…”. With this phrase comes the tyrannical Marxist edicts they wish to impose.
Why are the cops exempt from seat-belt laws?
Doesn’t the government care about the “safety” of the “heroes”?
“Why are the cops exempt from seat-belt laws?”
The simple answer is that, when needing to exit the vehicle and beat a citizen’s ass, seconds count.
Oh yeah and the gun belt and equipment thereon….
Trust me on this.
On a sunny but a bit chilly day like today in my neck of Dixie, I’d jump on the Sportster. It’s the perfect kinda day to go two wheelin’. Me ‘n’ Jezebel (cuz she got around) would ride maybe 100 miles throughout the Alabama countryside. It was a risk. Motorcycles are dangerous compared to passenger cars. But I accepted the risk because those rides cleansed my soul.
Life is about risk. I choose which risks are too risky and which I can (hopefully) overcome. It’s the freedom of choice that the overlords & nannies detest. I own me. Since I own me, I and I alone decide for me.
Jefferson said he would rather attend to the inconveniences to too much liberty than too little.
We are in the opposite position now. Safety is paramount to freedom and choices.
Seems like an extension of the scientifically managed society.
You can live to 100, but if you spend all that time being badgered and controlled, is it worth it?
Suffice to say most grownups are not adults and it’s fer sure this ain’t no “free country”
The Nanny State has no bounds. Intoxicants, cigs, “safety”, is their mealy mouthed cry.
Interesting you should bring up the Marines (now the Queen Berets). Here’s the AI response to death rates for combat:
“According to available data, the average combat death rate per 100 million soldiers varies greatly depending on the war and historical period, but a rough estimate could be around 1-10 million deaths per 100 million soldiers, with some wars seeing significantly higher rates, particularly during World War I and World War II.”
Yet, we allow people to entice 17 year olds to join in the fun. Note that the same safety nannies now proclaim that the human brain is not fully mature until 25 years of age. They assert that as such those under 25 do not have the mental maturity to make proper decisions when it comes to risky behavior. Hmmm.
As you point out, Eric, it’s always “for your own good”. This is the line uttered by The Captain (Strother Martin) in Cool Hand Luke to which Luke replies, “I wish you’d stop bein’ so good to me Cap’n”. Martin the proceeds to hit him with a blackjack and deliver his iconic “failure to communicate” lines. (As a side note, Martin went on to play TT Flowers in a two part Rockford Files. As he’s being hauled away from his home to be involuntarily committed to a mental ward Rockford asks his daughter how she can do this. She replies, “It’s for his own good.” I have to believe the writers knew what they were doing.)
Which brings up the point that anyone who now objects to all this “protection” is labeled as having ODD. Again, AI’s take:
“Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) is a behavioral condition that involves a pattern of negative reactions to authority, frequent temper tantrums, and difficulty managing emotions”.
These authoritarian pricks must be dealt with else we should just admit we’re living in a prison mental ward against our will.
Figures that the PTB would come up with ODD to label anyone who thinks for themselves as having a medical condition. How dare they!
Mark in BC: “Yet, we allow people to entice 17 year olds to join in the fun. Note that the same safety nannies now proclaim that the human brain is not fully mature until 25 years of age. They assert that as such those under 25 do not have the mental maturity to make proper decisions when it comes to risky behavior. Hmmm.”
But that is exactly why they want them!
We are *all* mental patients, now. 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcztDZ13TLI
Eric, quoting Orwell, has written about the astonishing ability of leftists to turn on an ideological dime in nanoseconds, unburdened by what has been. A case in point:
‘The [Democrat] party’s early preparations to oppose the next Trump administration are heavily focused on legal fights and consolidating state power.
“States in our system have a lot of power — we’re entrusted with protecting people, and we’re going to do it,” said Keith Ellison, the attorney general of Minnesota.
‘The Democratic effort will rely on the work of hundreds of lawyers, who are being recruited to combat Trump administration policies on a range of Democratic priorities.’ — NY Slimes
https://archive.ph/Vbtaa#selection-919.0-919.169
When Democrats rule the fedgov, they gleefully annihilate the role of the states. But turn the tables, and suddenly Democrats talk like Southern plantation owners in 1861 — states’ rights, baby!
For the most part, Democrats are going to get hoist on their own petard by the sweeping powers they illicitly granted to the Leviathan fedgov. US ‘justices’ will shut down their blue state defiance.
Trump’s War on CARB looms as the Fort Sumter event of the 21st century. If Commiefornia gets shot down on its exorbitant regulatory privilege — running an unconstitutional rump group of 15 states which presume to write their own environmental regs — then Gavin the Great will reach another states’ rights insight: SECEDE.
As ideological chameleons, the Left will have no difficulty advocating secession. It has nothing to do with tariffs, and 1861, and suchlike, you see. It’s not illegal when we do it.
“The power confided in me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property, and places belonging to the government, and to collect the [tripled] duties and imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion –- no using force against, or among the people anywhere.” — Ape Lincoln, March 4, 1861
“Ape” Lincoln was entirely disingenuous until the HERO, John Wilkes Booth, gave him a “brain-ectomoy” with a Derringer pistol, putting a round through the back of his diseased skull.
Contrary to his image as the “Great Emancipator”, Lincoln, after his election but prior to his inauguration on March 4, 1861, expressed doubts that he had any authority to ban or regulate slavery at all where it legally existed. He supported the Corwin Amendment, which was passed by the new Congress on March 2, 1861, just before Lincoln’s term, and Lincoln encouraged the states, especially the “slave” ones that hadn’t yet seceded from the Union, to ratify it promptly, in order to serve as an inducement for the seven states that had already seceded to reconsider and come back, peacefully, It’s text is as follows:
No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State.
FWIW, although certainly this proposed Amendment is mooted over the course of time and that slavery (at least the kind that divided this nation) is long gone, it’s still possible for other states to pass it. IDK that any state that did has withdraw their prior ratification. If somehow it was ratified, how it’d impact the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments is unclear, as its text clearly meant that WRT slavery, Congress could not pass any amendment to interfere with it or abolish it.
The entire point is that “Dishonest Abe” was quite willing to keep the “Peculiar Institution” going where it already existed, as long as the “Union” was preserved on terms he would find acceptable, including the collection of the hated and much-opposed Morill tariffs. Lincoln said as much again in his well-known 1862 letter to newspaper magnate Horace Greeley (who ran against Lincoln’s most successful, if brutal General, Ulysses Grant, in the latter’s successful bid for re-election in 1872. Greeley passed only a few weeks after that election, so he didn’t even survive for the Electoral College vote, where he’d lost, 286-62, and got less than 44 percent of the popular vote.
Lincoln’s incentive to reinforce Fort Sumter at Charleston, SC, was the same motive to pursue the war against the Confederacy: to collect the tariffs which were the lion’s share of Federal revenues at the time. That was far more important to him than what to do with negro slaves.
When the bureaurats decide that driving is too dangerous for humans they will replace it with self driving cars. You may laugh but didn’t they tell us Tesla’s are safe?
And while we’re at it screw Arnold.
Send “Ahh-nuld” and his M-47 “Patton II” tank BACK to Austria.
All this safety bullshit seams to me started with the nonstop badgering of smokers.First thrown off airplanes then restaurants ..then bars of all places.If daddy govco can do all that to “free” adults whats next force you to take a clot shot? Me? I drink alone.
I agree, Zane –
The assault upon smokers began right around the same time as “buckle up,” too. A first, these things were put up with as minor annoyances. But they metastasized into omnipresent insufferability. It is high time to stop appeasing these neurotics.
I like that little gadget, Eric. Nothing is more annoying than hearing the seat belt nanny shilling louder and more incessantly with each passing second, when I just want to drive a short distance to my neighbour’s house, and do not want to bother with the seat belt, because I am on back roads in BFE. Or, as with XM, if the wife is taking her time taking her coat off, etc. and has the seat belt off, the stupid nanny should just shut up already. But really, it is the “Check Rear Seat” warning that still gets me, when I shut the vehicle off….
I’m right there with you Eric. You have a stronger stomach than me to even test drive new cars….They SUCK.
I always like to go to places where smokers smoke, fart in there and leave old broken eggs inside. Freedom for all the smells! 😉
I didn’t mind Larry (Lorenzo Music) and Vince (Jack Burns), the “Crash Test Dummies”, and their “Buckle Up” commercials, which were hilarious, especially this one done as “White Boy rap”…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PByKztx-FS4
If only that was all there was to it. However, as the late John Belushi would put it, “But NOOOOOOOOOO….”
And second hand smoke wasn’t what they said.
https://slate.com/technology/2017/02/secondhand-smoke-isnt-as-bad-as-we-thought.html
Apparently the “experts” think fentanyl on the bus aOK as well!
So, second hand tobacco smoke gonna get ya, the “fent” not a problem, those bus drivers just imagining the near fainting while driving:
https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/new-study-uw-finds-negligible-risk-fentanyl-smoke-buses-trains/Q6VE4M3KBZDSZKWABRTTV7RCCA/
You ever smell that shit, Sparkey? Holy Christ, is it repugnant. Makes cigarette smoke smell like potpourri in comparison. But if you’re going to do fentanyl, you smoke the pills so you can gauge the dose and not kill yourself (quickly).
It should be up to the establishment’s owner whether or not to allow smoking. Then customers in a free market can decide whether or not to frequent the establishment. Simple.
But daddy and mommy government have decided that they have the power to decide risk tolerance for you.
I fart in their general direction.
Why do we have to buckle up when we have airbags to protect us? Can we buy a car without airbags and promise that we will buckle up?
What master are you going to promise to be safe to, brother? The whole point of constitutional republic America was that the people rule themselves. As distinctly opposed to a god damned democracy (AKA communist totalitarianism) where the people rule each other in the least free/most schizophrenic possible mode of running a society.
You dont need to beg permission or promise massage to be good. Your choices and the consequences are your own. Right up until an actual unwilling or unwitting victim is involved.
Massa, not massage. F@#k autocorrect.
Airbags work with seatbelts, they are synchronized.
‘If enough of us refuse to be forced to “buckle up,” it will become harder to enforce “buckle up” laws.’ — eric
By far the most obnoxious aspect of seat belt enforcement is the fedgov-funded ‘Click It or Ticket’ campaign:
‘As you head out around the Memorial Day holiday, you’ll likely see more law enforcement on the roads as part of Click It or Ticket. This campaign, from May 20 – June 2, reminds drivers and their passengers of the importance of buckling up and the legal consequences – including fines – for not wearing a seat belt.’
https://www.nhtsa.gov/campaign/click-it-or-ticket
Like the families of Chinese death row inmates, who are obliged to pay for the bullet that gets fired into the back of the convict’s head, we are dunned for our own oppression.
Abolish the NHTSA. Send its former ‘workers’ to re-education camps, so that they can be reintegrated into civil society without resorting to their customary compulsion and threats.
‘Sophie Shulman,’ acting administrator of the NHTSA, apparently has been a tax feeder for her entire career. Get a job, Sophie. Stop being a predator.
Indeed, Jimbo. My very blood boils every time I see a nanny state message on one of those insanely expensive light up message boards by our highways.
Sit up straight!
Tighten your restraints!
Smoking is bad!
Dont be sad!