Quote:
Originally Posted by ShadeTreeMech
If humans as a species didn't always demonstrate foolish self destructive behavior, these laws wouldn't have been made..... People are not collectively intelligent, they are collectively sheep needing a dog to herd them into submission and nip at their heels when they wander too far from safety.
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I think you raise a good point about where the two opinions on helmet laws are originating from, ShadeTree. The assumption that people "
always demonstrate foolish self-destructive behaviors", is the one Frank, myself and Thyme are all concerned with.
That is an opinion I and others take offence at, especially if it comes from a gov't politician. A very demeaning assessment of many self-motivated, ambitious, college-educated, productive law-abiding tax-paying
individuals. All reduced to incompetent drones who can not decide whether a helmet is worth wearing on an individual basis. Read into what that quote implies. In essence, only a few individuals out of society (a very small minority of like opinion) are qualified to know best, only a few have the wisdom, the intellect, the awareness, the purity of birth, to choose for the masses, and the majority of the human race has no right to disagree because they are lesser beings. I don't consider myself self-destructive, don't I deserve the same freedom those few higher beings retain for themselves? How do they justify their being higher forms of life than I? What metric sets the "fools" apart from those who are self-appointed "Big brothers"?? Can anyone be voted in, or is it by birth? Dangerous concept.
Don't get me wrong, I totally support offering helmets to those who want one, and seat belts, etc etc., (I always wear a helmet). The
self-exalting attitude behind forcing me to wear one is what I oppose.