I guess it must've been inevitable. People wanna feel secure. People are afraid. People are distrustin'. And they ain't to be trusted. That's why somebody's gotta watch 'em. That's why somebody's gotta keep us under their thumb. It must be 'cause that's what happens.
We got cameras in every grocery store. We got 'em poppin' up over every stop light in the country. We even put cameras in every phone now and make 'em readily available for every Youth. You can watch people watching the ones you love through cameras in daycares or nursing homes. We make sure you can't walk down the street without someone seein' your face. Someone, somewhere, that you don't even know can see your face right now.
Is it really what this country needs? Is it really what anybody wants?
How 'bout these red light cameras? What are they really good for? They actually do stop people from runnin' red lights. No better incentive to stop doin' sumthin' than to know you're gonna get busted for it. Statistics I've found say it all but stops right angle collisions. If you're in North Carolina the fine is a minimal, but still too rich for my blood, fifty bucks. These statistics say that overall traffic accidents have gone down 'cause of these things. Seems like there really shouldn't be a problem right?
But to me there is. If you look at those same statistics they'll tell you that the rear end collision rate has gone up quite a bit 'cause of people slammin' on the brakes at a yellow light to avoid gettin' ticketed. Along with that the number of injuries from collisions has gone up as well. Somehow numerically that still adds up to less accidents overall.
I'm sure the number of dollars generated thanks to such tickets has gone up though. In Cali, you run a red light you owe somebody $500 bucks. I think I'll just take the bus. In Tennessee, they cut the yellow by almost a full second and you know those things don't last long as it is. They got in trouble for it and wound up refunding all those fines. In Iowa, twenty-six cops got ticketed for different instances where they ran red lights, fifteen of 'em are gonna be disciplined through their jobs. The rest are cleared and from what I read, there was no mention of a fine for those boys. They apparently got off 'cause they were on their way to emergency calls and just forgot to put on a siren. What happens when they forget to put the safety on their gun? Or when they pull sumthin' like that with a kid on the road? Or better yet if they can get off with sayin' "I'll be more careful next time" why can't we?
And not to sound like a real conspiracy nut, but I think it's fair to at least wonder just why we seem to NEED these cameras in our phones. People used to have cameras and they used to have phones. Now everybody's got these digital jobs that hold information in the phone or camera. You send these to your friends along with texts and jokes and whatever other crap you can send now and never give it another thought. But doesn't that stuff gotta travel through a satellite and be redirected. Ever wonder if they keep records of all that stuff? Or if they send it anywhere else than where it's s'posed to go? They could and we'd never know. I dunno that they do. I'd certainly hope Sprint or AT&T or whoever ain't doin' such things but who's to say?
All I know is that I don't like that if I get into a fight with a guy or if I take a leak in a back alley it could easily be up on youtube in an hour. I don't like havin' the eyes of big brother on me.
Life isn't meant to be watched and monitored or feared. Life is for livin'. Sometimes that means runnin' a red light or speedin' or doin' sumthin' that's against the rules. We don't need cameras to threaten us into bein' perfect. We aren't perfect. We should account for our need to be bad once in a while and the fact that we make mistakes.
It starts with watchin' you, then listenin' to you, before too long you won't be free to be you.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_light_camera
http://www.officer.com/web/online/Top-News-Stories/Red-Light-Cameras-Catch-Iowa-Police/1$53218
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