Freedom is not safe

Masks impede your ability to yell louder, which is a death sentence for many conservatives.

 

When fascists talk about taking away freedom, they mean someone else's freedom. They don't care about anyone beyond themselves.

 

I think that's quite true. If Trump and his brown shirts win another term, we can kiss our freedoms goodbye.

 

You're telling me. I was told I had already voted last election. (I hadn't.)

 

No, it's not alphabet soup. It's chili - and not just any chili - it's five alarm slap-your-momma chili.

 

We have lost so many freedoms in America, that many people feel normal to not be free.

One example, nothing earth-shattering or of any particular importance, just an example: Until 1988, we were free to purchase lawn darts. Real lawn darts with metal tips.

These were banned by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in 1988 because a single child was killed in 1987 and the father blamed the fatality not on his personal negligence, but on the size of the warning label on the box. He said, "We’re talking a three-foot high box with a little tiny warning. I mean, there’s something in that box that can be fatal. That’s what my anger is — because I know what happened, I didn’t see the warning and my child is now dead. Because if I had seen that warning, I would have never brought this product home.”

Before that time, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reached a compromise with manufacturers in 1976 that allowed the darts to be sold under certain conditions: they could not be sold in toy stores, retailers could not place them in or near their toy departments, and the darts (which were typically sold in sets of four) had to include a clear warning that they should only be used by adults.

The lawn darts this man purchased in 1987 actually had a warning label on the box, which this man couldn't be bothered to read. A warning label that really shouldn't be necessary because it's a Giant. Metal. Dart. A giant metal dart not sold in a toy store.

It's all on Snopes, if you like snopes. Did the U.S. Ban Lawn Dart Sales After One Child's Death?

I actually own two sets of lawn darts - one the "potentially lethal" variety and one the "not as fun but safe for children" variety. I don't need a warning label to prevent me from handing giant metal darts to my children, any more than I required a warning label to prevent me from letting them play with a metal "for adults" horseshoe set instead of the kiddie version. But that's because I take personal responsibility for their safety. I mean, there are even very sharp knives in the kitchen, y'know?

If you are curious, the Consumer Product Safety Commission is an agency conjured into being by Congress in 1972. Since the Constitution grants certain powers to our elected Congresspeople regarding interstate commerce, they figured they could delegate - and why not expand - these powers to a group of unelected people not responsive to the electorate. Because... democracy, right?

The CPSC has offices in Bethesda, Md., Rockville, Md., and Beijing, China. They have chosen to use their limitless unaccountable powers in interesting ways since that time, but as their power grows, it will probably get even more interesting. Back in 2009, they briefly banned the sale of used toys and clothing for children because of the slight possibility that some old stuff might or might not contain lead. https://www.lemarssentinel.com/story/1501872.html

They also have acted to protect big companies like Fisher-Price, whose Rock-n-Play sleeper was only recalled after Consumer Reports revealed that 32 children had been killed by the product, which was not a giant metal dart but a cheap-o crib that was making millions for Fisher-Price.

Big deal - not a big deal? It's all how you look at it. If that's all Pol Pot had done for his country, Cambodia would have been a happier place. For freedom-loving Americans, having extra-Constitutional agencies of unelected officials exercising vague powers limiting our freedoms to purchase a gently used winter coat or a second hand basketball for our children sort of sucks.

 

People's freedom is in tact. I don't agree that our freedoms are somehow vanishing.


What I find readily apparent is the overwhelmingly ignorant school of thought that says we are being overrun - or that somehow there is a political shift at play that is destroying the fabric of our being.


We are not meant to be this very narrow Euro-centric version of America that fears aristocracy and taxes and has a need to place Jesus in the hearts of every Native we encounter, no.


We are diversity! We are opportunity!


I believe that America is sooo powerful and that we have a lot to offer in terms of the direction of the world in global unification.

 

If I see a vehicle with an "Aristocracy & Taxes" bumper sticker, I'll honk and wave.

 

I turn my nose up with most bumper stickers - God & Country? I can think of better combinations...


fish and white wine? Potatoes and beer?

 

seriously, read the rest of the post - it's about aristocracy and taxes, but it's also about diversity.

 

the whole "keep america american" thinking... it's very post 9/11-y, and the view that other countries are out to get it must slowly fade.

That said, I do value freedom and I think it's one of the most precious resources we have!

 

...

 

Aw, too bad about your lawn darts. As resident of a totalitarian community (a condo) with an HOA that tells me I have to keep my dog on a leash an pick up after him when he poops, I can commiserate. With 670 people (four-fifths of them kids) going to the emergency room every year, some left permanently injured or disabled, the CPSC decided something needed to be done. Before the 1976 compromise, other kids had died from the darts.

Obviously, some folks weren't reading the label. I agree that anyone with a mental capacity above that of a rhesus monkey ought to be able to figure out that they're dangerous. The father of the deceased went on a national crusade on the issue, even got himself on Joan Rivers to air it, and got powerful Congressman John Dingle to introduce a bill. One might suspect that he was trying to assuage his own sense of guilt by arguing that the little label on the big box was too small. I just got through using a magnifying glass to read the label of some new dog food to find out how much to give my pet. But the CPSC stepped in. And now, we oppressed Americans are forced to turn to croquet or horseshoes for our jollies, or maybe buy one of those POOF darts without points that land on the ground with a gentle bounce in or around the target. What's the fun in that? Or, I don't know if they're still legal, but as recently as 2009 you could buy a product called Jarts in Your Heart (the name should tell you something right there) that had the components of lawn darts you could assemble yourself. You might even try archery, since, remarkably, bows and arrows seem to be allowed, apparently because there isn't a sufficient body count. I you're really riled up about it, you might follow the path of the dead girl's dad: get yourself on Laura Ingraham or Tucker Carlson and/or write your congressman.

As a utilitarian, I tend to do benefit-cost analysis on these things: weighing the costs (kids lives and safety) against the benefits (enjoying a game) and opt for a different form of recreation. Sartre was right when he said "hell is other people", but although they're hard to live with we can't live without them. Some of those others are legislators and bureaucrats. Where the human factor is involved, we can always expect blunders and excesses, but I'd rather have my food, drugs, the environment, etc. , regulated than unregulated. You think prescriptions are dumb, but we have an opioid epidemic in this country, and Big Pharma just doesn't seem up to the task of policing itself. As for motorcyle helmets, there again we have free spirits clogging up the emergency rooms, not to mention the stress caused by looking at their brains splattered on the pavement. Even before there was a federal government, the common law of public nuisance said that we couldn't do things on our own property that would adversely impact the health, safety, and welfare of the community, and early in the last century courts decided "welfare" meant not keeping pigs in the backyard of a residential neighborhood. If you think congress could function without delegating substantial rule making powers to specialists, are you sure we can trust you with lawn darts.

 

On second thought, there are certainly some mindless regulations that seem to cause more trouble than they're worth. Like the new HF 10 minute rule on editing posts. I'm seriously considering moving to another forum or taking up another hobby. Horseshoes, maybe.

 

I surveyed people online for over a decade, and confirmed that almost none of them knew the dictionary merely contains popular definitions. Many angrily accused me of lying about the dictionary, over half admitted to making up their own definitions for words, and most accused me of wasting their time with two simple questions, they were free to decline to answer. Freedom ain't nothing but a joke in bad taste, if nobody is free to agree upon the stupid dictionary. Believe it or not, my work makes it easier than ever before to automate any kind of intellectual Three Stooges slapstick, and I'm designing bots you will love to debate with all day long. They will be quite informative and insightful, for any kind of gibberish people demand to hear.

Freedom is your right to reject your own fucking dictionary, in favor of mob mentality.

 

The government decides how much rat shit can be in my food? What a waste of taxpayers money! I will decide how much rat shit I'll consume, thank you!!

 

Bitches about government's control over our "freedoms".

Best example they can come up with is Lawn Darts...

Seriously?

 

And that's another important point. With all the products coming onto the market, how does the ordinary consumer keep up? How do I know how much rat shit is in my food, or how much I can consume without getting sick? So I'm glad that a group of experts does the job of keeping up for me. Otherwise, my life would be more complicated and therefore unpleasant than it it.