I've been hearing both sides of this story on the radio for the last few days, and would like to get the opinion here.
The Mayor of New York set up searches of backpacks, gym bags, briefcases, and (apparently) bulky coats at subway stations, and if you refuse the search, you can't board the train. You aren't arrested, you aren't hassled, you just can't board the train.
I have to confess, I'm conflicted on this issue, as the "Don't Tread On Me" and "What part of infringed don't you understand?" side of me says, "take a hike, NYC cop, you ain't searching me, 'cause I ain't doin' nothin wrong!" I think if we allow these searches for bombs to begin, then the next step is searches for guns, knives, rolling pins, books with bombs in them, physics textbooks, etc, etc. "Mission Creep" in other words.
However, I also value the lives of my fellow Americans (however misguided and politically correct they may be) and would rather see a few people inconvenienced than a lot of people dead, as long as it's not ME being inconvenienced. Individual rights are more important to me than society, but I'd like to think I have some compassion for my fellow man.
What say you?
S/F
Farnham
PS: Save the Ben Franklin, I've been saying it every afternoon to the blissninnies that say they'd rather travel clothed only in bubble wrap than have someone else killed by a terrorist bomb.
The Mayor of New York set up searches of backpacks, gym bags, briefcases, and (apparently) bulky coats at subway stations, and if you refuse the search, you can't board the train. You aren't arrested, you aren't hassled, you just can't board the train.
I have to confess, I'm conflicted on this issue, as the "Don't Tread On Me" and "What part of infringed don't you understand?" side of me says, "take a hike, NYC cop, you ain't searching me, 'cause I ain't doin' nothin wrong!" I think if we allow these searches for bombs to begin, then the next step is searches for guns, knives, rolling pins, books with bombs in them, physics textbooks, etc, etc. "Mission Creep" in other words.
However, I also value the lives of my fellow Americans (however misguided and politically correct they may be) and would rather see a few people inconvenienced than a lot of people dead, as long as it's not ME being inconvenienced. Individual rights are more important to me than society, but I'd like to think I have some compassion for my fellow man.
What say you?
S/F
Farnham
PS: Save the Ben Franklin, I've been saying it every afternoon to the blissninnies that say they'd rather travel clothed only in bubble wrap than have someone else killed by a terrorist bomb.