big brother run amok

[veeman]

recently moved to connecticut.  had to go to work and so was driving in my tank (buick enclave) in the middle of the blizzard.  it's so heavy, has fairly new tires, and is awd so it's pretty hard to get stuck even in 2 feet of snow as long as you're on the road and don't slide off the road.  it got me thinking.  these mandates by governors that it is "illegal" to drive seem awfully big brotherish.  yes, if i get stuck i'm causing a hazard and will divert valuable resourcese to save my ass but at the same time, you can make a similar argument to outlaw mountain climbing.  i think these laws cross the line.  it's like a hurricane/flood warning.  you can be a dumb ass and ride it out and may be die but they won't arrest you for staying.  i don't like laws which try to protect me from myself.  seat belts are a good thing.  bike helmets are a good thing.  but when will it stop.  it's already crossed into no large sugary drinks.  in 10 years they will have laws preventing you from driving during certain times of the day routinely because of work related traffic.  if your license plate ends with an odd number, you can't drive between 7 and 8 am and if you're license plate ends with an even number, you can't drive between 8 and 9 am.  think i'm kidding...  you'll see.   

[Payman]

It was probably a necessary evil in this case so the snowplows could clear the roads unimpeded.

[GoCougs]

It is immoral, and I can't see how any American would follow suit. I certainly wouldn't.

[Payman]

It is immoral, and I can't see how any American would follow suit. I certainly wouldn't.

I believe you.

[veeman]

Came home this morning (i work the graveyard shift).  Low and behold, I-95 is clear and i'm driving in connecticut with a convoy of about 30 other passenger cars.  Stupid scare tactics.  We live in a curfew state. It's the end of the republic as we know it.

[J86]

makes me fucking furious.  going to turn me into one of those looney toons woods people one of these days

[Rupert]

Moving to Idaho? There are a lot of those dudes in this state.

[J86]

No salt water.

[Rupert]

Nah, we have some salt water pools.

Though I agree that that is a major problem.

[J86]

I like big salt water pools

[dazzleman]

Came home this morning (i work the graveyard shift).  Low and behold, I-95 is clear and i'm driving in connecticut with a convoy of about 30 other passenger cars.  Stupid scare tactics.  We live in a curfew state. It's the end of the republic as we know it.

The road was clear because people were ordered off it at the height of the storm.  Otherwise, there would have been stranded cars all over, and you wouldn't have been able to get through.  When your actions and decision affect others beyond a certain point, you have to accept limitations sometimes in the name of the greater good.

[Rupert]

Socialist.

[dazzleman]

Socialist.

[S204STi]

It was probably a necessary evil in this case so the snowplows could clear the roads unimpeded.

This.

[veeman]

It was a snowstorm.  Period.  They occur every year.  People get stranded every year.  It's becoming a nanny state.  Give all the warnings and admonishments you want.  Once you start weilding the threat of arrest, fines, and imprisonment, they've crossed the line.  Why not ban walking outside?  A tree could fall on you diverting precious emergency services?  Why not impose a curfew?  Then the roads AND sidewalks can be clear.  It's the end of the republic.  All for the common good.   

[GoCougs]

It was probably a necessary evil in this case so the snowplows could clear the roads unimpeded.

Government always has a reason.

It would never fly in the PNW states. At worst they'll close a mountain pass for avalanche control.

[dazzleman]

It was a snowstorm.  Period.  They occur every year.  People get stranded every year.  It's becoming a nanny state.  Give all the warnings and admonishments you want.  Once you start weilding the threat of arrest, fines, and imprisonment, they've crossed the line.  Why not ban walking outside?  A tree could fall on you diverting precious emergency services?  Why not impose a curfew?  Then the roads AND sidewalks can be clear.  It's the end of the republic.  All for the common good.   

No, it was an unusually large blizzard.

[TurboDan]

They tried this in NJ during Hurricane Sandy but nobody listened. The only places that were truly blocked off were areas where you needed to cross a bridge to get there. And even then, we had a flotilla of people crossing the bay in boats because the roadways were being blocked by police.

The NJ State Police eventually installed infrared cameras on top of water towers on the barrier islands so they could pinpoint incoming boats at night and send police boats out to turn them around.

[Raza]

They tried this in NJ during Hurricane Sandy but nobody listened.

And........................................people died.

Declaring a state of emergency can make sense sometimes. 

[Speed_Racer]

Seems like a necessary evil because the average human is an idiot that does increasingly stupid things because they don't stop and think beforehand.

Plowing snow in a blizzard is hard enough, having to dodge (dark, empty) stranded cars is even worse. More time plowing = more tax dollars, slower response, angrier crowd of stupid people.

[Payman]

It was a snowstorm.  Period.  They occur every year.  People get stranded every year.  It's becoming a nanny state.  Give all the warnings and admonishments you want.  Once you start weilding the threat of arrest, fines, and imprisonment, they've crossed the line.  Why not ban walking outside?  A tree could fall on you diverting precious emergency services?  Why not impose a curfew?  Then the roads AND sidewalks can be clear.  It's the end of the republic.  All for the common good.   

How upset would you be if it took 3 extra days to plow the roads? The extra tax dollars to rescue stupid people? Come on, Chicken Little, government wouldn't need to do this if society wasn't made up of so many dumb people.

[GoCougs]

How upset would you be if it took 3 extra days to plow the roads? The extra tax dollars to rescue stupid people? Come on, Chicken Little, government wouldn't need to do this if society wasn't made up of so many dumb people.

And how did they get so "dumb" (actually, entitled/spoiled/irrational)?

[SVT666]

And how did they get so "dumb" (actually, entitled/spoiled/irrational)?

We got so dumb because dumb people breed more than intelligent people, therefore there are more of them...and we don't believe in Survival of the Fittest anymore.  Dumb people don't die from their dumb decisions anymore.  Intelligence is being bred out of society.

Soon we will have nations of retards being governed by mildly smarter retards.  We're almost there anyway.

[GoCougs]

We got so dumb because dumb people breed more than intelligent people, therefore there are more of them...and we don't believe in Survival of the Fittest anymore.  Dumb people don't die from their dumb decisions anymore.  Intelligence is being bred out of society.

Soon we will have nations of retards being governed by mildly smarter retards.  We're almost there anyway.

We got so "dumb" (entitled/spoiled/irrational) because the consequences for our "dumb" choices (choose to not have a job, choose to have too big a mortgage, choose to not have healthcare, choose to not save for retirement, etc., etc.) are covered up by government. Give those bad snow drivers big tickets and big bills/fines and watch them get a whole lot smarter real quick.

[Payman]

We got so "dumb" (entitled/spoiled/irrational) because the consequences for our "dumb" choices (choose to not have a job, choose to have too big a mortgage, choose to not have healthcare, choose to not save for retirement, etc., etc.) are covered up by government. Give those bad snow drivers big tickets and big bills/fines and watch them get a whole lot smarter real quick.

Isn't that exactly what you're arguing against?

[J86]

I sent it north at 6pm on Friday, taking the inland route to avoid Mass's road closures, and had a GREAT weekend skiing in VT.  What emergency?

[TurboDan]

And........................................people died.

They did? 

The only two people who died in the storm in my county (where the storm hit) were old people who died of heart attacks in their houses. We got the official "death list" from the prosecutor's office after the storm.

[Rupert]

We got so dumb because dumb people breed more than intelligent people, therefore there are more of them...and we don't believe in Survival of the Fittest anymore.  Dumb people don't die from their dumb decisions anymore.  Intelligence is being bred out of society.

Soon we will have nations of retards being governed by mildly smarter retards.  We're almost there anyway.

Idiocracy is not a documentary...

[Soup DeVille]

Idiocracy is not a documentary...

No, its a prophecy.

[GoCougs]

Isn't that exactly what you're arguing against?

What is "exactly what?"