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The Nanny-State Mentality, In Sound-Bite Form

Jan 26, 2011
By .
Effluvia

When people are doing things that are detrimental to their own well being, then government should step in.

—New York State Senator Karl Kruger, discussing proposed legislation that would ban using phones or ipods or stuff while walking or when crossing the street.

Last 5 posts by Ken White

13 Comments
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13 Comments

  1. SPQR  •  Jan 26, 2011 @6:54 pm

    Can I advocate tar and feathers or is that a Federal crime already?

  2. Scott Jacobs  •  Jan 26, 2011 @7:30 pm

    Clearly a man who suffers from an advanced case of Cranial/Anal Inversion.

  3. Shylock Holmes  •  Jan 27, 2011 @12:52 am

    I dunno, it seems like he's only getting in on half the fun. What I think he actually meant was:

    "When people are doing things that are detrimental to their own well being, then government should step in."

    There, fixed it for you.

  4. Shylock Holmes  •  Jan 27, 2011 @12:53 am

    Whoops, ruined the gag with the html typo. Take 2?

    “When people are doing things that are detrimental to their own well being, then government should step in.”

  5. Damian P.  •  Jan 27, 2011 @6:21 am

    I don't really like it when people call this kind of thing "nannyism," because neither of my grandmothers would have proposed something this stupid.

  6. crunchback  •  Jan 27, 2011 @9:44 am

    I think people should be encouraged to use Ipods and stuff while crossing the street. Let's get those morons out of the gene pool.

  7. TomH  •  Jan 27, 2011 @12:50 pm

    Is there some proof, some iota of objective evidence, that this accident would have been prevented had Mr. King not been wearing headphones?

    Frankly, every time I hear of one of these asinine nanny state legislative suggestions (somehow they never make it to the floor of the respective legislative body) I wonder if it is serious or some kind of negative, no-publicity-is-bad-publicity things

  8. Ancel De Lambert  •  Jan 27, 2011 @4:04 pm

    Fffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!

  9. G Thompson  •  Jan 27, 2011 @7:37 pm

    Damn…
    but…but… now where are we gunna find good Darwin award contenders if no one can be a complete idiot and not take responsibilities for there own stupidity.

    Please think of the Darwin Awards ;(

  10. C. S. P. Schofield  •  Jan 27, 2011 @9:00 pm

    When people are doing things that are detrimental to their own well being, then government will step in it.

    9.95 times out of 10

  11. SG  •  Jan 28, 2011 @6:56 am

    I, being a good citizen, hereby purport a better version of this bill :

    "It shall be unlawful for anyone to be distracted by anything while walking or crossing the street. The government suggests, for the well-being of the citizens, that their eyes remain strictly fixed ahead and in front of them. Thus it is forbidden for any citizen's eyes to wander more than 5 degrees to the right or left in the horizontal plane, or to wander more than 5 degrees high or low in the vertical plane, while walking or crossing the street ; an exception being provided for when a citizen must look right and left for incoming traffic. This mandated exceptional deviation of sight will only be made at the request of an automatic video-scanning and audio system installed throughout all cities, towns, and agglomerations, and operated by the Transportation Security Agency (TSA)."

  12. SPQR  •  Jan 28, 2011 @8:06 am

    SG, or we could just put iPod's under the jurisdiction of the ATF and have them classified as AOW – Any Other Weapon – with the requisite transfer tax. ATF's regulations are vague and broad enough already to encompass them.

  13. mojo  •  Jan 31, 2011 @10:38 am

    When politicians do things that are detrimental to my freedom, they should be slapped.