Wednesday, March 02, 2011

You've gotta watch out -- don't even trust yourself

During a long car ride last weekend I was listening to CBC One. What should come on but a series of mini-interviews with young kids about how they would improve the world if they could.

One youngster said he/she would get rid of everything bad. How?

"Lots of cops and cameras everywhere."

From idealistic kid to Robespierre in about 15 seconds.

Image: St. Just, Robespierre's young sidekick.

1 comment:

Jeb Raitt said...

It's that idealistic belief in quick fixes that has gotten so many people into trouble. After all, "law and order" (or something very close) was one of Hitler's campaign promises when he ran for president. Short of divine intervention, I doubt that there's a silver bullet.

In Washington DC, many years ago (in the 70s or early 80s), I was strolling around the vicinity of the Capitol and noticed that there seemed to be a cop on every street corner. I approached one of them and asked if there was something special going on. He replied in the negative, and explained that the Capitol District, the area around the Capitol, was a separate jurisdiction and was always policed that tightly.

Is that kind of vigilance the price of freedom? I don't think so, not everywhere.