Though the deception left some teens temporarily confused and angry, if it makes even one student think twice before getting behind the wheel of a car while intoxicated, it is worth the price, said California Highway Patrol Officer Eric Newbury, who orchestrates the program at local high schools.Government's function is to secure the blessings of liberty, not wake anyone up, and certainly not lie to citizens to achieve its objectives. But good job teaching young citizens to never trust authority figures, Eric, particularly "Only Ones." The biggest lesson here is the ends justify the means, and if cops can lie to get what they want, why shouldn't we be able to?
“When someone says to me, 'Oh, my God, you're traumatizing my children,' I'm telling them, 'No, what I'm doing is waking them up,' ” said Newbury, whose father was killed by a drunken driver.
It's like stupid DARE programs--most kids would never think to "huff" household chemicals unless some adult moron who can't grasp the concept of unintended consequences put the idea in their head.
I would bet there are no peer-reviewed validating statistics to prove that students who are subjected to the "Every 15 Minutes" LIE modify their behaviors, particularly a year, two or three into the future.
But because the cause is deemed so "worthwhile," and because there is no shortage of victims and survivor family members to exploit the sympathy of the herd, the charade continues. Just like with the gun issue.
[Via cycjec, from The Agitator]
ANOTHER public relations disaster for the cops AND MADD.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'd like to thank MADD for all the CHECKPOINTS. Example: 400 cars stopped, TWO DUI arrests, two guns "recovered."
About a thousand people's privacy destroyed.
"Worthwhile"?
Ja, mein Herr. Da, tovarich robotnik.
I hate it when people use foreign words wih no translation, so, that is, of course, "Yes, sir" in German and "Yes, comrade worker" in Russian. Since we don't know which politicial model we'll be living under, it's best to split the difference.
You know what convinced me to never drink and drive?
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm reasonably intelligent, for one thing. The movies we used to watch of sheet-covered meat extracted from wrecks, also a big one.
And hey, isn't it illegal for high school-age kids to drink at all anyway? How's THAT Prohibition program workin' out?
'Round here, the cops look in windows to see exactly who's partying when there's a lot of cars at a house. Really.
I don't recommend that. But, then again, I'm just a citizen.
Also, parents have gone to jail for providing 19- and 20-year olds with a safe place to have their parties, which keeps them OFF THE ROADS. On this, at least, we could learn from the Europeans, where wine and beer are not forbidden fruit and children grow up respecting alcohol, much as we like them to respect guns.
This is a refinement and updated
ReplyDeleteversion of the "Death Education" programs that have been around perhaps as long as some readers of this blog have been alive. See Schlafly's _ Child Abuse In The Classroom _ c. 1980. These didn't
originally involve deception by
LEOs. cycjec