Today I saw a bumper sticker that disturbed me.
It read "Report an unbuckled child" and gave a phone number to call if you decided you wanted to tattle on your neighbor.
I wondered if this could be real-if our society had really de-evolved to this-snitching as a public service.
So I did an internet search, and guess what?
We have de-evolved to this! In twenty states!
Twenty states where the walking dead are willing to become stool pigeons when they themselves were probably raised in a day and age where the was nothing in the car to buckle! And they came out of it okay!
Accoring to http://www.lawforkids.org/, if you want to be a rat, you can turn in your neighbor for this horrible offense.
The Phoenix Police Department has a hotline number set up to take these reports.
If you observe a child under the age of 5 not properly restrained while riding in a car, you can call 1-800-505-2229(BABY). They ask that you leave the following information:
1) The vehicle license number and state.
2) The city you are in when you observed the child not being buckled up.
3) Where the child was sitting in the vehicle.
A packet of useful information will then be mailed to the registered owner stating that their vehicle was observed transporting an unbuckled child. The material describes the hazards of transporting an unbuckled child under the age of 5, and encourages the owner to purchase a child restraint system. However, because the program is designed to provide information to those who might need it most, the information reported is not provided to the police, insurance companies, or to the Arizona Motor Vehicle Division.
Our tax dollars at work.
The "Baby On Board" stickers used to piss me off-this just makes me want to go nuts!
People! Fifty years ago there was a baby boom, and there were no seat belts, car seats, bicycle helmets, roller skating helmets, bicycle lights, reflective gear, warning labels or parental advisory stickers.
The cildren of the sixties turned on, tuned out, smoked anything that would burn, ingested anything that might get you high and drank if it smelled like it might get you drunk.
And now you are all worried about preservatives in your potato chips and ratting out your neighbors for not buckling in their kid.
Anyone who has ever called that number, I wish you had listened to Roger Daltry and died before you got old!
But tell me this one thing-why with all of this protection for their own good, are today's children DUMBER (lower SAT scores-look 'em up) and less self-reliant?
When I was growing up, the lowest form of life was a rat. Even our parents told us that nobody likes a rat. People who would willingly call a number like this are rats. They think they are being helpful and educating the parent in the other car, but don't let them kid you even as they're kidding themselves.
They're a rat.
And nobody likes a rat.
