Sentenced to Silent Streets!

Now here’s a discussion that’s got my head spinning. But first, as George would say, here’s the set-up.

A quiet British Columbia neighbourhood was rocketed last week when a helicopter dropped from the sky and burst into flames. The crash not only killed the people inside but a pedestrian as well. Obviously this was a totally random occurrence and seems to me like something straight out of a Tom Cruise movie; which is not to diminish the event itself because it’s obviously very tragic.

As new information was released about the suspicious crash and the events surrounding it, discussion has been taken into a completely different and I’d say unfortunate direction.

It seems that the pedestrian in this case, Isaiah Otieno, was a young student who was mailing a letter when the helicopter struck. Talk about shit luck, right?

Well it seems that this tragedy was the straw that broke the camel’s back for some people and so they are pushing to have it become illegal to wear headphones while crossing the street. A Bill proposing just that was pushed in New York but thankfully, was defeated. But it seems (according to various news sources, as reliable as those are) that there’s increasing discussion about creating guidelines around the use of headphones in public spaces.

I think it’s a crock of shit.

I agree with it, on principle. I do. And not because of this event in BC, only because from my knowledge of helicopters, Isaiah would of felt the shockwaves in his body, never mind the noise. So I highly doubt that it’s headphones which caused him to be crushed.

As a sometimes driver, I get that people jaywalk or whatnot and you’re honking at ‘em and they don’t listen because they're too busy getting their groove on. I get that. But in that case, you’d be charged with jaywalking; which while not as glamorous as “fine by headphones” is more logical.

I’m just really, really opposed to this new mentality we’ve got going on where we need to coddle the hell out of people. You baby the hell out of people and then they become sheep who can’t do dick on their own without someone holding their hand. Not cool. Not to mention the policing of this stuff. Do we really need to be wasting police resources on giving fines to people who *gasp* listen to music while walking?!

Whoever has that much time on their hands should be put to work doing something useful like... knitting.

Everyone loves a good pair of mittens.