The Baptiste Family

Not many people realize how far down into our society some of these ’security’ laws passed after 9/11 are reaching. We all know about not bring nail clippers and cigarette lighters onto airplanes, but now our children are being turned into passive robots who never will be allowed to try anything themselves for fear of ‘hurting themselves’.

Wired has an astounding article at the absolute paranoia that has driven government agencies to run background checks and fingerprint model rocket enthusiasts and arrest suppliers of minute quantities of chemicals for home experimentation. I used to fire off model rockets all the time as a kid. I recall Boy Scout camporees that were dedicated to building model rockets with a huge launch on Sunday afternoon. I still have the 32 pad launch system in my basement we build for it. I have reloadable rocket engine shells from a company that has now been forced out of business by the US government.

No matter what your political affiliation - you really need to read this article. Our children will have no concept of discovery and curiosity outside the Internet. How can we expect our kids to strive to be scientific luminaries if they aren’t allowed to touch anything until they are in college?

9/11 was a horrific event, but the aftermath on our society and the utter destruction of our country’s institutions in the aftermath by our own government is the saddest thing I’ve ever seen. What kind of message will it send to my children that their father has to be finger printed and have a background check when he wants to show them the excitement of model rocketry.

I’m really getting tired of companies who are trying to squash dissent instead of, oh, I don’t know, trying to understand their customer’s concerns and maybe, just maybe, improve their product?  Who says schools should be any different.  All parents complain about their schools in one way or another and, of course, some of it is unwarranted.  But why are people SO concerned about online forums?  Sure, idiots can post incorrect and slanderous stuff.  But if they do, you go after the person posting it using existing laws.  If its anonymous, well gee, they could do it with paper posters too - kinda hard to track those down too.  Charter wants to shut down a discussion forum where parents are airing concerns instead of engaging the parents.  What are we going to do? Shut down paper factories during campaign season to combat disparaging campaign flyers handed out anonymously and illegally? This is not an isolated incident.  Slashdot and other sites constantly have stories about companies using cease and desist tactics to combat negative press or to shut down discussion boards. I’m not saying there aren’t abuses out there - but you go after the offenders themselves, not the technology they use.  Same thing with media piracy.  Why restrict what I can do with media I’ve paid for when pirates always find a way to pirate media, regardless of the technology used?

Can you imagine the good will that would be created if Charter’s administrators actually posted rebuttals in the forum and engaged the practical parents in debate?  Sure they’d probably attract moron parents sputtering junk, but the majority of the parents probably would respect their efforts and likely tone down the rhetoric and try to be constructive, and who knows maybe even work with them to arrive at mutually beneficial solutions.  After the parents had lifted themselves off the floor from the shock.

It COULD happen.