Thursday, July 07, 2011

Unintended consequences

Reading the news warning parents not to put ther babies' "Scantily clad" pictures on the net - stupid warning, as as soon as the girls learn how to use a camera they start taking scantily pictures of themselves and put them on the net themselves... - since wrong people will save those pictures on the harddrives, I remembered an incident that took place not long ago.

It was the second day of a bachelor party and it was a sunny day. So we went to where the people of this town like to go to get a coffee and a donut. 

We were walking to my car when I spotted a 12-14 year old girl who was trying to open a water bottle. She seemed mentally ok, but had disproportionate limbs and maybe a hint of a slight cerebral palsy. It was clear that the parents/caretakers were not around at the moment, and she tried desperately to open that bottle.

The two friends in front of me seemed not to notice, but the one walking with me, noticed me looking and noticed me being torn between helping her and having to continue my way.

"Yea, don't want to get sued"

He told me before I said anything.

There you have it. We got to protect the children you shouted, and now you have taken away the biggest protector of young children in need, bystanding men.

Now we are afraid, no, no, not afraid, now we have to make the rational decision to walk away.

You created this environment, you "child protectors"; in your undiscriminating attack on all of us, you left the children without protection.

This small remark from a finnish friend of mine tells so much of what will not be written in the papers.

How many children have drowned because of the conditions these policy makers lobbied for, making men reconsider helping a  drowning kid in order to save his own life, and not to make the father of his children be absent in prison for years?

How many children were lost? Were harmed, hurt or traumatized because "We have to protect the children from men?"

And it does also backfire on the older population.

When it is made criminal to help a person,

People walk by when they see a rape happening.

But yea, all these laws, for the good of the children.

Right.

Fitting this topic is also the idiots who will walk the SlutWalk in Helsinki;
And I got one sentence for them:

You cannot outlegislate crime,
You can, on the other hand outlegislate the helping hand.



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