self preservation
Regular Member
At work the other day we were discussing an incident that happened in our state between a college student and LEO. Long story short, the student exercised his rights, cop get's pi$$ed off and then violates the students rights, student films the whole thing and the LEO gets fired. A few of my co-workers couldn't figure out what the LEO had done wrong (he did and illegal search in the kids dorm room)
I felt this would be a good time to do a little "test" on my "peers". So out of the 7 or 8 guys standing around I first ask who knew what the first 10 Amendments of the constitution were called? For the first 30 seconds or so all I got were blank stares. Then one guy said with hesitation "the... bill... of... rights???" At this point I knew that my second question was going to be interesting. I then ask "who can name 5 rights that are listed in the Bill of Rights"? (keep in mind that the 1st Amendment alone has 5)
I got "Freedom of speech", "right to bear arms" and "fair and speedy trial" within the first 10 seconds but then.....they hit a wall. After some intense thinking the next two answers I got were......wait for it...wait..
"the right to happiness"
and
" freedom of information act":banghead:
Now I work with some folks that I wonder how they find their way home at the end of their shift. But in all fairness I also work with some very educated people. And some of these guys have college degrees. But yet the still had no clue to what rights they do or do not have. Is it no wonder we are going toward a police state? Is it no wonder that we lose a little bit more of our liberties as time goes on? The old saying goes "if you don't use it you lose it". Wouldn't our rights fit under this saying? Or imagine you are on trial (criminal or civil) and your rights have been violated. The jury must decide your fate but how will they know that your rights have been violated if they don't know what your rights are in the first place???
Does anyone else find this disturbing?
I felt this would be a good time to do a little "test" on my "peers". So out of the 7 or 8 guys standing around I first ask who knew what the first 10 Amendments of the constitution were called? For the first 30 seconds or so all I got were blank stares. Then one guy said with hesitation "the... bill... of... rights???" At this point I knew that my second question was going to be interesting. I then ask "who can name 5 rights that are listed in the Bill of Rights"? (keep in mind that the 1st Amendment alone has 5)
I got "Freedom of speech", "right to bear arms" and "fair and speedy trial" within the first 10 seconds but then.....they hit a wall. After some intense thinking the next two answers I got were......wait for it...wait..
"the right to happiness"
and
" freedom of information act":banghead:
Now I work with some folks that I wonder how they find their way home at the end of their shift. But in all fairness I also work with some very educated people. And some of these guys have college degrees. But yet the still had no clue to what rights they do or do not have. Is it no wonder we are going toward a police state? Is it no wonder that we lose a little bit more of our liberties as time goes on? The old saying goes "if you don't use it you lose it". Wouldn't our rights fit under this saying? Or imagine you are on trial (criminal or civil) and your rights have been violated. The jury must decide your fate but how will they know that your rights have been violated if they don't know what your rights are in the first place???
Does anyone else find this disturbing?