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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!harpo!seismo!hao!hplabs!hplabsc!plaskon
From: plaskon@hplabsc.UUCP (Dawn Plaskon)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: mandatory seatbelt laws
Message-ID: <1654@hplabsc.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 9-Feb-84 16:34:17 EST
Article-I.D.: hplabsc.1654
Posted: Thu Feb  9 16:34:17 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 11-Feb-84 09:28:21 EST
References: <895@uw-june>
Organization: Hewlett Packard Labs, Palo Alto CA
Lines: 28

You may have the right to do stupid things if this is your desire.
It may also be true that it is not my or the government's place to
keep you from performing such actions.  However, you, as a presumably
responsible adult, do not have the right to perform actions which
will effect, infringe, or impinge upon my life.  You may have the
right to kill or injure yourself at whim, but I should have the right
to not have to pay for, be injured by, or be forced to look upon the
results of your stupid actions.  Stupid actions;  stupid being defined
here as actions which may endanger you and/or others and whose bad
effects might be offset or prevented with appropriate precautions, 
should be relegated to some area where they may be performed without
effecting the people around you.  

Refusal to recognize that your actions do effect others indicates a
refusal to accept the responsibility that being an adult brings to all
of us.  I will not claim to be perfect as we all have faults, but I 
make an honest attempt to accept responsibility for my actions and the
results of these actions.  This is part of what being an adult means, and
I find your posted article has a distinctly childlike flavor.  "I can
do what ever I want and just try to stop me, so there!"

By the way, I drive a truck, a car, and ride both motorcycles and bicycles.
I wear appropriate protective gear and use appropriate protective devices
when operating these vehicles and request that passengers wear their seat
belts when riding with me.  A little thought about what you are doing and
what the results may be can save a lot of grief in the future for you and
for others.