This month Manly Council erected a surfboard-shaped sign at its most famous beach to instruct board-riders how to behave in the surf. Two years ago the council installed a $26,000 safety fence at the notorious ”jump rock”, where the young and young-at-heart plunge into the ocean below. This year it pledged to have rangers patrol the area, intent on catching thrill-seekers in the act. But their efforts haven’t stopped the kids from jumping, and the fence has simply turned out to be an expensive ratepayer-funded diving platform.
That parents, teachers, doctors, priests, and other assorted experts claim to know best about the potential risks and dangers we face – both individually and as a community – is nothing new. But the expectation that government should legislate to protect us from these risks and dangers is.
This poses some fundamental questions about citizens’ relationship with government. Protecting our physical security – for example from threats of war, violence and other types of crime – is at the core of what governments do. But how far does the definition of security extend?
Larry Niven the SF writer perhaps summed it up best with his line: “Evolution in Action.” Sometimes you just can’t stop stupid.
No, no, no…nay, little sheep…the question is, “Can we save ourselves [i]from[/i] the Nanny State?”