having a little fun

and becoming a little ungovernable

so, apparently, youtuber alex choi is facing federal charges for making a video.

apparently, it's illegal to shoot fireworks at lamborghinis from a helicopter.

sigh.

fricking thieves of joy...

and yeah, yeah i'm sure you can make a safety argument, but this was individuals making individual choices far from anyone else who could be hurt or affected. it was a bunch of adults making adult choices out in the absolute middle of nowhere.

you crash, blow up your lambo, explode a helicopter, well, that’s on you. assuming you survive, your insurance will laugh at you if you try to make a claim. that seems fair. choices have consequences be they joy or pain. but you should get to make yours.

if they did this in the middle of san franciso, sure, that would be a very different proposition because a lot of people who did not say “yes” would or could be, quite literally, impacted. lots of things that are reasonable on a desert salt flat are not reasonable in the middle of a supermarket. (though honestly, if you did this in oakland, i’m not even sure anyone would notice)

risk is a personal matter. people go base jumping or hang gliding or free climb el capitan.

who is to tell us all just what personal risk preference should be?

we’ve all seen how that one can go and where the safety karens would happily take us.

and sure, this is a funny corner case, but it’s also emblematic of a bigger issue:

whose choice is it?

what’s freedom?

what’s fun?

and why, so long as you are peaceful and do not harm others of their property, is it anyone’s business but yours?

regulated by the department of nunya. (nunya damn business)

somehow, the feds cannot get out of bed for corruption or massive government graft, but you collect some rainwater in barrels on your own land and suddenly the EPA is all over you for violating watershed laws?

this sort of criminalization of victimless activity is neither american nor sane nor reasonable.

it’s just harmful, tedious, and ultimately suffocating.

this sort of regulation spreads like strangle vine once you cede the right to adjudicate such things. and this is why i fear the trojan framings of corner cases.

it’d be a shame if everyone saw how awesome this video is.

perhaps this is not your cup of tea, but come on, tell me this is not fantastic.

because this is the america i signed up for.

and if these people wind up with a legal defense fund, bad cattitude is donating.

become ungovernable.