Are You Feeling Safer Now?

I noticed yesterday that the printout of the water analysis of my pool had the name of the young woman who helped me -- first and last name -- at the bottom.  This is a tiny shop that probably only has two employees serving customers.


And you can rest easy now, because your local library, which has long required it's employees to wear name tags, is now requiring them to wear photo name tags.  Doesn't appear to cost much, it looks like it was done in house (on the other hand, this means there are people that work up there in administration that actually have the time to take on this project).


No, this time it is not a "your tax dollars at work" issue. The issue is just how much do you need to know about me to feel safe having me check out your books?  Nikki Haley did not start the bandwagon, she merely jumped on it.  Basically, it goes, why don't employees at such-and-such have photo name tags?  That's it.


I'm thinking it must be that people are concerned that some shady character might slip into the library, steal my non-photo name tag, and pretend to be me when I'm not there.  And maybe recommend a book to you while they check you out.


It's not just a matter of how stupid are we, although that is a very large consideration.  It is a matter of how blindly are we willing to let ourselves be invaded?


Voter ID's, proof of US citizenship, a picture to go with your name because the fraud and criminality in this country would obviously be fixed if everybody was identified all the time.  Except it wouldn't.  All this obsession with ID's is a diversion from the corporate voter fraud and the criminal acts by Wall Street and BP and the lies by people like Jon Kyl (the "not intended to be a factual statement" Jon Kyl) that go on unstopped.


Look around.  How many of us are forced to walk around with  our names displayed on our chests for absolutely no good reason?  And how safe does it make an employee, knowing that any jackass can know your first and last name without your consent or even awareness.  Maybe no one will call the young lady at the pool store at home, but it's possible.  And why on earth do we all have to have that personal information?


I suppose when we have come to blindly accept the need for full body scans in order to get on a plane, and a search of our purses when we attend a concert, telling you who we are so you don't have to ask before you complain to management about our attitude is a small price to pay for security.