Thinking like a free person – Seat Belts

To help us understand the difference between freedom and slavery, we shall begin with a simple example.

If we can truly understand what is said about seat belts, everything else that can be said about thinking like a free person will be very easy to grasp.

We are told that seat belts are very important. They increase our safety. Without them, many more people will be injured in accidents and there will be many unnecessary deaths. In short, seat belts save lives. You will find this conclusion just about everywhere.

This is such an important safety devise, we are told, that laws are passed making it a crime to travel in a vehicle without wearing one. Anyone found traveling "unbuckled" will be prosecuted. Buckle up or pay up seems to be the prevalent motto.

Let us examine the facts.

We are told that seat belts are very important because they reduce injuries and death.

Who said this? Can they be trusted? If seat belts did reduce injuries, how many injuries do they actually prevent?

Here are some figures taken from US Statistics, I think the year was 2006.

Population 300 million

Number of accident related injuries 3million

Number of deaths 43 000

Percentage of dead people not wearing seat belts 59%

Percentage of people dying wearing seat belts 41 %

Percentage of people likely to be involved in an accident related injury 3 million divided by 300 million = 1%.

Number of deaths in accidents per yr = 43 000

Percentage of people who die in an accident 43 000 divided by 300 million = 0.014%

In 41 % of cases one will die even if wearing a seat belt.

So 59% die without seat belts ie 59% of 43 000 = 25 370 which is = 0.00845% of the total population.

Chances of dying while wearing a seat belt is 41 % of 43000 = 17 630 which is = 0.00587% of the total population

i.e a difference of 0.00258%

Despite the fact that only a fraction of the population will be involved in an accident, and an even smaller fraction sustain injury in one, and an even smaller fraction still that will die during an accident, EVERYONE is FORCED to wear one!

What these figures show is that the difference between the chances of dying while wearing a seat belt and not wearing a seat belt is miniscule. Also, if we take into consideration the number of people using the road and the number of people that actually die while on the road, they form a very small fraction. The question that must be asked is, does this really warrant us making such a fuss about seat belts?

Having asked this question I will now make the most important point, by approaching this question along these lines we actually fall into a carefully prepared trap.

Our attention has been drawn to whether seat belts are indeed a safety feature or not. Our focus has been diverted to proving or disproving whether seat belts are safer or not. Governments will produce “research” proving that because 43 000 people died while on the road, that is evidence enough that seat belts are necessary, and hence the laws are necessary and what we fail to realize is that there is no connection between the “proof” of safety and the need for the law.

Think about this carefully.

Let us assume for the purposes of this discussion that there is no doubt whatsoever that seat belts are a benefit, and that many injuries are prevented by using them. The question that arises is what gives anyone the right to force its use on someone else?

If I think they are good, I will use them. I may choose not to. You may advise my but you cannot force me. That is my choice. When I am forced to act in a certain way it means you think that I am incapable of making decisions for myself. That is an insult. Does not the corollary also hold true. If I think you are wrong do I not have every right to reject your advice? But government forces its view through the “law”, which by God’s standards, they are incompetent to make in the first place.

No free person will allow such intrusion into his freedom.

Laws such as these take away our right to think and act for ourselves. Governments see themselves as our owners, and as such they seek to regulate every possible action of ours (There must be a law for everything – no one must be allowed to think for themselves and every action contrary to these laws must be accompanied by a fine/tax).

The danger in allowing ourselves to be treated in this was is that we cannot be sure that government is always acting in our best interest. People can be influenced in various ways. Government may pass laws which are actually to our disadvantage.

Think about the situation when the best medical minds of the time thought that arsenic should be used in the treatment of Pellagra (caused by a vitamin deficiency). If they had the power then, which Governments assume today, they could have passed a law forcing everyone to take arsenic as a treatment and possible preventative measure and this would have had disastrous consequences.

Another example could be the case where people influence Government to impose vaccination programmes on dubious "research" findings where the only benefit may be to the company producing the vaccine.

The only safe way is that prescribed by the Almighty. We can advise people, but they must make up their own minds. We cannot force them even if we think they are harming themselves because despite our best intentions we may be wrong.

These laws that enforce the wearing of seat belts serve an ulterior motive, that of creating another way by which we can be taxed since every citation or ticket is in fact a hidden tax.

But this story is not complete. What we discover when we apply our mind like a true believer in God is that the time of our birth and of our death is determined before we are born. We do not die from heart attacks, strokes, gun shot wounds, poisons or accidents; we die because it is our time to die.

With more people spending more time on the road, it is inevitable that more of us will be on the road when our time comes to die, and in many cases no accident is required; such as people who suddenly slump over the wheel.

This being the case, no one and nothing can stop people dying. Seat belts may reduce injuries, but they may also be the cause of injuries when they become stuck and prevent people from escaping their burning vehicles. There are pros and cons. Each person has the God given right to think and decide what is best for himself.

No free person will allow himself to be forced into doing anything against his will and this includes following a particular religion, fighting in a particular war, paying involuntary taxes, so why should the forced  wearing of seat belts be any different?

If seat belts are as good as we are told they are, the only person who will suffer from not wearing one is me. My failure to wear one does no harm to anyone else, and neither does it violate the rights of anyone else. On what legitimate ground can any one force me to wear a seat belt? Doing this is criminal and a violation of my rights as a free person. To fine me for exercising my free will is adding injury to insult.

Governments do this under a Democracy because here no one is free.

If we want true freedom, we have to replace Democracy and the best alternative is the one created for us by the Almighty, Shariah. Under this system, no one can force anyone to act against their will even if they are acting to their disadvantage. This is true freedom.

A person trained to think like a slave will insist not only that seat belts are good, but that it is right that everyone should be forced to wear them even against their wishes. They will even insist on severe penalties for those who violate their laws.

A person who thinks like a free person does not allow himself to be caught up in the argument whether seat belts are good or not, he simply insists on his right to decide for himself and makes it clear that it is no one else’s business whether he wears one or not.

Following the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) diligently makes us free people in thought and action.

What kind of people are we? What kind of people would we like to be?

Until next time.