Comments on: Tunnel Vision http://www.edrants.com/tunnel-vision/ a cultural website in ever-shifting standing Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:01:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Tim http://www.edrants.com/tunnel-vision/comment-page-1/#comment-259562 Tim Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:06:22 +0000 http://www.edrants.com/?p=13434#comment-259562 I stopped carrying my camera around because I felt like a criminal every time I pulled it out. Every American must think it is his or her mall-cop duty to harass any individual who is snapping photos or taking video somewhere (because one never knows who could be a terrorist, right?). I would be filming, say, an Old Navy store, and some Good Samaritan would come along and say, "What'cha doin'?" And I'd say, "Oh, I'm just taking pictures." And he'd say, "Are you some kind of journalist or something." And I'd say, "No." Then the Good Samaritan would ask, "What's this for?" I'd reply, "You know, YouTube, my blog, that sort of thing." Then all of a sudden a fking cop would roll up and start questioning me, asking for ID, SSN number, and tell me that I'm not permitted to film at such-and-such location without first getting permission, etc. I'm not saying this kind of shit happened every time I whipped out my camera, but it happened enough times that I simply don't want to bother with retarded peoples' paranoia any longer. So I just leave my camera at home now. I think certain people have been conditioned to react to cameras as dangerous devices. These people can't fathom why somebody would want to take video of their city or suburb (everyday objects) simply for artistic reasons. These are the camera-phobic people who think that somebody walking around filming, for instance, a nondescript school is a pedophile who just escaped from the zoo. It never occurs to them that maybe the person with the camera went to school there once and is taking pictures for posterity's sake. It is part of their shoot-first-ask-questions-later, preemptive war mentality. There has to be a line somewhere (like maybe movie theaters and art museums), but there certainly need to be clearly defined laws on the books protecting people with cameras. I'm sure you have your own harassment stories, as do all of us YouTubers. I stopped carrying my camera around because I felt like a criminal every time I pulled it out. Every American must think it is his or her mall-cop duty to harass any individual who is snapping photos or taking video somewhere (because one never knows who could be a terrorist, right?). I would be filming, say, an Old Navy store, and some Good Samaritan would come along and say, “What’cha doin’?” And I’d say, “Oh, I’m just taking pictures.” And he’d say, “Are you some kind of journalist or something.” And I’d say, “No.” Then the Good Samaritan would ask, “What’s this for?” I’d reply, “You know, YouTube, my blog, that sort of thing.”

Then all of a sudden a fking cop would roll up and start questioning me, asking for ID, SSN number, and tell me that I’m not permitted to film at such-and-such location without first getting permission, etc.

I’m not saying this kind of shit happened every time I whipped out my camera, but it happened enough times that I simply don’t want to bother with retarded peoples’ paranoia any longer. So I just leave my camera at home now. I think certain people have been conditioned to react to cameras as dangerous devices. These people can’t fathom why somebody would want to take video of their city or suburb (everyday objects) simply for artistic reasons. These are the camera-phobic people who think that somebody walking around filming, for instance, a nondescript school is a pedophile who just escaped from the zoo. It never occurs to them that maybe the person with the camera went to school there once and is taking pictures for posterity’s sake. It is part of their shoot-first-ask-questions-later, preemptive war mentality.

There has to be a line somewhere (like maybe movie theaters and art museums), but there certainly need to be clearly defined laws on the books protecting people with cameras. I’m sure you have your own harassment stories, as do all of us YouTubers.

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