This morning, PetaPixel (one of my favorite photography blogs) featured an item about two photogs who rode around on the Miami city Metrorail snapping non-commercial photos, just to see how far they’d get. Turns out, they didn’t get even to the first stop. Now, that’s problematic in and of itself…non-commercial photography is, in fact, permitted and the front-line security doesn’t seem to know that. It never fails to amaze me, actually, that this is the case. People! You get tourists all the time! And they like to take photos! You should know this! Don’t even get me started on DC’s Union Station issues.
But, this problem of photogs being harrassed is nothing new. That’s not actually what grabbed my attention. What really got me was a particular comment on the item. This commenter sort of ranted and raved about how these photogs were just wasting police time, and breaking the law anyway, and should not be doing terrorist-like things, such as taking photographs of tourist attractions. Of course, it was the private security guards who called the cops and wasted their time; it was not illegal anyway. Sigh. Then, after a couple of other commenters challenged him, he started in on the archaic nature of the Bill of Rights (“the BoR was written in a different time”), and that people just shouldn’t be taking pictures because, uh…terrorism! Or something. (Ah, the blogosphere…)
I’m a resident of the nation’s capital region. This sort of attitude fills me with despair.
“The BoR was written in a different time?!” Oh my. Actually, while it’s true that the eighteenth century was, you know, not exactly yesterday, let’s make a note of the fact that it’s Independence Day weekend and focus on why the Bill of Rights exists. It was written because, after seven years of bloody war, the utter failure of the Articles of Confederation, and bitter negotiation and ugly compromising to get the Constitution ratified, people like James Madison and Thomas Jefferson realized that the original Constitution was actually still not enough; the BoR was introduced in 1791. It pushed ratification over the finish line and is enshrined next to the Constitution at the National Archives.
(Now, photography is actually not allowed inside the Archives Rotunda. It’s sort of ironic, in that Alanis Morissette way. But photography’s not banned there because the good folks at the NARA are afraid those packs of elementary school kids are going to set fire to the place, or anything like that. It’s actually to do with flashbulbs and light meters; the documents are already pretty severely light-damaged.)
So, whether or not he wants to bring a camera, that dude should come visit. It’s free! Happy Fourth of July, Americans! Play your Friday Musical Interlude while waving sparklers and watching fireworks this weekend.
- Lyric of the day: “Feel free to shout it out; speak your mind, spit it out!”
- Flashback of the day: Fort Ticonderoga field trip. (Best field trip evah!)
- What’s playing now? Cutting Crew’s “(I Just) Died in Your Arms,” off Broadcast.
- Photo of the day:
U.S. Capitol Dome, January, 2009
