Freedom of Choice and Amber Alerts

Do we always have the freedom of choice? We love the word “Free” don’t we? We are born with free will to do whatever we want. But there are consequences to our actions, we could hurt ourselves or someone else physically or emotionally. 

Freedom of choice means that the person can choose his course of action and his way of living, subject to the requirement that he shall not act in any way to violate the freedom of choice of others.  And then there’s karma… 

What is Free Will

The human condition is a fragile one. This blog is about science but to be a well-balanced human, we should learn to blend our spiritual body with our physical body.

The physical world works not only with science it also needs the spiritual energy of Mother Earth. We don’t control how nature works or how our bodies grow. 

We have been given the gift of free will on planet Earth. That means we control our destiny. Each person is responsible for the life they live and the lessons they learn.

We are entitled to our personal preferences and choices but only if they do not affect the human rights of others.

We are here to experience living as a physical being in a physical world to learn and evolve our consciousness. The ultimate reason for evolution is to experience and evolve love. 

Think about it like this, if we knew who we are we wouldn’t be able to make the decisions we make. 

For example, angels don’t have free will to do as they please because they exist only to support the energy of God and his love. 

If you use your power of free will inappropriately you must endure the lesson of karma. If you continue to ignore your lesson it will haunt you in your spiritual afterlife. 

There’s no way to escape your lessons because they follow you and your spirit or soul will suffer when you are born into the spirit world. 

I know this sounds corny and unbelievable but it’s the ultimate truth, our soul never dies.

Freedom in the World of Politics and Taxes

In a democratic country, we can choose who to vote for or to not vote. We can use our right to vote and hope that the collective vote made the right decision. 

If things go wrong as they always do, then we have the freedom of speech to voice our opinion or to protest in public as long as we obey the law.

We don’t have the right to commit vandalism, steal or destroy public property. Like I said we have the free will to do what we want as long as you pay your taxes and follow the rules.

Some of the rules are written in stone and are called the 10 commandments. Some of the rules keep you safe, don’t drink and drive, don’t jump in the water if you can’t swim, and then there are Amber Alerts etc… 

Social Media and the Freedom of Clicking  

Social media gives us news about our family and friends and we have the freedom to like their posts and to click “like” or comment.

Has Social Media become a problem when it takes up so much of our time and attention?

You know that you’re gonna get pushed around by life but don’t spend time complaining about it on social media and telling everybody because 80% don’t care and 20% are glad it’s you and not them.

Has your Smartphone and smart TV taken away your attention and become smarter than you?

We are glued to these devices all day watching to see if there’s any news for us. 

What do you think about the Amber alert system of messages? 

The Amber Alert Choice of Freedom

Certain things are not your choice as the world becomes more and more digital. For instance, the Covid-19 pandemic has forced us to wear a surgical mask in public. 

You must carry an ID card with your photo and birth date and if you have a smartphone your information is known to most large companies. Do we have any privacy? 

The Amber Alert system started in Texas a few years after 9-year-old Amber Hagerman was abducted and murdered in 1996. 

Amber Alerts started in Canada in Alberta in December 2002. The alerts for cell phones started in 2010 and the tone of the alert is mandated by the Canadian government.

The Amber Alert system is mandatory for cell phones in Canada so that you will hear all emergency alert colours unless your phone is turned off. 

You can’t decide to turn Amber Alerts off or have it on Do Not Disturb mode. You don’t have the freedom of choice to not use it. 

Proving That Amber Alerts Work

A research team led by criminologist Timothy Griffin reviewed hundreds of abduction cases that occurred between 2003 and 2006 and found that AMBER Alerts had little apparent role in the eventual return of abducted children. 

The AMBER Alerts tended to be "successful" in relatively mundane abductions, such as when the child was taken by a non-custodial parent or another family member. 

There was little evidence that AMBER Alerts routinely "saved lives", although it was impossible to know with certainty what would have happened if no alert had been issued in a particular case. 

Timothy Griffin and coauthor Monica Miller articulated the limits to AMBER Alert in a subsequent research article. Here are their statements...

“They stated that alerts are inherently constrained because to be successful in the most menacing cases there needs to be a rapid synchronization of several events (rapid discovery that the child is missing and subsequent alert, the fortuitous discovery of the child or abductor by a citizen, and so forth).”

 “Furthermore, there is a contradiction between the need for rapid recovery and the prerogative to maintain the strict issuance criteria to reduce the number of frivolous alerts, creating a dilemma for law enforcement officials and public backlash when alerts are not issued in cases ending as tragedies.” 

“Finally, the implied causal model of alert (rapid recovery can save lives) is in a sense the opposite of reality: in the worst abduction scenarios, the intentions of the perpetrator usually guarantee that anything public officials do will be too slow.” 

More Concerns About Amber Alerts

Workers in the system decide if an alert and when an alert is sent? It seems that they are sent out with little investigation because workers are afraid of being blamed if an event became tragic. 

A few weeks ago there was an Amber Alert in Ontario that a mother had kidnapped her 9-month-old baby. I think this type of alert is an over-reaction use that can result in people ignoring alerts.

There are many colors of alerts and the most serious is a Red Alert. They would be for catastrophic weather, war or major security concern that affects every citizen. 

A significant concern is that most alerts are sent out at night time when people are asleep or driving in conditions that are dangerous in the best of times. 

The sudden loud noise disrupts the attention span of people that could lead to a serious accident endangering many lives. 

I’m not suggesting that we eliminate the Amber Alerts but I wonder if there is a better way to make it work?

My idea is to start the alert like a regular phone call with maybe 3 seconds of a lower tone that builds into the loud alert signal currently being used. 

That gives people a fair warning before the numbing alert sound, unfortunately, if you are asleep it will wake you up but if you are driving then you are prepared for the message.

You can never satisfy 100% of the people but it’s worth trying this instead of scaring people with the blaring signal being used now at least here in Ontario, Canada. 

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As always take care and be safe.