Social distancing seems to be turning some members of the population into ad hoc state surveillance agents and the public isn’t having it.
And they’re rebelling in some pretty predictable ways.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many of us to stay inside for much longer than any of us would like. It’s also brought business down to an absolute minimum for some of us.
One of the most hard-hit regions of the United States, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has turned to some interesting methods to “flatten the curve,” among them a tip line for citizens to report people who are not practicing proper social distancing.
How did this go over?
The New York Post reports that, “A barrage of prank messages forced the city to temporarily shut down its new text service that lets New Yorkers snitch on social-distancing violators. City Hall confirmed Tuesday that the 311 text line was shuttered to clear out a backlog of crank complaints on Sunday.”
Naturally, these pictures included all kinds of inappropriate things like nudes. One of the funnier reports to this tip line was shared by Twitter user @WayneDupreeShow who wrote, “de Blasio is asking the public to snitch on anyone they see not following Corona rules by texting a photo to police…so a Twitter user reported de Blasio's undercover trip to a park 12 miles away from his Mayor's mansion.”
Needless to say, the mass surveillance via smartphone camera doesn’t seem to have worked in quite the way the mayor intended.
What do you think of the “social distancing” measures where you are? Makes sense or a little bit overboard? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below if you like.
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