We’ve been following the phenomenon of speed cameras going up in various cities all around the nation.  We’ve been to places like Baltimore and Chicago and a whole host of others ( okay, so right now that whole host is one other city)  but now we’ve got a real strange one to talk about.

Seems the cameras are going up in the city of Lancaster in Pennsylvania.  That area, along with a few like it across the country, is often referred to as “Amish Country”.  it’s referred to as such because its host to a large group of predominantly Amish citizens.  These are generally not regarded as high crime or high-speed areas, so to what end have cameras been installed there?

The official line, of course, is that these cameras are just there to protect the citizens. Critics meanwhile are more skeptical seeing that this is just another way to keep tabs on citizens without their consent.

It’s not often that I agree with the official line, but this is one of those times. While in general I’m opposed to surveillance of citizens, these are desperate names.  As we’ve seen with recent events, the Amish have a tendency to be victimized due to their relatively placid and forgiving nature.  Therefore I find myself horribly torn between a desire to protect the simple folk– who will probably never by the way read this– and the desire to respect their privacy and not watch their every move on the streets of their own town.

But either way, these are bad times when these are the choices we have to make.