It's so obvious to many of us that 'think of the children' is a disingenuous argument, that it's difficult to articulate a counter-argument which would be emoti

It's so obvious to many of us that 'think of the children' is a disingenuous argument, that it's difficult to articulate a counter-argument which would be emotionally valid to someone for whom this is not obvious. Here is my attempt: Someone whose child has been kidnapped, would sacrifice a great deal to get them back. A lot of the things which we hold dear, our dignity, privacy, democracy, even rule of law - would pale into insignificance to against the loss of a loved one. But for that very reason, we should not look to victims for a standard of how much the police can override our civil rights. The standard of 'what the police can demand from honest citizens' cannot be 'what a mother would sacrifice for her child'.