Bet the parents wish they had a leash...
Well, at least the poor little flattened kid can hold his/her head high in Heaven, knowing they never had to suffer the "humiliation" of wearing a harness.
I don't see the same thing in most of those "anti-harness" pics as the harness-haters. What they see as "ignoring" looks to me like a parent with their eyeballs NOT GLUED TO THE CHILD. Parents walking and looking forward instead of staring at their child. (or perhaps to the side if they want to make sure a car isn't headed their way) Gee, isn't that what I tell DD? "Look where you're going!" It would seem to me that if you affixed your eyes to your child at all times instead of looking where you're going, you'd need a lot of bandaids. Show me a parent who walks around staring at their kid nonstop (instead of where they're going or what they're paying for, etc.) and I'll show you one weird parent.
And the kids on the floor? That's a battle of wills. I don't know who will win. I know who won in my house. The kids pulling on the harness? Duh...They were runners. The very ones the harnesses are meant for. The kid on the street during what might be a parade? (I see confetti.) Every parade I've been to has had TONS of
unrestrained kids darting out into the road. A harness was nowhere to be seen. That pic could have just as easily been taken with another kid sans harness. It proves nothing.
Personally, when I see someone walking around with a kid on their shoulders, my first thought is, "Wow, if the adult trips or falls down, that kid is going to take one heck of a fall. If they hit their head on the concrete, they're toast." But I don't assume they are lazy, uncaring parents who don't bother to teach their child to stay with them, instead putting them on their necks like a lanyard as a means of transportation. And I don't see how sticking a kid in a stroller for hours on end "teaches" them that much either. It lets them rest, the family can get around faster, and often it's easier for the parents. However, I'm sure the folks that do so have their reasons. Some of them are lazy parents. Most aren't. Walking around with your little arm extended upward for hours? Again, not a heap of fun.
If the worst thing a parent does is use a harness, then their kid has it pretty good. While I never used one, a friend with a runner did. Her child would ask for it....She actually liked it. One day, someone mouthed off about treating her kid like a dog. They got an earful back for their trouble and sheepishly slunk away. Good for her.
That toddler on what looks like a parade route could have been trampled. While the crawling on the ground grosses me out, and I would have had him in my lap, whether the parent in the picture didn't make that effort, or if the child squirmed away, the harness seems to be serving it's purpose.
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But at least it's free now and you're able to "continue the silly battle" 
