I know what's best for everyone else

[Danoff]

So I have a feeling I’m going to get wrongly accused hypocrisy with this thread, but I’ll risk it.

Before I got to work or school in the mornings I usually flip on Today or Good Morning America to see what trendy issues they’re tackling this week. There really isn’t much else on in the morning. Over and over again I see the same thing on those shows.

They’ll do an interview with a person who has had a bad experience of some sort and the person will invariably be suing a company or pushing for some sort of legislation to “make sure nobody else has to go through this” (that’s always the line).

This mentality - the “I know what’s best for everyone” mentality - is what I’m crusading against. It’s my wish that everyone would just mind their own business and trust others to make the right decisions. There are so many methods to get your message out without legislation, and lawsuits are all too often frivolous. Do we really need Amber Alerts in every city? How about we let the residents of the city decide?

I’m not saying that new legislation is bad, sometimes it’s necessary. As are some lawsuits. But people need to take a step back and a deep breath and realize that they should be held responsible for their own actions. And they need to think things through ahead of time. For example, if you volunteer to take a tested but experimental drug, realize that you’re risking your life. That’s the sort of thing I’m talking about - a level of awareness and accountability.

It is the trend these days for people to place blame anywhere but on themselves. If your child is unmanageable it must have ADD, or some other disorder. It couldn’t have been bad parenting. I have a personal example of this.

A while back my mom was ice skating at an indoor rink. A kid bumped into her and knocked her down. She landed on her wrist and broke it pretty badly. Now she has a history of this. She has broken more bones than anyone I know, because she doesn’t know how to break her fall. She gets tense, sticks out a limb, and before you know it, a fall that would normally have barely made a bruise ends up with a snapped bone.

A lawyer got ahold of her, told her she could sue the kid’s family and she started talking about how she deserved damages for the accident because she had to miss some work and pay for the small fraction of the fees that our medical plan didn’t pay for. I immediately told her that was ridiculous.

How is it someone else’s fault if you break your arm ice skating? Sure she was knocked down, but it could have been a grove in the ice instead of the kid. The reason she broke her arm was because she was ice skating. That’s not exactly a cushy safe thing to do, especially with a lot of people (and kids). You have to be aware that you take a risk when you’re ice skating.

Some accountability, awareness, and responsibility – that’s what I’d like to see more often. It’s the trend right now to place blame on everyone and everything besides yourself and I think it’s disgusting.

Agree? Disagree? Why?

 

[Duke]

Agreed. It has to do with the idea of "society as insulation" between the individual and his own life. The downside of that thought is then people expect the individual to be insulation for society, as well.

 

[Flerbizky]

I have THE response to this one.. Hang on while I find it...

edit: Forwarded :

How did we EVER survive..

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were
kids
in the 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's or even the early 80's, probably shouldn't
have survived.

Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets, and
when
we rode our bikes, we had no helmets.

Not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special
treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors!

We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it,
but
we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one
actually died from this.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode
down
the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.
After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the
problem.

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were
back when the street lights came on. No one was able to reach us all
day.

No cell phones. Unthinkable!

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, no video games at
all,
no 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal
cell
phones, personal computers, or Internet chat rooms.

We had friends! We went outside and found them. We played dodge ball,
and
sometimes, the ball would really hurt. We fell out of trees, got cut and
broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

THEY WERE ACCIDENTS!!!. No one was to blame but us. Remember accidents?

We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned
to
get over it. We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate
worms,
and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out any eyes,
nor
did the worms live inside us forever.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or
rang
the bell or just walked in and talked to them.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who
didn't
had to learn to deal with disappointment. Some students weren't as smart
as
others, so they failed a grade and were
held back to repeat the same grade. Horrors!

Tests were not adjusted for any reason. Our actions were our own.

Consequences were expected. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we
broke
a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the
law! Imagine that!!!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem
solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years have been an
explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure,
success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all. And
you're one of them!
Congratulations.

 

[Danoff]

After re-reading that my original post here, I have decided that it's pretty jumbled and doesn't stay on the point. Thank you Duke, for getting the point anyway.

What I'm really trying to say is that when people place blame on companies and the government and everywhere they can think of besides themselves, they often turn into activists trying to get things changed, trying to pass legistlation. Because they have decided (given their one encounter with whatever problem it is they're dealing with) that they know what's best for everyone.

It is best illustrated by the phrase, "There aught to be a law against that." I hate this phrase. It trivializes what should be law and what should not. This phrase is used by people who encounter a situation that they don't like and who (offhand, without much thought) dismiss the situation as a flaw in the system. By itself the phrase is harmless. But taken to extreme, it turns into law after law after law pushed into creation by concerned parties who have fallen victim to the ills of society. They know what's best, and they're out to make us all live that dream.

I say, take responsibility for yourself and let others do the same.

 

[Danoff]

thank you flerb. It's so right it's scary.

 

[Flerbizky]

Can't tell your age danoff, but I'm 30 and remember that ****.. And yes.. It IS scary

Ok.. gotta go get some cigarettes

 

[1X83Z]

I just wish that people would tell me why they compose posts in Word, as was the first post in this thread.

 

[Sage]

This thread reminds me: In art class a few weeks ago, we had to make a cartoon strip. I made one entitled "America's Fools", featuring the idiot who spilled coffee on her lap and sued, the robber who sued a family after breaking into their house and slipping on jr's skateboard and breaking his back, and the fat guy who was apparently mislead into believing that fast food keeps you skinny or something.

There are so, so many people who deserve a good, swift kick in the shins (though they'll probably sue you).