The stupidity of todays society.

[silence dogood]

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." Albert Einstein

 

[hotrats]

Not quite "you might die if you do this" signs, I find signs here in Asia humorus sometimes. This one, "don't wash feet in toilet" makes you shake your head, but the scary side is someone had to of been caught doing it for there to be a sign. My favorite (so far) is the sign from a Saigon micro brewery for their "vomit sink". (Viet men drink a lot!)

 

[Mauzinette]

 

[SouthernChap]

Your comment about the bell curve is well made.

'Society' has alway been at least half stupid. Of course, the internet has exposed a lot of the stupidity that previously remained hidden.

Homo sapiens have been dying through stupidity, folly, laziness, greed and arrogance for aeons.

I can't speak for anyone but myself (I suspect strongly I'm not alone though ) but there have been a couple (no more than that, I think) of occasions where a temporary lack of thought has brought me within arms reach of the tall, skinny fella with the scythe but pure good fortune has made him loose his grasp.

I do think though, that the effectively instant availability of a wide range of consumer goods and services and the fact that most people work in non-hands on jobs has reduced the apparent need for practical skills in the general populace.

Learning practical skills and the underlying basic theory behind those skills teaches an awful lot of what might be loosely defined as 'common sense'.

All that said though, the fekwits who would inhale propane to get messed up are probably unreachable. My 'bleeding-heart hippy' nature tells me we ought to look out for such unfortunates; my gut tells me it's a bit of a waste of effort!

 

[sdelivery]

It's because idiots try to get high by"huffing" it. I'll bet one did, died and their survivors sued and won, hence the warning label.

This was the first reason for manufactures to move from the country.
Frivolous law suits

 

[bill70j]

Well, I am assured this kind of silliness is fully justified. Why? Because I believe that thorough risk analyses are done of this kind of stuff before the public is forced to ingest it.

The bureaucrats use unbiased probabilities and unbiased worst case scenario consequences to come up with risk. And a single human life is valued at a very conservative $10Million.

 

[B2]

Who in their wildest dreams ever thought such a message was warranted.

Labels like this, and there are many, have come about because of the plethora of lawyers in our society. The dangers have always existed and there have always been stupid people. But when it easy for stupid people who are injured to get $ as there are lawyers every where wanting to sue the manufacturer and get awards or settlements of $millions then the manufacturers are forced to try to prevent future problem. As to the person who probably caused the need for this law suit, he/she was probably trying to get high! It used to be airplane glue sniffing.

Some businesses have ceased just because of the high cost of liability insurance that has to be carried on every item ever produced over all time... by the firm just in case one of these events occurs .

I once hear a story about an injury law suit. The idiot was using a rotary mower to trim his hedges. Held it up in the air and ran it along the top of the hedge, and of course got injured. At trial you have a large company who makes mowers and such at the defendants table and a person who is injured and showing it via a missing arm, eye, or other injury or sitting in an wheel chair at the plaintiff's table. The jury knows the injured person is at fault, but feels sorry for the poor person who no longer has a way to make a living and who may have huge medical bills. So what is wrong with making this large faceless company help this poor fellow out, after all they should have put a safety label on the lawn mower! With a few cases where the company has to lay out millions of dollars resulting from the trial, future cases never have to go to court, the company's lawyers tell the company you may loose really big at court. You better just settle and give a way some smaller amount of money to make the problem disappear. These extremes actually do happen.

So who is the stupid person? The hedge trimmer, jury, lawyers, judges.... or the company who makes the product and does not put every conceivable label on the product? Who does not get sued? Only the little guy who has no resources. The lawyers will not take on a case as they can not make big bucks. Oh yes, the lawyers commonly work without a fee or hourly rates, but get 50% of the settlement or the jury award. So, of course, a quick settlement early on, where the lawyer does not have to spend much time or risk losing, is the path the lawyer wants the plaintiff to follow. Just get the cream off the top and on to the next case.

PS. For give my cynicism.

 

[Chip Hacket]

 

[C-Bag]

Who in their wildest dreams ever thought such a message was warranted.

Until the Darwin Awards came along I was unaware how truly stupid people could be. Most of my career I worked in one man shops and not until I worked in progressively larger shops did I see this stupidity could extend into guys who knew better or should have known better. It made me far more careful about who I work with and rely upon.

 

[markba633csi]

Is that grim reaper giving me the finger?