Re: Think about it...


[Follow Ups] [Post Followup] [Dodge Power Wagon Forum]


Posted by Matt Wilson on Tuesday, October 22, 2002 at 7:10PM :

In Reply to: Think about it... posted by EdC on Monday, October 21, 2002 at 7:15PM :

I agree with some of the latter statements above. Many people have taken far too much offense to many things that are just the facts of life, and as a result we seem to be trying to raise young people to be overly sensitive and unable to face the reality.

However, I have to side with Kate and Galen on their comments. People like to remember the good old days with fondness, but tend not to remember the bad parts. I guess maybe that's because the only folks who are still around are the ones who lived to tell their stories. If we could hear the stories that would be told by the ones who didn't make it, we might not be so quick to claim that the good ol' days never hurt anybody.

A good example of the ol' days is a lawsuit I read about, dating from the early part of the 20th century. A person goes and buys a brand new car (from one of the current Big Three, not a no-name hack shop), and very shortly after he takes delivery of it, one of the wheels breaks off, causing damage to the car and, if I remember correctly, injury to the occupants of the vehicle. It was determined that there was a factory defect with the wheel, but when the car owner tries to sue the car company to recover his losses, the court ruling is "buyer beware", and there is no award for the consumer who had spent his hard earned cash on a reputable corporation's product, only to suffer damage to his property and injury to himself and/or his passengers. This was not a unique case, but rather an example of the rulings that were commonly handed down by the courts. Product liability was nearly non-existant at the time.

As for breeding wimps, well, I think there is some truth to that, but some folks I know have a much too callous attitude in that area. I've heard over and over that when someone does something stupid enough to get themselves killed, it is a matter of Darwinism taking place, removing these unworthy folks from the gene pool. The folks spouting this wisdom feel that the world is a better place now that those idiots are gone. Again, I say, in many cases that is probably true, at least when it comes to adults. However, when it comes to kids, I remember that I did some stupid things as a kid. At least I think most of the things I have done to risk life or limb were done when I was a kid. Adults should know better in most cases, but kids often don't know any better. As a child I did my share of stupid things, as did most kids, and yet I believe I have turned out to be a productive member of society, as have many of the kids who grew up alongside me.

Kids need to be taught to use their heads, but the fact is that they don't always do so, and they have a much poorer grasp on cause-and-effect than adults. As a result, they often take bigger risks than they should. Their parents sometimes don't care enough to guide them, and even caring parents cannot watch over their children all of the time, especially once they get beyond a certain age. Kids often have to learn the hard way, but I don't believe that a child should have to lose life or limb in the learning process, simply because he didn't know any better.

I believe that many of the product safety features and warning labels are good things. I believe seat belts and airbags are generally good things, and there are other safety items that fall in that same category. Others....well....others have gone too far. The woman who sued the fast-food chain because she burned her groin with hot coffee, after setting the cup between her legs while driving, deserved to get zilch for compensation.

Lead in paint and gasoline are not good things. Those are unseen things that can hurt of kill even the folks who do think before they leap. The Romans were thinkers, and yet they didn't know any better than to build their water pipes out of lead. Regulation to reduce or eliminate hazardous chemicals from our environment is a good thing, as long as it's really necessary.

The coal miners back in the good ol' days had little choice but to keep working the mines, even though they knew they were probably cutting their lives short. Scientific advancements to protect people from occupational hazards, and regulations to enforce worker safety, are good things, in general.

All of the above advancements can be taken too far, and where do you we draw the line on it all? It's hard to say, but I will finish by saying that....

....some things in the good ol' days were probably a lot better than they are now, but some things were certainly not better.

My $0.02 (more like a full $1, the way I carried on) (LOL).

Matt



Follow Ups:



Post a Followup

Name:
E-Mail:
Subject:
Message:
Optional Link
URL:
Title:
Optional Image Link
URL:


This board is powered by the Mr. Fong Device from Cyberarmy.com