Warning labels, cautionary statements on TV shows. The powers that be, with litigious society and lawyers, are teaching people to be stupid. People are starting to depend on others, and gadgets to keep them safe.
My favorite, Auto-braking. They play the commercial over and over for various vehicles, touting their ability to sense a stopped object and auto magically apply the brakes for you. Here’s a thought, don’t be looking at little Billy in the back seat, keep your eyes on the road.
We used to be smart
I don’t know which really came first, stupid, or litigation. We used to be smart, or at least possess some common sense. If you tried something dangerous, you either survived, or were culled from the gene pool. Most knew not to try something that would kill us. We had cartoons back then, we never seemed to have a problem separating cartoons from reality, what changed?
Warning labels on EVERYTHING. My toilet cleaning replacement pads have a warning on them. “Not for personal hygiene.”
My flashlight recommends “wearing eye protection when operating.”
My favorite, Do not apply engine belt, while engine is running. Now THAT is a mental picture.
The lid, won’t open.
Why the rant? I just wanted to wash a load of clothes, in the new washer. Clothes in, button pushed. In a few minutes I hear the washer start agitating. This, is usually where we men, remember we didn’t put the soap in. The lid, won’t open. It’s locked, a red light indicates it’s locked. To keep you from placing your hand, or crawling in, while it is agitating, or anything else other than filling with water. Naturally the instruction manual is “somewhere”. I figured out, pressing the start button would pause it, but the lid remained locked. After threatening it, I pushed and held the start button as some type of imagined punishment to the electrical monster. A click and the red light goes off. I found the instructions as I added the detergent. PRINTED INSIDE THE LID!
It’s madness I tell you. This is a good time to take my shower and blow dry my hair while I’m in the shower. I also should clean my underarms, and other hard to reach places, with that handy brush laden with caustic chemicals, and has enough abrasion power to take the heat tiles off the Space Shuttle. I think it’s time for a break, I need to make sure my straight-jacket is dry.
Comments always welcome,
Petty legal cases ( greed?) certainly made their impact, so businesses had to protect themselves … hence a sign on a lawn mower deck “NOT TO BE USED FOR HEDGE TRIMMING” Really? Are we that stupid? Well apparently some members of our species are! Reminds me of a long time ago when a religious fanatic apparently jumped off a cliff… on the basis that God would save him. Gravity ruled and the inevitable happened.
This came up in a conversation recently where I had to ask how on earth we became the dominant species on this planet. The conclusion was that we have no scruples whatsoever. That gives us the “edge” of all the other living creatures here.
Yes hedge trimming would be rather difficult I imagine! I also like the “Do not start inside” warning on the lawnmower!
🙂
I believe that somebody did pick up an electric mower by the deck, with the intent of trimming a hedge. He lost a couple of fingers, hence the warning for future idiots.
You have to be a really special kind of stupid to do that. I have met them before, Colin. They are a wonder to behold.
I’m guessing we don’t teach much in schools anymore, other than what the teachers want as far as views and political leanings. I’ve answered calls long ago, where the people rolled a BBQ grill inside and lit it. Carbon Monoxcide ring a bell?
Oh my gosh! Shaking my head! There should be a Common Sense 101 class taught .
Here in the South, if you can’t figure a way to combine it in a class on civil rights, it isn’t taught. We have 10th graders, that think the Gulf of Mexico, is a lake. I actually heard that from one of them.
Crazy!
There was that woman who got money out of McDonald’s because she scalded her thighs. Of course everyone puts freaking hot coffee there. Aren’t thighs made to hold coffee when you’re driving? What are those round holes cut into the center console for? Maybe change.
I remember that. I wonder how courts evem allow such lawsuits. Even a moron knows, or should, coffee is hot. Everyone just wants someone else to pay the price for them being stupid.
Don’t put your hand in the lawn mower when it is on. Don’t stick your hand in the snow blower when it is running. Don’t put your metal ladder next to the power line. And most important: DONT FORGET YOUR BABY WHEN YOU GET OUT OF THE CAR!! Last summer our buses actually had ads on the back with that message.
They won’t forget that cell phone, but they will forget a child is with them.
I knew we were becoming stupider, but I forgot that you would make us laugh about it. Good going, Ron! You are one in a million. Better up that to a trillion to reflect the way our country is going.
Thank you, Anne. That means a lot to me. I try to find something humorous about bad things. It helps swallow the bitter pill. Have a super night.
Yes, they are irritating. We, as a family, used to laugh at the ‘do not eat this’ on cardboard and plastic packaging of pizzas. Really stupid. Of course, you aren’t going to eat the packaging.
As they say, “Somewhere, at some point, an idiot tried it”.
I totally agree with you! “Remove cardboard before putting pizza in the oven!” “Do not use hair dryer while sleeping!” It is too crazy! Thanks for the laugh! Have to laugh at it, for what else can we do.
Yes, we have to laugh. We’d all go crazy otherwise.
So true!!
Great post, Ron. I think the stupid came before the litigation, and that litigation started in America with ambulance-chasing lawyers, before being exported across the globe. Stupid people have done everything you mention, and lots more. Then someone suggested they could get money out of the companies, and the crazy warnings snowballed from there. Like the warnings on microwavable food products that the food will be ‘ very hot’.
A few years ago, on a popular motoring TV programme here, they were smashing up old caravans, by dropping them from crane jibs. The idea was that motorists hate to be stuck behind towed caravans on small English roads, so would ‘get their revenge’. It was supposed to be funny of course, but when the show finished there was a dire warning that people should not drop caravans from cranes themselves, as it could be ‘dangerous’.
Best wishes, Pete.
Spot on, Pete. The rapid development of crazy stunts makes one scratch their head. Drifting comes to mind. What sort of useful skill is that. Horrible waste of resources as far as tires and engines. Common sense died a good while back.