Wednesday, July 03, 2013

There are two kinds of people in the world...

On one hand, you have people whose first response to anything bad happening is "Could passing another law have prevented this?" and on the other, people who want to choke the living $#!+ out of them.

20 comments:

Dan said...

One big difference between those two types of people is that those (of us) who want to choke the others usually don't...

Matt W said...

Why take responsibility for yourself and your safety when you can have the government do it for you? Much easier to know that our benevolent representatives have legislated every possible bad thing that could happen to us so we can live a dull, but safe, life.

Or, when doing something KNOWN to be dangerous, ask the company for proof that they are bonded and insured. They don't have proof of insurance? Ok, moving on...

Angus McThag said...

Just make it illegal to have accidents!

Expatriate Owl said...

There already are laws!

Darwin's Law of Natural Selection, for example.

No need to clog the law books with additional superfluous legislation.

Elisha said...

Like Orwell's 1984, The Giver was not meant as a road map of how life should be. (The rest of you can find it in the library)

Boat Guy said...

A pretty decent column a year or so back divided the two groups into "We can make it better" and "Leave me Alone".

Bubblehead Les. said...

Well, if they ever want to pass a Law that makes it Illegal to PREVENT "Evolution in Action", I could support it.

Tango Juliet said...

"A man's admiration for absolute government is proportionate to the contempt he feels for those around him." -- Alexis de Tocqueville

rickn8or said...

Expatriate Owl: Then there's The Law of Grabbity.

It always wins.

fast richard said...

They slammed into a building, tangled with a power line, and came to rest amid a bunch of parked cars. They are lucky to be alive. Sudden high winds from storms can turn many otherwise safe activities into something dangerous.

The people running the operation probably screwed up, but another law is not the way to go.

cj said...

"When people come and they want to pay someone, pay a commercial operation for a service, they need to know that the government is there and regulating and keeping that industry safe. That is part of the job of government," said bill sponsor Senator Maria Sachs.

Really? THAT'S what government is supposed to be doing?

Critter said...

"Stupidity is the only universal capital crime. Punishment is levied immediately and there is no appeal."

-R. Heinlien

JohninMd.(too late?!??) said...

I'm with Critter. And, of course, Mr. Heinlein....

Goober said...

How, exactly, is a law that requires that these operators have insurance, and that they only operate 1800 feet off shore, going to keep women from "slipping out of their harness"?

How fucking magical do these people think the power of legislation is?

By the by, if I was180 feet above the water and I started slipping out of my harness, you know what I would do? I'd grab on to it and hold on.... is that painfully difficult?

Sigivald said...

"There oughtta be a law!" is an unfortunately common response to any disliked outcome.

You don't need Government to "regulate the industry" to prevent people from doing stupid shit (for one thing, it doesn't seem to work...).

Liability for malfeasance/incompetence already has that incentive; if people ignore it, it's the same way they gleefully ignore laws.

(Turns out you can sue people for recklessly damaging you!)

Fuzzy Curmudgeon said...

I thought the government was supposed to protect us from those who would harm us, not protect us from ourselves.

KM said...

Fuzzy,
That was the old govt.
This one (since the '20s) is the new "improved" version.

Anonymous said...

Yes, those who believe that passing a new law will solve the problem are delusional, but they don't know it.
Kind of like when I worked for a large commercial aircraft manufacturer. The Engineers would make changes to drawings and specifications, assuming that the changes would have an effect on the shop floor. Imagine their surprise when, on the rare occasions when they actually visited the shop floor, they discovered that the mechanics responsible for actual manufacturing had no knowledge of any spec or drawing changes.

Kristophr said...

There are two kinds of people in the world:

Those who believe there are two kinds of people in the world, and those who do not.

markm said...

Kristophr: No, there are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.