Common Sense, Being Nannied, The Actions Of A Few

[Riksta]

This has been something that has been playing on my mind for quite some time now and I'm going to try use a few examples either specific or in general to highlight my points.

What the hell happened to common sense in this world? It seems the profound lack of it these days is leading us to become more & more babysat or "nannied", and the actions of a few who do display a complete lack of commonsense to affect the rest of the general population.

Example 1 is the internet filter. Parents should be responsible for their children and what they view on the internet. Because some parents should not be allowed to be parents, but biology still allows them, we have kids looking at stuff they shouldn't be on the internet and now there's talk (I believe it has been shelved for the time being though) of filtering the internet. No ifs not buts, but it will be filtered. That should stop the kids looking at stuff they shouldn't. Why do we need the filter, when if parents exhibited common sense and acted accordingly they would be monitoring their children and not allowing them to view that material in the first place.

Example 2 relates to cars and speed limits. Why should roads that have been 100km/h for many months or years be dropped to a lower speed limit because somebody has an accident and dies? Now I do not wish to downplay the severity of death, and I agree that it is a terrible thing, but for a government to simply say "that road must be unsafe" after a fatality when hundreds, if not thousands, of cars use that same piece of road every day is just ridiculous. Accidents do happen and sometimes do result in fatalities, and while I agree that this is tragic and not a nice thing to happen, does the speed limit really need to be dropped?

Example 3 also relates to cars and is in relation to what you can and can't have on your bonnet or sticking out of your bonnet. From what I have read, things aren't allowed to protrude from your bonnet or be certain angles or heights due to the possibility to cause harm should you hit a pedestrian. Now I remember reading a report that a stupidly high percentage of vehicle-pedestrian accidents were caused by the pedestrian not paying attention, not looking before crossing and all that kind of thing. So what this law is saying is basically you can run in front of a car, because we'll make it illegal for a car to have anything that could harm you more than you would have normally been. Should the pedestrian not be held more accountable for their own actions?

Example 4 relates to injuries and things like that people obtain accidentally. When I was a kid, if I fell off play equipment into the bark and skun my knee, one of my parents would usually dump a bottle of dettol which hurt more than the original injury onto it, put a band aid on and tell you to go play some more. These days should a kid be hurt the parents would get stupidly high payouts, hence the fact you see playgrounds that are almost injury proof these days. What happened to the common sense of kids DO hurt themselves, its part of being a kid? Any injury to a child isn't nice and a terrible thing, but does it really warrant going as far as society has these days to cotton wool them?

And part 2 of example 4 relates to the adult versions, and us having to have warnings all over everything, because god forbid that coffee you just ordered might be hot. I would never have guessed and I'm glad there's that label on there to tell me its hot. Seriously people, common sense!

Example 5 relates to dangerous items and stupidity. Things like fireworks being made illegal. Why not make them legal for people to use sensibly, and if they can't use them properly and blow off a hand, its pretty well their own fault. Why does society deem the need to ban these things from those of us who WOULD use common sense just because there's an idiot portion of society who wouldn't? I'm not saying lets go make everything dangerous legal, for example guns, I agree to an extent with the gun laws (but not wholly).

I'm just sick and tired of news stories and things like that where people are injured or killed due to actions of their own which, should they have actually exhibited some common sense, never would have happened. If I jump over my neighbour's fence, poke their dog with a cattle prod and get bitten because of it I only have myself to blame. Well, it seems in this day and age I could probably blame the neighbour for having a dog, and the fence builder for not making the fence impenetrable.

And I leave you with a clip from Absolutely Fabulous from many years ago which was relevant then and still relevant today. Apologies for the rant, but thanks for reading.

[Spudz27]

Originally Posted by Riksta

This has been something that has been playing on my mind for quite some time now and I'm going to try use a few examples either specific or in general to highlight my points.

What the hell happened to common sense in this world? It seems the profound lack of it these days is leading us to become more & more babysat or "nannied", and the actions of a few who do display a complete lack of commonsense to affect the rest of the general population.

Example 1 is the internet filter. Parents should be responsible for their children and what they view on the internet. Because some parents should not be allowed to be parents, but biology still allows them, we have kids looking at stuff they shouldn't be on the internet and now there's talk (I believe it has been shelved for the time being though) of filtering the internet. No ifs not buts, but it will be filtered. That should stop the kids looking at stuff they shouldn't. Why do we need the filter, when if parents exhibited common sense and acted accordingly they would be monitoring their children and not allowing them to view that material in the first place.

Example 2 relates to cars and speed limits. Why should roads that have been 100km/h for many months or years be dropped to a lower speed limit because somebody has an accident and dies? Now I do not wish to downplay the severity of death, and I agree that it is a terrible thing, but for a government to simply say "that road must be unsafe" after a fatality when hundreds, if not thousands, of cars use that same piece of road every day is just ridiculous. Accidents do happen and sometimes do result in fatalities, and while I agree that this is tragic and not a nice thing to happen, does the speed limit really need to be dropped?

Example 3 also relates to cars and is in relation to what you can and can't have on your bonnet or sticking out of your bonnet. From what I have read, things aren't allowed to protrude from your bonnet or be certain angles or heights due to the possibility to cause harm should you hit a pedestrian. Now I remember reading a report that a stupidly high percentage of vehicle-pedestrian accidents were caused by the pedestrian not paying attention, not looking before crossing and all that kind of thing. So what this law is saying is basically you can run in front of a car, because we'll make it illegal for a car to have anything that could harm you more than you would have normally been. Should the pedestrian not be held more accountable for their own actions?

Example 4 relates to injuries and things like that people obtain accidentally. When I was a kid, if I fell off play equipment into the bark and skun my knee, one of my parents would usually dump a bottle of dettol which hurt more than the original injury onto it, put a band aid on and tell you to go play some more. These days should a kid be hurt the parents would get stupidly high payouts, hence the fact you see playgrounds that are almost injury proof these days. What happened to the common sense of kids DO hurt themselves, its part of being a kid? Any injury to a child isn't nice and a terrible thing, but does it really warrant going as far as society has these days to cotton wool them?

And part 2 of example 4 relates to the adult versions, and us having to have warnings all over everything, because god forbid that coffee you just ordered might be hot. I would never have guessed and I'm glad there's that label on there to tell me its hot. Seriously people, common sense!

Example 5 relates to dangerous items and stupidity. Things like fireworks being made illegal. Why not make them legal for people to use sensibly, and if they can't use them properly and blow off a hand, its pretty well their own fault. Why does society deem the need to ban these things from those of us who WOULD use common sense just because there's an idiot portion of society who wouldn't? I'm not saying lets go make everything dangerous legal, for example guns, I agree to an extent with the gun laws (but not wholly).

I'm just sick and tired of news stories and things like that where people are injured or killed due to actions of their own which, should they have actually exhibited some common sense, never would have happened. If I jump over my neighbour's fence, poke their dog with a cattle prod and get bitten because of it I only have myself to blame. Well, it seems in this day and age I could probably blame the neighbour for having a dog, and the fence builder for not making the fence impenetrable.

And I leave you with a clip from Absolutely Fabulous from many years ago which was relevant then and still relevant today. Apologies for the rant, but thanks for reading.

The point I bolded is so annoying. I had to stop today while some teenage moron with his ipod going (probably being played at full blast) just crossed the road as I was turning into it. I was coming from behind and had slowed considerably because I could just tell he wasn't going to look. No surprisingly he didn't. Not only did he not stop and make sure no one was coming from behind, he never even looked left or right, and he was so focused on his music playing he never even noticed me drive next to him. I wanted so badly to get otu and abuse him, but alas I would have lowered myself to his level of stupidity.

[Fev]

While yes people are getting more and more stupid, i believe it just seems worse than it really is thanks to the valiant crusading by people like Harold Scruby, Family First parties and all the other morons out their that think people should be saved from themselves. I'm not looking forward to the future, too many preventionary measures stopping the stupid from being thinned out, and therefore breeding more and more.

[bafel]

A lot of this stems from peoples own lack of accountability. Forever looking to blame someone else for their own stupidity, thus leading to governments & councils stepping in to save us from ourselves.

[steamin63]

thousands of years ago the lame were chased down and eaten by wild animals and the stupid fell off the edge of cliffs.
today the wild animals are in cages and they put fences around the edges of cliffs.
draw your own conclusions. cheers.

[wrongwaynorris]

Hallelujah , wholeheartedly agree with everything you raise .

[iCat]

Originally Posted by steamin63

thousands of years ago the lame were chased down and eaten by wild animals and the stupid fell off the edge of cliffs.

i love it!

yes, agree with everything here. responsibility starts with the individual.

[My poor XF]

Alot of what you have said can be traced back to the overly litigious nature of society. People have seen other idiots get rich because of some perceived lack of care on behalf of another party and lawyers are able to spin the story so it's somebody else's fault.

It's all about shifting blame and not being accountable. All the rules and warnings etc are just to cover yourself incase of anothers stupidity or lack of judgement etc.

[grandpa_spec_F6]

Fences do bugger all,... as pointed out above, people just climb over them. Kinda defeats the purpose, 10ft concrete wall around all coastline should solve it though

[Raptor]

A lot of the problems stems from stupid OH&S laws that make anyone supplying/selling/owning/occupying/overseeing anything responsible for ensuring the safety of everybody else - no matter how stupid or irresponsible their behaviour or actions/inactions may have been.

I'm also led to believe it's the only law were your presumed guilty first and then have to prove your innocence rather than 'innocent until proved guilty'.

According to this legislation you don't have to take responsibility for your actions anymore as the lawyers can always find someone else to blame.

[Polyal]

Originally Posted by bafel

A lot of this stems from peoples own lack of accountability. Forever looking to blame someone else for their own stupidity, thus leading to governments & councils stepping in to save us from ourselves.

Absolutely agree about the bold.

Originally Posted by My poor XF

Alot of what you have said can be traced back to the overly litigious nature of society. People have seen other idiots get rich because of some perceived lack of care on behalf of another party and lawyers are able to spin the story so it's somebody else's fault.

It's all about shifting blame and not being accountable. All the rules and warnings etc are just to cover yourself incase of anothers stupidity or lack of judgement etc.

Litigious nature = greedy money hungry so and so's.

Some people see a buck to be made and will peruse it regardless of the moral or ethical implications.

[Dr. Feelgood]

See Idiocracy... It's a scary, scary documentary

[4Vman]

Originally Posted by Polyal

Absolutely agree about the bold.



Litigious nature = greedy money hungry so and so's.

Some people see a buck to be made and will peruse it regardless of the moral or ethical implications.

Which is why we have countless draconian laws protecting us from ourselves....
The insurance companies demand it, and Govts protect themselves from litigation with them...

[grandpa_spec_F6]

You used to be able to rent a hall for a LAN (bunch of people bring their comptuer along and hook them up to play games, share files etc) for next to nothing.

Now, including the cost of the hall, you now need first aid equipment, insurance, miles of safety tape to secure loose cables, surge protection equipment etc. as if anyone hurts themselves, looses a computer due to power failure or some other situation where the venue is deemed "AT FAULT" (most of the time it's becase the person is being a ding bat), it falls under "duty of care" and they can sue the pants off you... I miss the old days... it's scary saying that as I'm only 20 :(

[XR6TCraig]

Originally Posted by Raptor

A lot of the problems stems from stupid OH&S laws that make anyone supplying/selling/owning/occupying/overseeing anything responsible for ensuring the safety of everybody else - no matter how stupid or irresponsible their behaviour or actions/inactions may have been.

While I agree with the fact that all of this has been taken to extremes, I am kinda glad that the OH&S laws are where they are. I work in an industry that is quite safe to work in here in Aus thanks to stringent OH&S laws and the laws that control that industry, but which claims hundreds of lives in counties such as China where OH&S is non existent.

Its goods to know my life has enough value to put these laws in place. I get to go home alive and see my family, rather than end up in a box due to greed and the fact that I am expendable.

Of course OH&S has been taken further than it should have. The paper pushers need to justify their positions!

[MAD]

I agree with everything so far. Overly litigious, stupid breeding stupider and greedy society to blame.

Why cant we just list common sense as the major requirement in all legal proceedings.
If you got burnt drinking hot coffee, maybe you should have blown on it first or taken a little sip instead to check it.
If you tripped on a hose while breaking in to someone's house, maybe you shouldn't have been trying to break in.

As long as innocent bystanders aren't hurt in the process, let's allow natural selection to continue unhindered.

[Polyal]

Originally Posted by grandpa_spec_au

You used to be able to rent a hall for a LAN (bunch of people bring their comptuer along and hook them up to play games, share files etc) for next to nothing.

Now, including the cost of the hall, you now need first aid equipment, insurance, miles of safety tape to secure loose cables, surge protection equipment etc. as if anyone hurts themselves, looses a computer due to power failure or some other situation where the venue is deemed "AT FAULT" (most of the time it's becase the person is being a ding bat), it falls under "duty of care" and they can sue the pants off you... I miss the old days... it's scary saying that as I'm only 20 :(

OMG.

Now that is just retarded. Its sad that things have come to this.

[Yellow_Festiva]

Originally Posted by steamin63

thousands of years ago the lame were chased down and eaten by wild animals and the stupid fell off the edge of cliffs.
today the wild animals are in cages and they put fences around the edges of cliffs.
draw your own conclusions. cheers.

Love your work

Yes.... it is sad isn't it. They guy at Bunnings couldn't tell me his opinion on if the paint card I chose was 'close' to the sample I bought in (he was not allowed to)...

Common sense is well and truly gone.... people are scared to make a judgement / have an opinion / make a comment / do something 'outside of the square' in case they get quoted 3 months down the track...

[Fled74]

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

The guy at Bunnings couldn't tell me his opinion on if the paint card I chose was 'close' to the sample I bought in (he was not allowed to)...

I had the exact same experience, which is sad because he's supposed to be the paint expert.

Speaking of OH&S:


I think this picture sums up the entire thread.

[Raptor]

Originally Posted by Craiginmackay

While I agree with the fact that all of this has been taken to extremes, I am kinda glad that the OH&S laws are where they are. I work in an industry that is quite safe to work in here in Aus thanks to stringent OH&S laws and the laws that control that industry, but which claims hundreds of lives in counties such as China where OH&S is non existent.

Its goods to know my life has enough value to put these laws in place. I get to go home alive and see my family, rather than end up in a box due to greed and the fact that I am expendable.

Of course OH&S has been taken further than it should have. The paper pushers need to justify their positions!

Yes, I work in a heavy manufacturing industry too and we pride ourselves on what we have achieved, and rightly so. Though I am tiring of the full PPE requirement to get me the ten metres from the carpark to the office door.

Like you said, it's been taken to extremes

[gossy]

What ever happened to the old saying..............

COMMOM SENSE PREVAILS ?

[bungarra]

A form should be signed on reaching 18. Simply stating: " I am legally able to vote, drive vehicles, own a gun, read, write, drink and go to war. I accept that if I am a D><Khead and cause injury to myself or someone else, I'll accept responisbility. I accept life can be dangerous and somethings are more dangerous than others, if I decide to take legal action against anyone for my own stupidity, I will accept being forcibly moved to Afghanistan in place of an Aussie Soldier and tell them how hard life really is in Australia." D'Oh

[Paxton]

Originally Posted by gossy

What ever happened to the old saying..............

COMMOM SENSE PREVAILS ?

Common Sense is the least Common Sense.

[blownvn]

Originally Posted by bungarra

A form should be signed on reaching 18. Simply stating: " I am legally able to vote, drive vehicles, own a gun, read, write, drink and go to war. I accept that if I am a D><Khead and cause injury to myself or someone else, I'll accept responisbility. I accept life can be dangerous and somethings are more dangerous than others, if I decide to take legal action against anyone for my own stupidity, I will accept being forcibly moved to Afghanistan in place of an Aussie Soldier and tell them how hard life really is in Australia." D'Oh

Don't get me started on the gun thing.

While gun crime is very low in Australia, especially gun crime from legally owned and registered guns, we've got a ludicrous amount of laws restricting gun ownership. Pretty much 95% of all gun crime is committed by unlicenced people with unregistered guns. Yet, all the laws are about restricting the law abiding gun owners - the ones who don't break the law.

We've spent over $1billion on gun buybacks and subsequent registration, and yet the crims still have their guns and don't seem shy about using them.

While I reckon gun registration is a waste of time, I reckon we should be able to own whatever guns we like as long as we register them and obey the law.

I'm sure the gun haters will come out and say "No one needs a gun except blah blah, and blah blah", but there's no restrictions on who can own or drive a Ferrari, and who needs a car that can go 0-100 in 3.5seconds? or needs a house with four bathrooms, or needs a 24-foot boat, or needs a city apartment when they have a perfectly good house.

Unfortunately too mnay people are trying to restrict our "wants" to what they reckon we "need".

Personally I blame alot of it on the encroachment of Green/Socialist politics in our society. I want to live in the Australia I grew up in, not this hollow shell of a country that exists today.

[Dr. Feelgood]

^ This guy = *thumbs up*

[calais]

From all the points raises in this thread, I have one question.

Is there any way, that we as a society can mature away from the litigious and frivilous bunch of do-gooders and nay-sayers that sadly we have become?

I for one hope so.

[MAD]

Rep added to blownvn. The gun laws make as much sense as a desalination plant in Victoria. It's blindingly obvious, yet completely invisible to the pollies and lawmakers.


It amazes me just how short a period of time it has taken to completely change our way of life to this red tape and lawsuit filled joke we call society.

Mark Webber was 150% on the money when he called it a nanny state.

I too bloody hope so calais.

[Glennz XR8]

Originally Posted by calais

From all the points raises in this thread, I have one question.

Is there any way, that we as a society can mature away from the litigious and frivilous bunch of do-gooders and nay-sayers that sadly we have become?

I for one hope so.

I honestly don't think so. Sadly, I think it will only get worse because there's aways someone with a stupid idea to help protect us from ourselves.

[Iggypoppin']

Ah jeez. What a thread!
Had worksafe SA audit us recently. What a nightmare. I won't get into the details but it's a total crock, what they're making us do.
The nannying has to stop. It's not making anything any safer, as the saying goes, nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool!
And that's natural selection at it's finest!

[Franco Cozzo]

The best one was at my old work, a lot of guys had been hurting themselves and the work cover premiums must have started to go through the roof, anyways the dealer principle makes us spend 2 hours at this OHS training, on how to lift a box correctly, and told us not to drink coke or coffee, then gave us a test and gave us all the answers for it.

The best thing after was when one of the interns from Japan hurt his back lifting a box/