On Tue, 13 Jun 2000, Carlos Murillo wrote:
> >Like my father-in-law (an attorney) has always said, we may live in a
> >rather litigious society here in the U.S., but it's the safest country in
> >the world as a result.
>
> Rather untrue by almost any metric of "safe". For starters,
> you are in the country where no one is safe from idiotic lawsuits :-(.
>
> Second, if you actually believe such a statement, what you are
> showing is that you now believe that it is the courts that
> keep you safe, rather than yourself. I submit to you that
> a country where such a belief is widespread is the most
> unsafe, since people expect others to worry about safety instead
> of taking the responsibility of worrying about safety themselves.
Carlos, have you ever even been out of the United States? Especially to
third world countries? You'd know what I mean if you have.
What you say has merit, however, you can't always expect other humans to
be looking out for your well being. Especially when profit is involved.
To take but one example, do you think cars would be as safe as they are
today if manufacturers were not held liable for poor designs?
Just something to think about. I'm not arguing this either way. I'm just
reminding everyone that rarely is there ever a simple answer to
these sorts of things.
(There was a really funny skit on the old Saturday Night Live where Dan
Akroyd would play this cheezy guy who owned a toy manufacturing company
that produced such toys as Syringes in a Bag, and other toys containing
razor blades, broken glass, etc.)
Sellam International Man of Intrigue and Danger
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Received on Tue Jun 13 2000 - 17:31:19 BST