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Forgive my rant.

Last week during a poweroutage a man starts up his generator, in his basement, Carbon monoxide, dead, the man, his wife and their 12 year old granddaughter.

Last month some college students cook out and don't put the charcoal out, leaving the grill on the back porch. No dead, thank God, but the house is gone.

A few years back some guys have a party, a couch catches on fire, they put it out and instead of throwing it out in the back yard they put it on the back porch, 5 dead.

This is just in my small rural area and I could go on. Is it just me or does it seem people are getting dumber? They do things that I can't imagine people with any common sense would do.

Whilst it's always sad to hear of the demise of some less than 'sharp' fellow human being/s, through some idiotic action/inaction on their part, I don't believe the population at large is " getting dumber ".

There will always be a percentage destined for a Darwin Award.

This is 'Natural Selection' at work in the human species.

If everyone had common sense, we'd never have any wars.

You've heard the expression "Too stupid to live"?? Perfect examples. It's unfortunate that some of the idiots took other, potentially intelligent people with them.

I think we all have dim witted moments, especially when drinking, but also just in distracted moments. Luckily it doesn't always result in death. These are misfortunate events but not necessarily indications of stupidity. Good reminders.

Some people have "Common-Sense", some people have "No-sense"!!! :wah:

Cars :driving:

Common sense is not so common.

-Voltaire

jahamaa wrote: Forgive my rant.



A few years back some guys have a party, a couch catches on fire, they put it out and instead of throwing it out in the back yard they put it on the back porch, 5 dead.




jahamaa,

Thanks for the info.

This one reminds me of when I was about 5 years old. My younger brother turned on a lamp between our beds in middle of nite and somehow it fell over onto the bed. The bulb was hot enough to burn a hole in the mattress. My older brother was awoke by the smell. He got up, poured a glass of water on the smoldering material then went into living room to read as he often did. Then, around 4:00 AM he smelled smoke again, the room was ablaze when he got to it. He got me out as I was still asleep.

The family learned a valuable lesson about fire safety and not being afraid to wake parents when there was ANY type of problem.

The material in couches beds and furniture as such will smolder for hours and then just ignite..........

anastrophe wrote: Common sense is not so common.

-Voltaire




Or............

Foolproof is only good until the "FIRST FOOL" comes along :yh_think

Posted by BTS:

Or............

Foolproof is only good until the "FIRST FOOL" comes along

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There's a Fool born every day!! :guitarist

Cars :driving:

That's why they are called accidents.

As you can understand, in a small area like mine these things are the main topic of conversation for weeks on end and forgive me if I'm overthinking them but I don't think they are stupid people or momentary distractions.

I think, in America anyway, we have come to expect things to be made idiot proof for us. We just expect the manufacturer to address any possible danger or to capsulize it in a little sticker on the machine.

When the five young people died in the fire there was a huge stink about smoke alarms in rentals properties etc. But you know what my grandfathers would have said? Damn fool kids, who raised em? We've, at least in my opinion, abdicated our role as being the final person responcible for our own safety. And too lax in our role in teaching our kids the same.

Sure accidents happen but running an internal combustion engine inside is not an accident it's something that everyone should know not to do.

There seems to be too much of this "I didn't know" attitude after an "accident " (are these types of things truly accidents?) and not enough realizing that it is your job to know how to keep yourself safe.

Posted by Jahamaa:

There seems to be too much of this "I didn't know" attitude after an "accident " (are these types of things truly accidents?) and not enough realizing that it is your job to know how to keep yourself safe.

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There are things that are just unpreventable accidents, & then there are things that are absolutely "avoidable" accidents if just given a little forthought! Avoidable accidents occuring are unforgivable! :wah:

Cars :driving:

My house was set on fire by a friend leaving a towel over a closet door too close to a ceiling light. I thought it incredibly stupid at the time but realised that it is not that strange a thing for someone to do. Luckily I had great neighbours who saw the smoke and got the fire department there before my house burned down.

Stupid? We sure felt like it. But not really stupid, just careless.