AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Talk Belize Chat Area Trying to get rich for being drunk and stupid!

Touche', Law. If I sound superior, I apologize, as that is NOT my opinion. I am not saying that there aren't legitimate efforts by the courts, and I agree that this judicial system in this country is wonderful. Never intended to imply otherwise. My opinion that often times we as human beings forget that when we get out of bed, there is a certain element of risk in everything we do. Our parents were quick to tell us not to run with scissors. I learned from my mom not to do that. I would never expect that there should be fine print on the package warning me not to do so. We had two brothers in the ER recently who both were injured in an axe toss. DUHHH!!!! Sharp, heavy items being tossed back and forth. Should they have printed on them "not to be used as a ball" or something similar? All I am saying is we need to stop being so quick to blame others for our stupidity. I think everyone has a right to be stupid, but some people just abuse the privilege.

Everyone agrees to assume certain risks and there are activities which have inherent risks (axe tossing comes to mind ); however, when the risk far surpasses what could be considered normal, the responsibility lies with the party creating the risk and failing to warn thereof.
That said, there will always be people who fail to take responsibility for their own actions.
I do believe it is a matter of perspective. Knowing the law and the rationale for those legal principles make some of these situations much easier to understand.

I guess you are right that in knowing the law can make understanding these issues easier. I don't profess to know the law, and feel it is better left to people like yourself to defend those who need it, and prosecute those who need it. I enjoy a good banter now and then, but don't want to have every conversation become a debate. We can agree to disagree, and life will go on. Just give me a chance to voice my opinion now and then, and I'll be happy, without trying to change your opinion to match mine. If we all thought alike, we wouldn't need attorneys, so you have job security in that....and I have job security because there will always be stupid people doing stupid things and hurting themselves.

S&S
The reason it doesnt make sense to you why someone would fly if there is a problem is multi fold.
1) Before the pinto was pulled, if you were one of the people that blew up, before you blew up, i assure you your family didnt know there was a safety issue. It took lawsuits and the Pinto being pulled before it became mass knowledge. There is no media, until recently on the MU2, and even that...until me, how many of you had heard of it?
2) If you are a pilot, and you have a family to support since you were laid off from a major airline due to a couple planes being flow into a couple big buildings in NYC, you take whatever ****ty measely job you can get. you do what you have to do, cause its the only way you know to make a living. this, however, does not excuse the company who chose these planes to fly rather than a safer one. Tom was considered one of the best trained pilots in the US on the MU2. If you research, despite all the warnings, statistics and other information available, some people continue to argue they are safe to fly. Tom was not one of those people, he, like a fork lift driver, operated the machine he was told he had to operate. He didnt look into the safety rating, just like a fork lift driver wouldnt look into the safety rating of the exact make and model of the lift they were asked to operate.
3)If you dont know what information to look for, you wont find it.

hindsight is 20/20, but it doesnt mean that the individual is necessarily culpable when manufacturer, employer and 2 branches of government know the problems exist still do nothing.

FYI and for the record...
I do absolutely agree that somewhere along the line our society (US that is) seems to have lost its sense of personal accountability and responsibility as well.

just throwing that out there.

I agree with you, Lara. I drove a pinto, and sold it once the data came out, because I had two little kids in there with me. I also told the buyer the reason I was getting rid of it, and they knew the risk. I am not at all thinking your Tom knew about the severity of the problems and yet continued to fly this craft. I think, however, that if my boss told me to stand in front of a train as part of my job, I would decline and look for employment elsewhere, especially since I have loved ones depending on me and my paycheck. To take a different route, although lesser paid, but much safer, is what I would attempt while continuing to look for what I was trained to do, with a responsible company that placed a value on human life. I do think the manufacturer should be culpable in this case, as they know they are responsible for the integrity of this plane, just as McDonald's is responsible for the temperature of it's coffee. I'm not negating the responsibility issues here. What I'm saying is that when people start litigating over fast food making them fat, cigarettes causing lung cancer, things we KNOW happen, but refuse to take responsibility for it happening to us, when we ignore all warnings, and feel that we are due monetary gain from doing it anyway and becoming injured, then there is something wrong with the system that supports this.

"Convince a man against his will and he'll be of the same opinion still"

"There's no sense in wrestling with a pig, all that happens is you both get up muddy"

"There's no sense in trying to teach a pig to sing, it just frustrates you and annoys the pig."

tru dat

Too funny, seashell. Very true!!

Should I be offended by this?