Like many people today, I like to think that I'm used to the constant influx of stupidity displayed in the news. However, despite my lowered expectations I still find myself frequently awestruck by the absurdity I see when perusing news headlines. I'm not talking about the stories filed away under sections titled things like "Strange News", where you know what you're getting yourself into. I'm talking about stories billed as "normal" news. I blame society's acceptance of these insane events as normal for how we got where we are today, where warnings have to be plastered on everything for fear of being sued by people who complain no one warned them not to run around the slippery sides of a pool. More to blame, however, is the court system that established the precedent of awarding small fortunes to these people rather than scold them not to waste taxpayer dollars for bringing these inane cases to their attention.
Most people have heard about the lady who spilled hot coffee on her lap and sued McDonald's for not labeling the container to warn of its content's temperature. She won the case, and got a small pile of money for her trouble. Does this strike anyone else as insane? Let's break it down, shall we?
The lady ordered hot coffee. She knew it was to be a hot beverage, as I'm sure she would have been pissed if it had arrived cold. She then accidentally spills the coffee on herself, and proceeds to blame McDonald's for not labeling the beverage she wanted hot AS hot so that she would know not to accidentally spill it on herself. She then took this story to a judge. The judge didn't laugh, but instead awarded her the case. He decreed that McDonald's should have placed in writing that the beverage she wanted hot was indeed hot, and that they should warn people to be careful when handling the dangerous beverage. THIS is what I'm talking about. Now we have to label everything because no one takes responsibility for their actions and because the courts have opted to side with these people.
Our court system is descended from English Common Law, which was brought over to America when the first colony was settled. In this type of law system tradition and precedent are what's important. What does this mean? In a nutshell, it means that when determining a verdict for a case, judges refer back to similar cases in order to remain fair and consistent. Basically, if the Supreme Court previously decided that police officers may use aggressive maneuvers during high speed pursuits (they did), and a suspect who was injured in one such case decides to sue the police, then the new judges will look back to the previous decision and cite that as to why they are ruling in favor of the defendants. What all this means is that when the first decision was handed down in favor of the plaintiff in a case like the hot coffee lady's, it set a precedent for all other similar cases to follow. This ultimately has made our society lawsuit happy, and I feel it has made us worse off as a people.
Bottom line: if you trip on a curb because your face was in your phone, own up and accept the dose of humility you just received and accompanying lesson, don't threaten to sue the building's owners for not instructing you how to look where you're going. That would only further the growing acceptance of irresponsibility in our country.
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