The stupid will always be with us
Well, it’s official. The death of a teen at an Atlanta area amusement park over the weekend has been attributed to mortal stupidity. In related news, an Atlanta area personal injury attorney broke a land speed record. Not only have we been subjected to watching and listening to the reports of this gruesome ‘accident’ for the last three days, now we will be compelled to follow the legal battle as the family of this young man uses and abuses the American court system to recover supposed damages. What a country!
They haven’t buried the kid yet and they already have a lawyer. Now it’s possible I heard the report wrong and they have actually hired a defense attorney to represent them when Six Flags sues them for financial restitution but I doubt that is the case. Most likely, the attorney will claim the park was negligent in only installing two fences and a handful of warning signs and therefore should pay an exorbitant amount of money to the family because this kid was going to grow up to be a multi-gazillionaire in either the sports or entertainment industry. And either the insurance company representing the park will settle or a pathetic jury will award them the afore mentioned gazillion dollars. It almost makes you want to sacrifice a limb of your own.
Rather than awarding money, I think the family of this moron should push for safety changes to be made at the park. I suggest the following:
- an IQ test at the gates to the park to determine a guest’s ability to not only read warning signs, but to also clearly understand the implications of not obeying safety instructions - maybe before and after pictures should be posted on signs and fences for those who have difficulty with the concepts
- a waiver signed by all guests and/or legal guardians stating that any “˜accidents’ that occur within the park due to a guest’s utter disregard of safety instructions will result in the immediate expulsion of the guest and his accompanying companions, either on their own power or on a stretcher
- a contract signed by all guests and/or legal guardians stating guests are responsible for any and all lost revenue due to closure of attractions if and when an ‘accident’ occurs due to their stupidity ““ this includes reimbursing all ticket holders their expenses
Maybe, just maybe, a policy like this might prevent a death or two. Unfortunately, in our liberal, hand holding, protect the public from themselves, attorney laden society, a policy like this wouldn’t hold up in a court of law. We live in a free country. So free in fact, you have the right to get yourself killed and inconvenience others, cause monetary damages to a major corporation and then get financially rewarded for your trouble. As I’ve said before, it’s no wonder 24 million illegals are willing to risk life and limb to get here.
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Comment by AMP on 7 July 2008:
This boils down to responsibility. The parents want someone else to take the fall for their son’s stupidity. It’s a shame the kid died, but isn’t that Darwinism at its best? What’s worse is that a case like this will tie up our taxpayer-funded courts rather than allowing the judges to work on meaningful cases.
Pingback by six flags rides on 8 July 2008:
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Comment by Ian on 23 September 2008:
I’d hate to call a young man stupid based on one very poor decision, which cost him his life. I hate bringing unrelated material into an argument, but I can’t help myself - this would be like saying that Sarah Palin is a bad mother and her daughter is a “harlot” because of the one bad decision she made - which she will live with for the rest of her life. Neither statement is necessarily true based on those particular instances alone. However, they’re not necessarily false either, but much more evidence would be needed to prove either case.
I do agree that it is ridiculous to sue the park. This was a case of very poor judgment and there’s nothing the park could have done about it - at least nothing practical. Unfortunately, this lawsuit won’t be thrown out because the young man was black and the court will be afraid of being labeled as racist. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe that race issues don’t exist, but in instances like this one it is abundently clear that it should play NO part and I hope that it doesn’t, but I’m not holding my breath. I also agree that the park has more of a case against the boy then the other way around, after all, they lost business, got bad press, and did nothing wrong.
Comment by gopmom on 23 September 2008:
I don’t see the connection between this idiot and the Palin family. After all, this guy is dead and his family will have to live with this (heartache, pointless loss, embarrassment, etc)for the rest of their lives. On the other hand, the mistake made by a 17 year old (not her mother) wins them a new baby. !Que terrible!
Comment by Ian on 23 September 2008:
It’s the idea that they both used bad judgment. Daughter Palin could have ended up with an STD having unprotected sex, but fortunately she didn’t - thank God. Then again, I did expect you to focus on Palin, which is why I now regret bringing her in the argument - I just couldn’t help myself, since it was so easy to predict where you’d take it.
I know it’s childish, but sometimes it’s just plain fun to push people’s buttons and see them spin. It’s a fault of mine, I admit it.
Comment by gopmom on 23 September 2008:
I don’t mind responding to your Palin comparison at all. In fact, I was thrilled by the comparison. I always appreciate the chance to demonstrate to anyone how little value those on the left side of life place on life. Comparing the death of this kid to an unplanned pregnancy is absurd. I can only hope that someone with your obvious intelligence never meant to equate the two but simply mis-wrote.
50% of pregnancies in America are unplanned and even the best contraceptives fail. Only abstinence works. I sympathize with the Palins because I trust they tried (are trying) to instill this moral lesson in their children but, as all parents realize at some point, the impact of popular culture is prolific and can be extremely harmful. They are actually lucky that the result of this breach of their family moral values is something as harmless as a baby. If you’re trying to get me to question Gov. Palin’s quality as a parent, politician or leader based on this toss of the coin, it won’t happen.
Comment by Ian on 23 September 2008:
I think you’re the one mispeaking here. You seem to place no value on the life of this young boy who made a big mistake, in fact you just call him stupid and act as if he deserved it and then ridicule the idea that he could possibly have been something special. You seem to have had no emotional response to his death, only: he deserved it because he was stupid. Who’s the one that doesn’t value life? Also, you’re the one that made the comparison between death and pregnancy, I merely pointed out that they both had bad judgment. The boy could have broke his leg falling over the fence, rather than being killed by the ride, just as daughter Palin could have contracted a serious STD instead of becoming pregnant. Sure, a baby is a special and should be valued as such - the baby is not to blame for its mother’s careless mistake.
I just remember when I was in highschool a pregnant girl would be embarassed - just doesn’t seem to happen anymore. Heck, my best friend’s sister got pregnant and they sent her away because she was an embarassment. I’m not saying that’s right, but that’s old conservativism. Now they strut the pregnant mother up on a national stage. Sure, life is a beautiful thing, but teenage pregnancy isn’t. Thre’s no shame anymore. I’m not being sexist here - the boyfriends should be embarassed and ashamed too, because they also showed poor judgment. It has nothing to do with not loving life and little babies and everything to do with the moral fiber of this country, that’s unravelling before our eyes and we’re all cheering for it.
Comment by Ian on 23 September 2008:
Cheering for it and making excuses for it…change has to start within our own families, if it doesn’t happen there, how can we expect it to happen on a grand scale? I also sympathize with Mrs. Palin and I’m not saying that this issue makes her unfit to be VP or that it makes her a bad person. Like you said, it happens all the time (that doesn’t make it right by the way). I just get angry because I always agreed with the republican notion that people need to be held accountable for their actions. Young children are the responsibility of the parent. This was a parenting failure as much as a failure in judgment for her daughter, but it’s only one instance in time and doesn’t define the person as a whole. That’s my point. It’s okay to make mistakes, it’s human. People shouldn’t be defined by one particular instance in time - they should be judged on all their experiences.
Comment by ATG on 23 September 2008:
I don’t know that shame is what we should be looking for. Having a child as a teenager isn’t a bad idea because it’s embarrassing - it’s a bad idea because as a teenager you’re generally emotionally and financially unprepared, and too immature, for the responsibility of a child, and to a lesser degree the fact that having a child at such a young age places severe limits on your ability to do things like complete your education or pursue your career to the degree that you’d like. I think ideally, teenagers would see pregnancy as a bad decision that will affect both their lives and the lives of their future children, regardless of whether or not they were embarrassed by it.
Comment by gopmom on 23 September 2008:
Loosen the tie, Ian.
Comment by Michael H on 29 September 2008:
Haha… love that one-liner.