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Opinionated Ranter - The Adventures of Being Awesome...

 
I am but a man trying to live the dream. This is how I see the world...

P C POLICE

We are raising a generation of wimps. I heard on the radio this morning that somewhere in England, they hold a festival that included things like a sack race, a three-legged race and a an egg-in-spoon race.
Because little Johnny might stumble and fall during any one of these events, he might get bruised. So, the insurer told the organizer that if these events are included in this year's festivities the insurance premium would be doubled.
The organizers had no choice but to cave and thus these events are not included.
How did we ever survive our childhood without these helpful PC police to look after us? I thought a kids job was to explore the world and discover wondrous things on his/her own. In the process they might well get bruised or cut. That's part of the deal. I fell many times and scraped my knee. So what? A little bit of Bactine, a kiss to make it better from my Mom and I was out on the streets again in 5 minutes. The worst thing that ever happened to me was I broke my arm high jumping in Gr. 4. That set me back 3 whole days and on the fourth I was playing baseball with my arm in a cast. Nobody banned high jumping.

Recently, 2 children died while tobogganing down a hill. This is tragic and we all feel badly for the families involved. However, now comes the hue and cry to make helmets mandatory for tobogganers. What next? Full body armour for the little tykes before they get in a car for a ride to the local ice cream shop?
The government, you would think, has better things to do than waste its time on this type of nonsense. Apparently not. The way they are going, we'll all be walking around in plastic bubbles to keep us from any and all forms of misfortune. Of course, then another PC cop will come along and tell us that plastic is dangerous to us.

Will it never end?
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1. February 7th 2007 @ 15:49. S.L. Bradish Says:
You're right again, Youranter! Childhood used to be a time of tree climbing and rollerskating and skinned knees. The kids who skate now have as much gear as pro hockey players! And tree climbing is frowned on. Maybe the PC cops are trying to keep kids inactive so they'll get fat. Oh, that's right... kids aren't allowed to be fat anymore, either...
2. February 7th 2007 @ 16:10. Don Lee Says:
In spite of the drug culture and the hippies, ect. lots of baby boomers turned out pretty well. There are a few notable exceptions, of course. Most of them either in prison or in office. The Nanny State PC laws for the new generation are scary as hell. A generation of pampered, helpless, wimps who are afraid to sneeze doesn't sound like a bright future for America, Canada or anyplace else. Sounds like something out of a sci-fi story, doesn't it...?
3. February 8th 2007 @ 01:04. Yasmin Says:
Hear, hear.
My latest complaint is the education system in Australia which has banned any kind of junk food from school canteens. I don't know about you but going to the canteen used to be a treat for me. What could I treat myself to now...an apple? Ridiculous. Kids can learn to eat properly themselves or suffer the consequences.
4. February 8th 2007 @ 01:35. Don Lee Says:
You're right, Yasmin. Parents are supposed to teach their kids what foods are good. Schools are supposed to teach them to read and write. They're doing the same bans here in the US, too. Someone will find something wrong with "healthy eating" just give them time.
5. February 8th 2007 @ 02:08. Cibbuano Says:
I don't really think it has to do with political correctness. I think it's an effect of our legal system, which is making it harder and harder for kids to have a 'normal' life like we had.

After all, if a kid fell down and injured himself, there's no guarantee that the parents won't sue the event.

I think people need to be less litigious...
6. February 8th 2007 @ 02:19. Yasmin Says:
Totally. The problem with the litigation thing is that judges are so bound by results of old trials (whats the word I'm looking for?) that they have hardly any chance to come to a common sense judgment. Once one stupid decision gets passed, everyone jumps on the bandwagon. Like that woman who sued Maccas when she poured hot coffee on herself because the cup didn't say "caution: hot"!

(PS I made my first proper post about the junk food in canteens thing. Take a look)
7. February 8th 2007 @ 02:58. Don Lee Says:
Precedent is the word you were looking for, Yasmin. Yes, Cibbuano, such a litigious society creates it's own troubles. Some people sue over things that normal people ignore. Lawyers like John Edwards make their living with such suits. Everybody is terrified of being sued for their car, their home, their dog, their kids, everything. It's disgraceful. People who have a ligitimate case are often ignored because of the prospect of more frivolous suits.
8. February 8th 2007 @ 03:02. S.L. Bradish Says:
I know some people who make their living by suing everyone they can. The husband of the couple slammed himself down in a flimsy restaurant chair and it broke. He had to work to make it break. They got a years income from it. The wife intentionally slipped on the wet floor of a market and made the next years income. Getting jobs is beneath them, I guess...
9. February 8th 2007 @ 10:50. youranter Says:
I haven't read it yet, but Jim Stillman has a post on AC about why lawyers are important. He used to be one before he retired. It should be an interesting read. Yes, Cibbuano, our legal system does play a big part in all this and I think one feeds the other. The more lawsuits, the more PC we are supposed to become. The more PC we are, the more the courts think they have to pander to us and come up with ridiculous interpretations of the law.
10. February 9th 2007 @ 23:19. D. Armenta Says:
Amen! The worst trend I've seen here in the U.S. is the "lowest common denominator" rule when it comes to lawmaking. When I took a nasty fall at work and displaced my kneecap, I was forced to go through Workmens' Compensation, a joke of a system devised by lawyers to protect corporations, not workmen. Thanks to countless thousands of dirtbags before me who were looking for early retirement through faked injuries, I have to pay for my prescriptions out of pocket, drive 100 miles roundtrip to THEIR Dr., and wait average 6 months till I'm reimbursed. I'm also filmed periodically (supposedly secretly) to make sure I'm not faking it. Yep, that's us--land of the free and all that...
11. February 10th 2007 @ 02:00. S.L. Bradish Says:
Don't ya love the results of John Edwards and his silly lawsuits? They really screw things up for the people with real injuries.
12. February 10th 2007 @ 10:14. youranter Says:
It's a bit different here. I'm on Comp at present and have no trouble with them. They are working their tails off to get me back to work, just so the company can claim they've done nothing wrong. Several people have been hurt on the job I'm doing and the company is finally taking a look at how to fix it. Why did I have to get hurt so severly before they took any notice? My prescriptions cost me $0.35 each, the rest covered by Green Shield. I have an appointment with the company next week to discuss improvements to the job, apparently the engineers figured out that someone who does the thing 500 times a day knows a bit more about it than they do, and I see a specialist in late March for an evaluation. In the meantime, the company has to pay the WSIB (comp) rates and it looks good on them.
13. February 10th 2007 @ 11:12. S.L. Bradish Says:
I'm glad they're working with you to fix the problem. It would be nice if MSHA would do the same here. A friend of mine worked in one of the mines and had a haul-pak tire blow up on him. (The previous victim of the same accident was cut in half!) My friend was deaffened and plagued with headaches. MSHA said it was a "noise injury" and told him to go back to work. He moved away after that, got smalll settelment and died about a year later. Maybe Canada could send someone down to teach MSHA how to deal with on the job accidents!
14. February 10th 2007 @ 13:33. youranter Says:
I suppose it all depends on what kind of adjudicator is assigned to your case. I consider myself lucky. There are still horror stories about Comp denials even when the company admits it was 100% at fault. A few years ago Comp was blatantly working for the company and they're just starting to come back to their original mandate: Help the worker.

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