🚀 go-pugleaf

"Doug Craigen" <dcc@escape.ca> wrote in message
news:3AABEA44.9E54AA46@escape.ca...
> No objection to much of the list, but two items stand out:
>
> "G. B." wrote:
> >
> > If a woman burns her thighs on the hot coffee she was holding in her lap
> > while driving, the restaurant is to blame.
>
> In the case in question, the blame was for selling coffee hotter than
> their own guidelines recognized as safe.  If she had bought the coffee
> anywhere else she wouldn't have gotten such serious burns when it
> spilt.  There's the question of reasonable expectations about the
> products you buy, and most of us have spilt coffee on ourselves before
> without requiring a doctor's attention.  Had she known how dangerous the
> cup she was holding was, she might have taken better precautions against
> spilling.


"Guidelines?" What does the word mean? It doesn't mean "law" and if it did,
it certainly wouldn't justify a punitive claim of $20,000.  Such a thing
could happen in the kitchen, too. Would that justify a lawsuit against the
plumber? The water-heater manufacturer? The world is full of hazards, and
there is no legal remedy to protect everyone from themselves all the time.

>
> > If you suck three packs of cigarette smoke into your lungs each day for
40
> > years and die of lung cancer, the tobacco company is to blame.
>
> They're not to blame for people choosing to smoke, just for denying the
> medical facts.  A person who smoked knowing it was bad for them can
> hardly blame the cigarette companies.  A person who kept smoking because
> they believed the tobacco companies is stupid, but in that case it is
> the tobacco companies fault.  If you assure somebody that a product is
> safe, you are assuming responsibility for their safety.  If you're not
> sure a product is safe, don't claim it is.  In this case it is the
> cigarette companies you should be railing against for trying to avoid
> their share of the blame.

Tobacco may be bad for you, and tobacco companies may be mean, nasty people,
but the product IS LEGAL, so the responsibility for using it rests with the
user.  When the law begins to label certain entities as evil, and makes its
decisions based on a desire to punish them, we are on a slippery slope
toward facism.