[ale] OT: Out in left field or in the sewers of The Big Apple

[Scott Castaline]

On 07/13/2009 04:55 PM, Thompson Freeman wrote:
> On 07/13/2009 04:22:52 PM, Jeff Lightner wrote:
>> I agree with you to an extent.  Much of our liability
>> deals with people
>> not taking personal responsibility for their own actions.
>> However, the
>> only way to get corporations and governments to be
>> responsible is to
>> penalize them financially.
>>
>> On that subject - it amazes me when I leave the U.S. to
>> see how little
>> of what we think of as basic safety is present outside the
>> country.
>> Going down a flight of steps a mile long with no hand rail
>> is an
>> unnerving experience.
>
> Yup. We seem to be pretty much on the same page with
> respect to the problem. Fortunately we aren't tasked with
> solving the problem, 'cause I'm not sure about that one.
>
> Law suits to get corporate or government attention just
> doesn't really seem to work efficiently, just raises the
> costs of doing business. Failure to get their attention
> isn't exactly acceptable either.
>
> However, failure to condemn equally forcefully behaviors
> like texting in motion or talking on phones while driving
> and their related lack of responsibilty for personal
> behavior isn't doing our society any favors either. When
> and where does the "right" to text (or any of a number of
> absorbing activities) end? Walking into a man hole
> shouldn't be appreciably harder to do when distracted than
> knocking somebody's grandmother into the path of a bus.
> Same irresponsible cause, different outcome.
>
> We need some form of balance, because we, as a society,
> seem to be failing in some way on both ends.
>
> (As for the mile long stair without grab rails - that mile
> long stair is intimidating enough for me with an advanced
> fear of edges (not heights, edges) even with the rails. I
> suspect I might wear out the seat of my britches schoaching
> down on my seat without the handrail 8-/
>
Och, that's gotta hurt.