I would presume that this situation is driven by the greed of lawyers in a legal system that is based on precedence, not legislation, as in continental Europe. Not to say that the continental system is brilliant. Here, for example, for legitimate injuries, even loss of life, the compensation is not more than several tens of thousands of Euros.

Then again, you could be a politician, and have some journalist publicly insult you...


Cheers!
HS!

Vladimir

Good evening,

It is ironic that the so called intelligent and civilized countries are doing all they can to counteract the life effort of Mr. Charles Darwin.

I agree with you wholeheartedly, Luke. However! The fact of the matter stands - these people may be stupid, but when their comfort is taken away it leaves them only with two options: Become productive citizens, or lash out at those who are!

The only feasible solution is to force them into labor camps! Those who do not cooperate will be fed to the dogs!

That would make an excellent political slogan.

"Welfare or pet food?"

>conveyor belt of herdlings go for a couple of weeks each
>year to enjoy, en masse, such leisure pursuits as dancing
>in sweaty nightspots to crap music, pissing into hotel
>swimming pools from their 13th floor balconies, brawling,
>rolling around the streets in a mindless drunken haze
>exposing their genitals with shouts such as "whey heeey"
>and telling the locals to "speak English you Spanish
>bastards." [Mullah_UVRAY]

I hate to say this but...that sounds like a typical Friday night at just about any college here in the U.S.

>Just think of all the lawsuits that have been filed and
>won. The lady that burned her crotch with hot coffee at
>McD's drive through. [ochsenschaedel]

Yes, Stella Liebeck always seems to be brought up as an example of irresponsibility that gets rewarded. But in truth her case is actually a poor example. Not to say that the phenomenon doesn't exist, of course.

I actually see this as one of the many manifestations of the cultural "pendulum swings" that occur. In previous times, people were held responsible for things that even weren't their fault, and had to bear greater burdens. Once upon a time, 8-year-olds had to work in factories, and battered women were to blame for provoking their husbands. If Timmy smarted off, he got beaten with a switch back behind the barn.

So, the pendulum has now swung the complete other way, and now nobody is held accountable for anything.

Once upon a time, actors parodied black people while wearing black face, there were Jim Crow laws, "Japs" were sent to internment camps lickety split, Jews were to blame for society's ills, and everyone used all manner of ethnic slurs without blinking. The pendulum swings, and we get the big fluffy monster, Political Correctness.

If you look closely, you will notice that various pendulums swing back and forth in our society. Contrast the beliefs of the Silent Generation with that of the Boomers, and contrast that with the attitudes of the Millenials. (I am not sure what to think of Gen X. They seem to resemble the Boomers more.)

The question is, will equilibrium ever be reached, or is the pendulum cycle inevitable?

The pendulum effect of which you speak will only cease if mankind in general begins to learn from past mistakes.
A nice thought, but sadly only very few choose to not make mistakes twice.

Precisely.

The pendulum cycle results from people not realizing that there was once a time before when the pendulum swung this way or that, and that subsequent extreme reactions and additional swings did nothing to remedy or permanently fix the situation.

It's why it's so laughable that fundies and nattering nannies want to clean up society and live in fear of Janet's jumblies--if their social model was to be implemented totally, within a few years, the pendulum would swing back, and you'd have people fucking each other in the streets like crazy, or suffering from OCD from a lack of being able to do so. Extremes are met with extremes.

The Chinese celebrate the Winter Solstice during the Summer Solstice and vice versa, because yang pulls yin around and yin likewise causes yang to cycle.

That's a good point. It seems to be swinging in the other direction these days. Also the people always party at night so as to not get caught.
well, sounds like a dandy feast to me.
Whatever works is my motto.