The next time you think, unless you are of strong character, today's society has probably had something to do with the outcome of your thinking.

Today's society, the one overwhelmed with people who do not want to take responsibility for their actions, the one overwhelmed with idiotic lawsuits, the one overwhelmed with people like that lady who sued McDonalds for $2.5m because she spilled a cup of hot coffee on herself, the one overwhelmed with people who shift the blame off their own shoulders and instead onto the video games their children play, or the sports that they are involved in, or the medications that they are on, or the mental conditions they may have. It influences the thoughts and beliefs of people who don't know any better, and the people who don't know any better make up the better part of the world's population.

Eric and Dylan didn't kill a dozen plus people, DOOM turned them into rabid animals, you can't blame them! Unattentive parents didn't cause some children to become rebellious, it was that blasted soccer/lacrosse/football, always encouraging competition and fierceness! A murderous mother didn't kill her 5 children, it was that poor woman's post-partum depression, give her a break! An angry 15 year old kid didn't crash a plane into a bank building, it was that drug he was on, he had no idea what was going on around him!

How long is this mad era of irresponsibility going to last? When society gets a clue? Good one, now tell me when society is going to even look for a clue. Everywhere I look, the majority of the world presumes they have freedom of will, speech, thought, and religion (those not in oppressive countries ending in -stan, that is). What is saddening to me is that not a lot of these people really have any idea how much influence society has on their lives, their behavior, their thinking process. Or is it just that they don't care to stand up against it?

I don't know which is worse, people not knowing it's true or people not wanting to do anything about it.

One small voice will make no difference in the matter, but I felt the need to vent.

My thoughts exactly! Welcome to the board Fury :)

Ok, exactly what are you complaining about? YOu say all kinds of crap, and maybe I am reading it wrong, so explain, do you feel that the "society" does or does not influence people?

I thought the same thing, Jasper. Not that I don't understand the words, but I am not sure I get the message.

My problem with today's society is the pressure and expectations of personal success. If you don't have anything, then you're nothing. It bothers me, since 90% of all the money in the US is distributed between 1% of it's citizens. We can't all be doctors and lawyers. I do not envy the young people of today who has to live under this kind of pressure. Their chances of living up to the expectations are not good.

People are not taking responsibility for their actions, some are committing crimes knowing full well the difference between right & wrong. That's what I think it means, If I understood it right, who knows :confused:

I vented about how damn much I see people shifting blame out of their own hands, all this political correctness and making sure that we don't offend this person or that person because they might sue the pants off of us, and how much of it is happening in the world, and how it has begun to shape our thoughts and beliefs.

I never really thought about how quickly the name God was banned from schools, because it might offend the 2-3% that don't believe in him. I never really thought about how easy it is for fast food corporations to lose millions because of a few words that were not placed on a styrofoam cup. I never really thought about how stupid some people can get, and yet I've also never realized how easily those stupid people can control your way of life!

This backwards system of ways is ****ed beyond repair, because of those stupid people who think that they should sue everyone who crosses, them, that they should try as hard as possible to turn their kids in to mindless drones so they don't have to lift a finger to babysit them, that they don't have to take responsibility for their lives because the government should do that for them, that they should make an entire civilization change its way of live to suit the needs or wants of a minority, that just because they have a different way of life that the god damn ****ing red carpet should be rolled out for them and that they should be worshipped or something.

I guess what I'm really trying to say is, somewhere along the line, these people forgot the meaning of man was created equal, equal being the key term here. Equal being that no man (or woman) deserves more rights, respect, freedom than the next. And that when enough of these stupid people forgot that and started the whole revolution of irresponsibility, the rest of the people became accustomed to this kind of stuff, or unaware that it even happened, as if this way of life was normal. Either that, or nobody really wants to try and turn it back around.

(You'll have to excuse my inconsistent typing. It's late and I had to get this out before I went to bed and forgot it all :lol: )

Originally posted by Blaziegirl
My thoughts exactly! Welcome to the board Fury :) Thanks! :hammer:

Wow, well... Fury, I don't think that too many people will disagree with most of what you are saying. People really should take responsibility for their own actions and be held accountable for those actions.
In short, if they worried more about what they are doing and less about what the next guy is doing, it would be a better world? Is that what you are saying? I hope not, because I couldn't disagree with ya more.
I also admit that there are many flaws in our system, our way of life. But, it is not beyond repair! We must believe that!! If we believe otherwise, then we have given up before trying to do anything about it. And I have 3 children that I want to see have a fighting chance in the world of tomorrow, I will fight to make things as right for them as possible as they will do for their children and as my parents did for me and so on and so on.
As far as the old lady who spilled coffee on herself, you stated the initial outcome of the trial, not the final outcome of the appeal. She still walked away with way too much money, but it was much less than the initial headlines stated (the appeal didn't make it to the headlines). As far as the other cases you mentioned, those are the defenses for those cases, not the outcomes. Just wanted to clarify not start an argument...

Fury, I couldn't agree or understand what you mean more! Do you know about freedom awareness pages? I know alot, just PM me if you want them. Also, it is not beyond repair! Things were once much worse, just think of the odds Washington over came to make what once was the free-est nation on Earth! There's still time!


You also had a good point, Red. You sound like a great father!

I understand...I've been in a hole of my own creation for too long. I'm making my way out little-by-little (soon to grow). I'll change...it's all me. If I act like a dick, it's my fault and my fault only.

Sincerely,

John "outofplacechild" Kilduff...

Oh, and welcome!

P.S,

Now, to just stick to what I say:D :vibrator:

Originally posted by fury

I never really thought about how quickly the name God was banned from schools, because it might offend the 2-3% that don't believe in him.

I guess what I'm really trying to say is, somewhere along the line, these people forgot the meaning of man was created equal, equal being the key term here. Equal being that no man (or woman) deserves more rights, respect, freedom than the next.

While I sort of understand the point you're trying to make, in the above two statements you contradict yourself. If no one deserves more rights than the other, than why should those who don't believe in God be forced to hear about him? Besides, there's alot more than 2 or 3% who don't believe in the same God. Last time I checked, there were many religions in this country. Therefore, no one in particular should be forcing their beliefs down anyone else's throats.

We have been being fed images of a nation where women were beating for walking the streets without a man beside them, and you're panicking about the state of this country? Sure, we've got some problems....but ****ed up beyond repair? I think not! Ask one of the WWII veterans about "****ed up". When the whole world was bombing the shit out of each other, that's ****ed up. All in all, it's not so bad now.

Its not society's fault that we are all puppets to our own whelms and desires.. we just blame it on society or a god.. its the individuals fault..

Originally posted by fury
The next time you think, unless you are of strong character, today's society has probably had something to do with the outcome of your thinking.

Today's society, the one overwhelmed with people who do not want to take responsibility for their actions, the one overwhelmed with idiotic lawsuits, the one overwhelmed with people like that lady who sued McDonalds for $2.5m because she spilled a cup of hot coffee on herself, the one overwhelmed with people who shift the blame off their own shoulders and instead onto the video games their children play, or the sports that they are involved in, or the medications that they are on, or the mental conditions they may have. It influences the thoughts and beliefs of people who don't know any better, and the people who don't know any better make up the better part of the world's population.

Eric and Dylan didn't kill a dozen plus people, DOOM turned them into rabid animals, you can't blame them! Unattentive parents didn't cause some children to become rebellious, it was that blasted soccer/lacrosse/football, always encouraging competition and fierceness! A murderous mother didn't kill her 5 children, it was that poor woman's post-partum depression, give her a break! An angry 15 year old kid didn't crash a plane into a bank building, it was that drug he was on, he had no idea what was going on around him!

How long is this mad era of irresponsibility going to last? When society gets a clue? Good one, now tell me when society is going to even look for a clue. Everywhere I look, the majority of the world presumes they have freedom of will, speech, thought, and religion (those not in oppressive countries ending in -stan, that is). What is saddening to me is that not a lot of these people really have any idea how much influence society has on their lives, their behavior, their thinking process. Or is it just that they don't care to stand up against it?

I don't know which is worse, people not knowing it's true or people not wanting to do anything about it.

One small voice will make no difference in the matter, but I felt the need to vent.

Now that I think about it, you are right.

I notice the lazyness and the irresponsibility EVERYDAY. Its disgusting, but what am I - a mere commoner - to do about it?

Mister Fury, please take into consideration that I agree with most of this. Not all, most. And mods admins - please...no offence by this:

Fury....

Fury, Is something upsetting you? lol.

What can I say? You seem to have hit on so many topics: responsibility, equality, law, religion, race, society, culture, murder, drugs and mental illness to name but a few in a couple of posts. No wonder I found it pretty confusing and difficult to follow, but now I've read it a few times and realise what you're saying I thought I should say something about it. The trouble is what I really want to say would go on & on & on and I wanted to keep this brief.

I don't agree with all that you have said and find some of your statements contradictory and based on ignorance. I don't mean to offend when I mention ignorance, as I am probably no more or no less ignorant than yourself. It's usually where you use the statement " I never really thought about...", which makes me think this way. I don't see that statement as a valid excuse and therefore are you shifting your responsibility which has been influenced by the society you were brought up in, knowingly or unknowingly, depending on your strength of character?

I agree that we are developing a sue culture of idiotic lawsuits, but I think the McDonalds incident you refered to was not a good example. I believe that McDonalds were responsible on that occassion since they provided a hot drink which you are supposed to put in your mouth. If it can scold your outside skin, think what damage could it have done to the ladies mouth which is far more sensitive and vulnerable to scolding. $2.5 Million does seem excessive on an individual case, but to a large corporation like McDonalds, it represents a proportionately small punishment, but big enough for them to act upon.

I agree with much about what you said about people shifting their responsibilities, particularly for those that have perpetrated terrible crimes. But for those terrible crimes, there must have been a reason why they were commited and in the majority of the cases there were probably ways that they could have been prevented, ways in which other people failed to meet their responsibilities. It's important to establish these reasons to try and prevent a repeat of the incident.

I'd question whether the majority of the world has freedom of will, speech, thought and religion, especially when you consider China is just one country with the largest population.

If you believe in all persons being equal, then you have to agree in not offending people. Personally I find, those who use the argument about all men being equal are usually trying to get something extra. In reality I do not believe that all people are equal, you don't have to look very far to see this and though it is evident in our every day lives, many of us do little to change it.

But because we live in the free world, we get used to our own little comforts and the majority of us accept these conditions, we take for granted too many things and fail to realise the oppression, suffering and battle for life so many millions of people face every second of their lives. If you really want something to get angry about, you could voice your opinion for the less fortunate people in the world and doing something to help them.

I'm just as guilty of everyone else and probably won't change either. I'm not trying to get on your case fury.

Originally posted by this charming man


I agree that we are developing a sue culture of idiotic lawsuits, but I think the McDonalds incident you refered to was not a good example. I believe that McDonalds were responsible on that occassion since they provided a hot drink which you are supposed to put in your mouth. If it can scold your outside skin, think what damage could it have done to the ladies mouth which is far more sensitive and vulnerable to scolding. $2.5 Million does seem excessive on an individual case, but to a large corporation like McDonalds, it represents a proportionately small punishment, but big enough for them to act upon.



No offense here either TCM, but I really hope you were being sarcastic about this! It was a cup of coffee that burned the woman. If a person is so unbelievably STUPID that they can't figure out a cup of coffee is hot, then they deserve everything that's coming to them. It is not McDonald's responsibility to babysit for every imbecile that walks out of it's store with one of their products. I don't care if it's McDonald's, Wendy's, Starbucks, the corner deli, a church function, anywhere...people know that coffee is HOT!!! If you take a freshly poured coffee and slam it down your gullet before letting it cool or adding milk, then you deserve every blister and dead taste bud you get. If you're clumsy enough to spill it on your skin, that is in no way McDonald's fault, you deserve the burnt skin. Instead, this jackass gets awarded more money than I'll see in my lifetime, all for being a moron. I can't tell you how many times I pulled out of a McDonald's drive through, precariously balancing my coffee between my legs, only to have some of it spill and burn my crotch. Did I sue? No...nor did I get "thrid degree burns". In order to get third degree burns from spilling coffee, she had to let it sit there and marinate on her skin for awhile. I had an accident at work a few years ago where I fell into 370 degree cooking oil. I sustained a few third degree burns, but most were second degree. I doubt VERY highly that McDonald's coffee is hotter than 370 degrees!!!

Again, no offense, but it's thinking like you just did that lets these buffoons make the money they do by sueing.

Pagan,

I'm not offended by your comments and can understand why you think like that. I don't know the full facts of the incident as I only know what fury wrote. I do remember hearing about a similar incident (it may have been the same one) a few years ago and at the time I thought it was crazy, but now my views have changed, mainly because of the job I am doing which goes into great detail about Health & Safety at Work. It's surprising what companies are responsible for, that you normally wouldn't realise or believe.

I'm sorry to hear about your accident at work. I don't know if you received any compensation for it or sued the company, but I do know that regardless of the circumstances, you would have been entitled to sue them in the UK, mainly because there was nothing to prevent you from falling in or if there was, it obviously wasn't good enough.

My own daughter was scolded with boiling water when she was four months old, fortunately she did not suffer 2nd or 3rd degree burns and has fully recovered. But I too am also aware of the damage that can be done by water when it is hot.

I was not being sarcastic about McDonalds though. I did say that the amount was excessive, maybe she should have received a small nominal amount and McDonalds having to pay the rest to charities or good causes.

At what point does McDonalds responsibilty end? Do you believe that it is when you have handed over your money and received your meal?

If this were true and your meal was cold, would you take it back and ask for a replacement? Would you be happy if they said "Sorry, but it's your responsibility, you were too stupid to check before you bought it".

Or put it this way. A mother goes into McDonalds and buys a Happy Meal for her three year old boy, a quarter pounder and a hot coffee for herself. The meals and drinks get put on the tray at the counter and whilst she's putting her purse bag in her bag, the young boy is excited about getting his toy, he reaches up and knocks the tray. The hot coffee falls off the tray and onto his face, scolding and almost blinding him.

Are you trying to tell me that it's the boys fault for being stupid as everybody knows that coffee is hot and that he deserves everything he gets?

Or is it the mothers fault for not being able to control the child whilst she had her hands full?

Or is it McDonalds fault for producing a drink which is hot enough to scold?

I think that it is McDonalds since they could produce coffee at a temperature which doesn't scold. They are happy enough to take your money off you for the coffee, yet they're not prepared to put the milk in for you to cool it down as this would not be cost effective, so it is left for you.

Every time they serve a coffee which is hot enough to scold, they are exposing people to a risk to injury, it is their responsibility especially if the injury occurs on their premises, to ensure that that risk is minimised. It doesn't take a stupid person to spill a drink, I bet most people have managed to achieve this feat, therefore it could happen to any one of their customers.

I agree that they can't babysit everybody, but there are many measures they could take to reduce the risk of spillage or to reduce the risk of injury by reducing the temperature of the coffee.

I'm not in favour of the sue culture, but I do think that this claim was valid. I've posted some Lawsuits which I disagree with in the Comedy zone.

Originally posted by this charming man


I think that it is McDonalds since they could produce coffee at a temperature which doesn't scold. They are happy enough to take your money off you for the coffee, yet they're not prepared to put the milk in for you to cool it down as this would not be cost effective, so it is left for you.

Every time they serve a coffee which is hot enough to scold, they are exposing people to a risk to injury, it is their responsibility especially if the injury occurs on their premises, to ensure that that risk is minimised. It doesn't take a stupid person to spill a drink, I bet most people have managed to achieve this feat, therefore it could happen to any one of their customers.

I agree that they can't babysit everybody, but there are many measures they could take to reduce the risk of spillage or to reduce the risk of injury by reducing the temperature of the coffee.


TCG, I don't know how they serve coffee over in the UK, but here in the States it's hot. By hot I mean HOT. I don't know of any place that serves coffee that isn't. It comes out of the machine at scalding temperatures, there's NO other way to make it, as it's made with boiling water. There is no way to produce coffee at any other temperature. Believe me, if that woman received her coffee and it wasn't that hot, she would have bitched to the counterperson that her coffee wasn't hot enough. Stores have stopped putting the milk in coffee because finicky people like to have it made a certain way. If you make it wrong, they ask for a new one. So...let them make it themselves. It works for 999,999,999 out of a billion people. This one woman is not going to change that.

If that fool woman was home and spilled coffee on herself, should she be able to sue Maxwell House for not warning her to the obvious that boiling water is just that...boiling? Maybe she should sue the manufacturers of the coffee maker she owns? How about the water company for allowing water to be able to be heated to that temperature? Maybe the makers of her clothing for not making it strong enough to repel hot coffee? You see, it can go on and on. It would be like sueing an ice cream maker saying that holding it's product gave you frostbite.

When you walk into a 7/11 here, you make your own coffee. It comes right out of the pot...scalding hot. When you get it from a gas station it's scalding hot. When you get it from a diner it's scalding hot. It's the only way coffee is made here. Think about it....with all the people in the world, is she the ONLY person who's ever spilled coffee on herself? How come you don't hear of any other lawsuits? I'll tell you why. Because as my lawyer told me, for every one lawsuit you hear like that, there are thousands of others that a more intelligent judge throws out of the courtroom before it ever comes down to anything.

Warnings like that are for people who have no common sense. Should the shark tank at an aquarium have a sign that says "No Swimming"? If you see a shark tank and jump in, expect to be bitten. If you pump gasoline with a cigarette in your mouth, you deserve to be blown to kingdom come. That's why every year someone posts the "Darwin Awards" on the internet. People who have done the most to improve the human race by removing themselves from the gene pool in the most humorous fashion. It all boils (no pun intended) down to common sense. Coffee is hot, EVERYONE knows it.

No, it doesn't take a stupid person to spill a drink. In my first post I made mention of the numerous times I've spilt coffee on myself. However, not once did I think of sueing the makers of the coffee. I called myself a clumsy oaf and moved on. That woman was just looking for a quick payday, and much to the chagrin of any honest person in this world, she got it.

Have to agree with you, Pagan. Coffee is served hot. Simple fact! All these years later, I still cannot understand how a jury saw fit to award her damages for being clumsy.

She probably would have pissed and moaned if they gave her a cold cup of coffee.

Warning: Official short, redneck, ignorant reply to all of this.

America: Love it, leave it or die.

I'm with Pagan on this thread, take a look at what else is going on around you in the world and start saying "thank you, I'll be just fine."

Note: I, in no way know if I'm with Pagan or not, but I think I read a similar thought process in his note. :D

Thank you Fury for having the guts to say what you did!! So much of what your saying is very true of life in America today. You said what some would never say out of fear of being torn apart or laughed at.

Originally posted by fury
The next time you think, unless you are of strong character, today's society has probably had something to do with the outcome of your thinking.Yes it is sad there are SO MANY PEOPLE who cannot think for themselves,they usually only listen to MAINSTREAM MEDIA and cant or wont try to think for themselves if something is right or not.... (These ppl are called "Puppets")

The sad part is most of them DONT EVEN KNOW THEY ARE A PUPPET AND WHEN THEY GOTO VOTE FOR EXAMPLE,THINK THEY MADE THE CHOICE ON THIER OWN!

Excellent thread!!