Be warned. Be very warned.
Dave Muskera, M.A.
November 20, 2007
The other day I bought an extension cord. A white and red warning label was firmly attached and was almost as long as the cord itself! In big black letters it warned, "Electrical Cords Can Be Hazardous."
This frightening statement was followed by a list of no less than twenty two specific hazards. In addition, other label statements strongly advised that all extension cords should be kept away from water and not run over by your car. It was a long list. By the time I finished reading the label, I’d forgotten why I’d gone to get the darn cord to begin with.
But all that aside, have you noticed? We here in the US have developed a new form of education. No, it’s not that unfunded mandate called “No Child Left Behind” (the subject for another article). Rather, it might be called - education from "Common Sense in a Box" or, better yet, "Common Sense on the Fly." I suppose either of these fit our fast-food, drive-through mentality equally well.
In this litigious day and age, when hot coffee spilled in your lap can get you and your attorney enough of a settlement to retire, unsightly warning labels are everywhere. They cling tenaciously to most of the gadgets we buy these days. In some cases, like medications with too many side effects, labels read as if death will surely follow if the product is actually used! Attempts to remove labels also often prove challenging. Guessing that some criminally bent buyer might not appreciate its presence, the label also warns of dire consequences if you dare to remove it. I suppose that the "Label Police" will come to your door and arrest you if you ignore the warning. It worries me that our society has fallen this far.
Yes, yes, I know. It’s the many and possibly frivolous lawsuits of recent times that have produced this blizzard of warnings. None-the-less, the phrase "The Dumbing of America" comes to mind.
That these warning label tags are even needed - enumerating various and usually common sense dangers - suggests we no longer trust consumers to use their heads. We no longer count on an adult to exercise caution when drinking hot coffee. We have to warn adults not to make toast while in the bathtub. The public must be protected, reminded and forewarned of the many hazards lurking just around the corner. More stuff to add to our already overflowing existential angst.
I’ll bet that the last person who used a hair dryer while soaking in a bathtub got electrocuted and that person (if they survived) or their family collected big bucks from the mean old hair dryer company that made that dag-blasted thing and didn’t bother to tell anybody how dangerous it was!
How about this one: For a brief time, one company making foldable sun protectors for car windshields began production by printing on them (in big black letters) "Remove before driving." Soon after the first run, they realized how foolish this was, and despite legal opinions, eliminated the warning. Common sense finally prevailed.
Maybe adults who missed the instructions about electricity and water and other similar lessons should be made to return to day school or take coursework in vocational training. This might allow the rest of us to purchase products that don’t have long sticky tags attached to them that tell us nothing more than what should be obvious.
Another solution would be for juries to quit awarding ridiculous amounts of money to people who failed to use what everyone else recognizes as common sense.
By the way, when was the last time you gave your kid a plastic bag while thinking, "Hey, this thing makes a great toy!"?
This frightening statement was followed by a list of no less than twenty two specific hazards. In addition, other label statements strongly advised that all extension cords should be kept away from water and not run over by your car. It was a long list. By the time I finished reading the label, I’d forgotten why I’d gone to get the darn cord to begin with.
But all that aside, have you noticed? We here in the US have developed a new form of education. No, it’s not that unfunded mandate called “No Child Left Behind” (the subject for another article). Rather, it might be called - education from "Common Sense in a Box" or, better yet, "Common Sense on the Fly." I suppose either of these fit our fast-food, drive-through mentality equally well.
In this litigious day and age, when hot coffee spilled in your lap can get you and your attorney enough of a settlement to retire, unsightly warning labels are everywhere. They cling tenaciously to most of the gadgets we buy these days. In some cases, like medications with too many side effects, labels read as if death will surely follow if the product is actually used! Attempts to remove labels also often prove challenging. Guessing that some criminally bent buyer might not appreciate its presence, the label also warns of dire consequences if you dare to remove it. I suppose that the "Label Police" will come to your door and arrest you if you ignore the warning. It worries me that our society has fallen this far.
Yes, yes, I know. It’s the many and possibly frivolous lawsuits of recent times that have produced this blizzard of warnings. None-the-less, the phrase "The Dumbing of America" comes to mind.
That these warning label tags are even needed - enumerating various and usually common sense dangers - suggests we no longer trust consumers to use their heads. We no longer count on an adult to exercise caution when drinking hot coffee. We have to warn adults not to make toast while in the bathtub. The public must be protected, reminded and forewarned of the many hazards lurking just around the corner. More stuff to add to our already overflowing existential angst.
I’ll bet that the last person who used a hair dryer while soaking in a bathtub got electrocuted and that person (if they survived) or their family collected big bucks from the mean old hair dryer company that made that dag-blasted thing and didn’t bother to tell anybody how dangerous it was!
How about this one: For a brief time, one company making foldable sun protectors for car windshields began production by printing on them (in big black letters) "Remove before driving." Soon after the first run, they realized how foolish this was, and despite legal opinions, eliminated the warning. Common sense finally prevailed.
Maybe adults who missed the instructions about electricity and water and other similar lessons should be made to return to day school or take coursework in vocational training. This might allow the rest of us to purchase products that don’t have long sticky tags attached to them that tell us nothing more than what should be obvious.
Another solution would be for juries to quit awarding ridiculous amounts of money to people who failed to use what everyone else recognizes as common sense.
By the way, when was the last time you gave your kid a plastic bag while thinking, "Hey, this thing makes a great toy!"?
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