One often has to wonder why flight attendants have to explain such insipid tasks as how to operate a seat belt, or why it's a good idea to leave it fastened; the truth is that lawyers are to blame. In the past, whenever someone was stupid enough to not wear a seatbelt, put their hand on the hot stove, or walk out into the street without looking both ways, we accepted the fact that this was survival of the fittest, and these people were obviously not mentally fit enough and therefore shouldn't be breeding. However, at some point, some poor kid stuck his finger in a light socket somewhere and the mother and a bunch of lawyers got together and decided that it was not her fault, nor the kids fault, but the owner of the light socket, and indeed, quite possibly the supplier of the electricity. These are evil people that make or own such horribly dangerous products, and far be it from any of us to be expected to use things in a manner in which they were designed. (Product liability lawsuits serve a useful purpose, but only in ensuring that companies take necessary and reasonable steps to ensure that their products are free from defects that could accidentally endanger a proper user.) If I drive my car into a wall at 90 m.p.h., I should't expect Toyota to fork out copious amounts of cash to my heirs, or possibly to the vegetable that used to be me that somehow survived the crash. It was my fault, the car worked as advertised, and I shouldn't expect the car to decide that this is a stupid idea, take control away from me, and magically save my life and whiten my teeth at the same time. My stove is supposed to get hot, why should I have a cause of action if I'm stupid enough to touch it and horrifically burn myself in the process. If the stove shorts out and burns down my house, we have a winner, but misuse or abuse of products should not warrant a remedy.
In sum, the equal protection clause in the Constitution guarantees that stupid people have a right to live, and that the rest of us should be ashamed that we haven't encased the entire world in bubble wrap and mandated that everyone wear helmets, eye protection, and 500SPF sunscreen every time they leave their houses. It's our fault, why can't we just accept that?
Jeff C.
P.S. In a rapid decompression at 30,000+ feet, you're going to roughly have less than 30 seconds of useful consciousness to decide that the mask is a good idea. Thankfully the flight crew train for this scenario every six months and are prepared to don their masks (which are a whole lot better than the ones that drop from the overhead) and get the airplane down below 10,000 feet quickly. I have a theory that the oxygen masks in the back don't really work, but are just there to make you feel better and give you something to do in the thirty seconds or so before you take a rather exciting nap.
