The Death Of Common Sense 12-13-10 Obituary Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: - Knowing when to come in out of the rain; - Why the early bird gets the worm; - Life isn't always fair; and - Maybe it was my fault.. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge). His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition. Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion. Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault. Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement. Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason. He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers: I Know My Rights I Want It Now Someone Else Is To Blame I'm A Victim Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.
Personally, I hate the concept of common sense. Common sense is your gut reaction to a situation. It is malleable and manipulateable. (I just invented a word.) For example- The earth is flat. Its just common sense. For a more interesting, less cliched example, take that woman who sued McDonalds for her spilling coffee on her lap. At the time, McDonalds required its coffee to be served ridiculously hot. When 79-year old Stella Liebeck spilled a full cup of coffee on her lap, it soaked into her cotton sweatpants and held there. It gave her third degree burns on over 6% of her skin, and lesser burns on over 16%. She underwent 8 days of skin grafting and years of medical treatment. She lost 20% of her body weight in the first eight days. Seems a little less silly, eh?
How is that an example for common sense? In my eyes (i'm not familiar with the case) you just repeated what happened - no kind of argumentation or something. Anyway, if i'd have to apply common sense here, i'd say that mcdonalds (not the employee) has to pay her medical bills and compensation. But common sense is dead, so i probably will be disappointed.
Madness, did you read the OP? "Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement." That is what Rahau is talking about. People who point to this case think it's ridiculous... and demonstrate they don't know jack shit about what actually transpired. The temperature McDonalds was keeping their coffee at was incredibly high, something like 180-190 degrees Fahrenheit. The link there details the case in full, it's worth the read. The lawsuit was NOT frivolous.
erm, in case u didn't notice, the quote says "a STEAMING cup of coffee" something I learned in elementary school science, water boils (and thus takes the form of steam) upon reaching the temperature of 100 celcius, or 212 fahrenheit. I want you to find me one example where water is putting off steam, but will not burn you when spilled on you... Common sense: Steaming=HOT ENOUGH TO COOK RAW FLESH AND THUS WILL BURN SKIN Also, Kirazy, can you just not post in threads i make anymore? Seriously, you have to tear apart just about everybody's argument just to make them feel like idiots and alot of us are getting sick of it. This post was enver meant to be a debate (else it would be in the debate forums) and was simply meant to convey a message about where our wrold is heading. Then you came along, and began to tear this whole thing apart and nearly turn it into a debate, so just stop already
Awww, is the wittle Noromical not up to the task of thinking rationally? You just said that the cup of coffee was steaming, and then talk about boiling, which occurs at 212 degrees Fahrenheit. At no point was the coffee in her cup 212 degrees Fahrenheit. Vapor wisps off of water rather earlier than boiling point. When I breathe out in cold weather and can see my breath, it's not steam, and there's no place in my body where water is boiling. You lay all the blame for the accident at her feet, absolve McDonalds of all the responsibility of serving a reasonably hot cup of coffee, and not an unreasonably hot one. Then act like this is just common sense. (By reposting this, you sanction all it contains.) Fortunately the court that adjudicated the case has more common sense than you do, because they also agreed that the temperature of the water was unreasonable. And discovered that McDonalds had received in excess of 700 complaints in a 10 year period that the coffee they were serving was unreasonably hot, and that more than just this little old lady had received 3rd degree burns. And further, I wasn't respond to you. I was responding to Madness, who is a prime example of one without sense, clarifying that the example used in "the death of common sense" is not an example of a frivolous lawsuit. There are plenty of examples of stupid, frivolous lawsuits, but this one is not one. I'd also concur that common sense is hardly common, but I would not put you up for an example of a guardian of common sense.
