In article . com,
"rigger" wrote:

Larry Jaques's evaluation follows:

We'd much rather be living happy daily lives vs. being
cocooned in banal shells devoid of any interesting happenings........

snip

"Interesting happenings", huh.....hmmm. I understand, when ancient
Chinese would curse an enemy, they would say "May your children grow-up
in interesting times" because they knew "interesting times" meant
troubled times. Perhaps your idea of interesting means "fiery crash of
car full of people"? This the kind of thing you like?

Methinks you're ignoring the point in order to pick at nits. What Larry
appears to be saying (Definitely jump in and correct me if I'm wrong,
Larry) is the same way I feel: True, the world is full of morons,
losers, idiots, and incompetents. But wrapping everybody in padding,
locking them in a nice safe box, and putting them up on a high shelf in
order to prevent them from injuring themselves is *NOT* the way to cope
with the problem. Stupidity *SHOULD* be painful, in direct proportion to
the level of stupid being exhibited, up to and including death. Look out
for yourself, and let the other idiots cope with their own lives. (and
possibly mistakes)

I don't need (or want) "them", whoever that might be, "protecting" me
from things that *MIGHT* happen. Protecting me from some *POSSIBLE* harm
is not "them's" job. It's *MINE*. Nobody - *ABSOLUTELY NOBODY* - is
better qualified to do that job than me. Not you, not the preacher, not
the congress-critter I tried to vote out of office at the last election,
not *ANYBODY*, under *ANY* circumstances, *EVER*.

And yes, I object vehemently to anyone attempting to appoint themselves
"custodian of safety" in my life. As the old line goes, I'm "free,
white, and 21". If I want to drive a Pinto, then by god, it's my right
to do so, regardless of how dangerous you, or Ralph Nader, or anybody
else thinks that choice might be to my continued well-being. It isn't
Ford's fault that I got turned into a briquet. It's mine for choosing to
drive the darn thing in the first place, and to a leser extent, the
imbecile who hit me from behind.

It's a little concept called "personal responsibility for your actions"
- You make the choice to insert activity here, YOU take the
consequences of that activity, whatever they might be. What? You lost an
arm? Too bad, so sad. Betcha you aren't going to do that again anytime
soon are you? You died while doing said activity? Oh well. Out of the
gene-pool, stupid. Your problem, not mine, or Ford's, or the
government's. YOURS.

In other words, *BUTT OUT*, and suck up a dose of responsibility for
yourself. It's my life, my hide, my responsibility, and my decision -
Not yours, or any elected representative's, or Ralph Nader's, or anybody
else's.

--
Don Bruder - - If your "From:" address isn't on my whitelist,
or the subject of the message doesn't contain the exact text "PopperAndShadow"
somewhere, any message sent to this address will go in the garbage without my
ever knowing it arrived. Sorry... http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd for more info