This is Why We Can’t Have…

 

This is why we can’t have nice things jobs, small businesses, a functioning economy, and the freedoms we took for granted twelve weeks ago.

This a $6 utility trailer plug kit I bought at Tractor Supply last week. I bought it in way-upstate New York and used it to fix a cousin’s trailer. The State of California wants me to know that I shouldn’t, I don’t know, eat the damn thing, I suppose. Because I don’t know how else two feet of insulated stranded wire and two molded plastic connectors is going to cause me “reproductive harm.”

We’ve allowed ourselves to become a nation of hyper-sensitized, safety-obsessed pansies. No wonder the nation is cowering at home, afraid to go out without a hazmat suit, afraid to shake hands or give a friend a hug.

There are worse things than getting sick, worse things even than dying. Things like patiently waiting for our pathetic, fearful masters to tell us when we’ll be allowed to host a family dinner, go to church, or re-open a hair salon, all so that we might delay for another few weeks the time when some people will get sick, are unworthy of us.

When we get through this, let’s start pushing back against the nanny state and its endless, relentless, ever-increasing obsession with safety.

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  1. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    Let’s start with the Plaintiffs Bar.  Tort reform will obviate the need for many such nanny-state warnings.

    Johnson and Johnson will no longer sell their Johnson’s Baby Powder made with talc (which has been around for 70+ years), due to proliferating lawsuits claiming that it causes cancer.

    • #1
  2. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Henry Racette: When we get through this, let’s start pushing back against the nanny state and its endless, relentless, ever-increasing obsession with safety.

    Why wait? Start now.

    • #2
  3. Charlotte Member
    Charlotte
    @Charlotte

    Henry Racette:

     

    I bought a souvenir mug (like, for drinking liquids out of) at the San Diego Zoo several years ago. A sticker with this exact warning was attached. I raised my eyebrows and asked the gift shop person if I should be worried about, you know, using the mug for its intended purpose. He shrugged and said it would probably be fine once I ran it through the dishwasher. I’ve never felt safer. Thank you, State of California!

    • #3
  4. CJ Inactive
    CJ
    @cjherod

    The first step is to stop living in fear ourselves. One helpful way is to tune out the corporate press and its incessant stream of eternal crisis. COVID-19! Global Warming! Illegal immigration! Islamic extremism! Automation! College debt! Drag queen story hour! Commies! Endangered species! Bill Gate’s vaccination agenda!

    You get the idea. (not that some of this isn’t real, but the point is to get people to feel helpless so they’ll give more power to the State..)

    • #4
  5. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    The Proposition 65 warning requirement is so broad that essentially everything sold or used in California has to bear a Proposition 65 warning. There was a small skirmish a few months ago about whether coffee needed such a warning. 

    Because everything has one, no one pays attention to the Proposition 65 warnings. Hence they are useless. And their ubiquity means that people do not pay attention to any legitimate warnings for materials that might present an actual danger. Hence, the Proposition 65 warnings cause people to be less safe. So they are worse than useless. 

    Too many warnings cause people either to not read any of the warnings, and thus fail to recognize actual dangers, or to ignore actually useful warnings. 

    • #5
  6. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Charlotte (View Comment):
    I bought a souvenir mug (like, for drinking liquids out of) at the San Diego Zoo several years ago. A sticker with this exact warning was attached. I raised my eyebrows and asked the gift shop person if I should be worried about, you know, using the mug for its intended purpose. He shrugged and said it would probably be fine once I ran it through the dishwasher. I’ve never felt safer. Thank you, State of California!

    I have a mug where the design on the outside has that known carcinogenic (according to the State of California) chemical calcium on it.

    • #6
  7. Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… Coolidge
    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo…
    @GumbyMark

    Prop 65 was so crazy that even the California state legislature wouldn’t pass it in the 1980s so it was enacted by the voters directly.  As @fullsizetabby points out it had the opposite effect, diminishing the value of warnings.  Everyone ignores them.  Unfortunately, it also created a feast for “public interest” lawyers.

    • #7
  8. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):
    The Proposition 65 warning requirement is so broad that essentially everything sold or used in California has to bear a Proposition 65 warning.

    The State of California should just print the short list of products that they don’t think cause cancer.  Even wood dust (what the rest of us call sawdust) is on the list.  The page doesn’t say how a person is supposed to dispose of this dangerous carcinogen.  Surely you’re not supposed to just put it in the garbage?  Better not burn it, since that would release carbon dioxide.

    • #8
  9. The Scarecrow Thatcher
    The Scarecrow
    @TheScarecrow

    Maybe the answer is that we’re all just crazy.

    Maybe it’s inevitable that once we have solved all our problems, and we experience no more privation or want, once we have succeeded beyond our wildest dreams, we invariably come up with something like this.

    Maybe we really need another meteor strike or something.

    • #9
  10. Mim526 Inactive
    Mim526
    @Mim526

    Experts in charge of advising policy on this mess — as opposed to practitioners who had courage to ask questions and were silenced in swift cancel culture fashion — have warned of a likely COVID-19 second wave, possibly this fall.  If true, there’s a good possibility some Americans will not believe a word out of their mouths without proof because of the way they (and the press) have bungled the first wave.  And that could prove deadly if God forbid it were a true black plague-style pandemic.  Make us safe?  The fools have made us view them as little more than modern snake oil salesmen, replete with fantasy doomsday charts predicting Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.

    Meanwhile fellow Americans are truly hurting.  A fact which Fauci neglected to factor into his “advice” ’til recently.

     

    • #10
  11. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    The Scarecrow (View Comment):
    Maybe we really need another meteor strike or something.

    SMoD 2020: This Time’s for Real

    • #11
  12. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):
    The Proposition 65 warning requirement is so broad that essentially everything sold or used in California has to bear a Proposition 65 warning.

    Do they have them on toothpicks?

    • #12
  13. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    The Scarecrow (View Comment):
    Maybe we really need another meteor strike or something.

    If we have another dinosaur-killer meteor strike, I want to be right under it rather than thousands of miles away.

    • #13
  14. Douglas Pratt Coolidge
    Douglas Pratt
    @DouglasPratt

    Many years ago I used to buy small plastic toolboxes in quantities of 50 at a time from the local Sears Hardware (I turned them into model rocket launch systems). The manager was a friend. One day he invited me over to the lawnmower section, and pointed to a prominent sticker on one small mower that said, “Do Not Use This Device To Trim Hedges.” Then he told me the story of the lawsuit, which Sears lost.

    • #14
  15. JoelB Member
    JoelB
    @JoelB

    Douglas Pratt (View Comment):

    Many years ago I used to buy small plastic toolboxes in quantities of 50 at a time from the local Sears Hardware (I turned them into model rocket launch systems). The manager was a friend. One day he invited me over to the lawnmower section, and pointed to a prominent sticker on one small mower that said, “Do Not Use This Device To Trim Hedges.” Then he told me the story of the lawsuit, which Sears lost.

    Of course not. That’s what string trimmers are for.

    • #15
  16. Blondie Thatcher
    Blondie
    @Blondie

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):

    Too many warnings cause people either to not read any of the warnings, and thus fail to recognize actual dangers, or to ignore actually useful warnings.

    I had a brief period of time when I lost my mind and worked in IT for our transition to the new electronic medical record. I believe the term they used was “alert or warning fatigue”. If you had too many popup warnings or alerts, people would just start to click through them and never read them. Kind of defeats the whole purpose of having warnings, just like you said. 

    • #16
  17. Richard Fulmer Inactive
    Richard Fulmer
    @RichardFulmer

    I stopped eating utility trailer plug kits years ago.  One or two of those and I’m up all night.

    • #17
  18. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):

    The Proposition 65 warning requirement is so broad that essentially everything sold or used in California has to bear a Proposition 65 warning. There was a small skirmish a few months ago about whether coffee needed such a warning.

    Because everything has one, no one pays attention to the Proposition 65 warnings. Hence they are useless. And their ubiquity means that people do not pay attention to any legitimate warnings for materials that might present an actual danger. Hence, the Proposition 65 warnings cause people to be less safe. So they are worse than useless.

    Too many warnings cause people either to not read any of the warnings, and thus fail to recognize actual dangers, or to ignore actually useful warnings.

    When everything is special, then nothing is.

     

    • #18
  19. Jim McConnell Member
    Jim McConnell
    @JimMcConnell

    Randy Webster (View Comment):

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):
    The Proposition 65 warning requirement is so broad that essentially everything sold or used in California has to bear a Proposition 65 warning.

    Do they have them on toothpicks?

    But only from farm-raised, non-GMO renewable trees harvested and processed without the use of fossil fuels.

    • #19
  20. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Jim McConnell (View Comment):

    Randy Webster (View Comment):

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):
    The Proposition 65 warning requirement is so broad that essentially everything sold or used in California has to bear a Proposition 65 warning.

    Do they have them on toothpicks?

    But only from farm-raised, non-GMO renewable trees harvested and processed without the use of fossil fuels.

    Wonko the Sane would be proud.

    • #20
  21. Joseph Stanko Coolidge
    Joseph Stanko
    @JosephStanko

    I liked the proposal on a recent London Calling podcast to form a new political party called the “Dangerous Party.”  We need a political movement pushing back against the Safety Nazis and the Nanny State.

    • #21
  22. E. Kent Golding Moderator
    E. Kent Golding
    @EKentGolding

    Lots of useful electrical and mechanical things,  such as solder,   have lead in them.   It is good to not eat them, and good to wash your hands after using them.   Lead based solder works way better for most purposes than the silver based stuff.  

    Warnings that are too frequent get ignored.

    • #22
  23. Del Mar Dave Member
    Del Mar Dave
    @DelMarDave

    There is no limit that constrains politicians and other busybodies from trying to “protect” us.

    • #23
  24. Stina Inactive
    Stina
    @CM

    There’s this 5 (10?) gallon bucket warning of a young toddler falling in the bucket and I thought “of course a toddler shouldn’t do that, but would my kids do that?”

    And then I learned of a woman who washed her baby’s hair by holding him by his feet and dunking him head first in a large bucket.

    Do they know that the people who do that to their kids or wire their genitals or stick babies in microwaves don’t need warning labels? They wouldn’t care.

    As a funny, my husband got a smart mug for christmas and the warnings had “do not hump”. That was funny.

    • #24
  25. Paul Stinchfield Member
    Paul Stinchfield
    @PaulStinchfield

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):
    Prop 65 was so crazy that even the California state legislature wouldn’t pass it in the 1980s so it was enacted by the voters directly.

    Yes. Those wise, smarter-than-thou Californians.

    • #25
  26. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    California is so screwed up.  Everything causes cancer or is poisonous if stored or used improperly.  Heck, even water is poisonous if the dosage is right:

    https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/science/drinking-much-water-killed-14-5976264

    A more scientific resource (Science!):

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1872071/

    • #26
  27. Paul Stinchfield Member
    Paul Stinchfield
    @PaulStinchfield

    Henry Racette: Because I don’t know how else two feet of insulated stranded wire and two molded plastic connectors is going to cause me “reproductive harm.”

    Perhaps it contains measurable amounts of lead-based solder. But of course there is no danger unless you disassemble it and chew on the pieces–and even then the amount ingested would be so tiny that the physiological effects would be undetectable.

    It has been pointed out that at one time our technology could detect clearly dangerous levels of various chemicals, but the technology has now become so sensitive that in some cases we can detect just a few atoms in a sample. In other words, we can detect the presence of toxins and carcinogens at concentrations which are far, far below the level of any measurable effect. Unfortunately, that does not stop ignorant and timid people–and scoundrels–from fomenting hysteria and filing lawsuits.

    • #27
  28. Joseph Stanko Coolidge
    Joseph Stanko
    @JosephStanko

    Stina (View Comment):
    Do they know that the people who do that to their kids or wire their genitals or stick babies in microwaves don’t need warning labels? They wouldn’t care.

    It’s all about liability.  The warnings aren’t there to protect consumers, they are there to protect the manufacturer from class-action lawsuits.

    • #28
  29. Goldwaterwoman Thatcher
    Goldwaterwoman
    @goldwaterwoman

    RushBabe49 (View Comment):

    Let’s start with the Plaintiffs Bar. Tort reform will obviate the need for many such nanny-state warnings.

    Johnson and Johnson will no longer sell their Johnson’s Baby Powder made with talc (which has been around for 70+ years), due to proliferating lawsuits claiming that it causes cancer.

    It’s become absolutely ridiculous. I can’t believe the Johnson’s Baby Powder, a product I used on all my babies. I hate to say this since one of my sons-in-law is a lawyer, but maybe we need fewer law schools. Since the government at all levels is heavily populated by lawyers, any sort of reform of that profession is just about impossible.

    • #29
  30. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    E. Kent Golding (View Comment):

    Lots of useful electrical and mechanical things, such as solder, have lead in them. It is good to not eat them, and good to wash your hands after using them. Lead based solder works way better for most purposes than the silver based stuff.

    Warnings that are too frequent get ignored.

    I wouldn’t use lead based solder for plumbing, but it’s probably illegal anyway.  The silver solder works fine.

    • #30
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