<Insert Strother Martin quote here.>
The other day I was walking to my car in the wonderful world of a Walmart parking lot. When I was almost run over by a lady in a minivan. I jumped out of the way and gave hear the look of death to let her know how ticked off I was. Then to my amazement I saw that she was sitting unseatbelt with a small child laying in her nap nursing. To top it off, what appeared to be her husband, was sitting in the passenger seat reading a newspaper!
How pathetic are these people!? Here we have woman who doesn’t care for her child’s safety and I won’t even start of the loser of a husband. ( I think I’ll sit back and relax while my wife drives and nurses at the same time.)
Sorry, but as parent, it’s your duty to protect your children you don’t know better.
Wow, you are soooo right. That one went so far above my head, I couldn’t even see it coming, lawdhavemercy. And just to think, I thought all along you guys were talking about securing your kids to the unknown number of nuclear weapons that India has pointed at Pakistan. But you’re talking about CARS! OhmyGod! It all makes so much sense, now. Thanks for pointing me towards the light. (for the sarcasm-impaired here’s a translation: :rolleyes:)
I will refer you to my earlier disclaimer statement, Diane, just in case you have any doubts about my seatbelt ethics. I don’t disagree with any of the pro-seatbelt arguments posed here (except for the “they are all fuckwads” variety). There’s really nothing to disagree with. Seatbelts save lives and preserve quality of life. 'Tis elementary.
So where is the fucking controversy? Is the real reason this thread is 5 pages long so that everyone and their mama can beat a “gosh, that was a dumb thing for me to do and I’ll never do it again and I was being such a thoughtless human being for toying with my child’s life and how can I sleep at night knowing that I put my laziness above my child’s life” out of sail?
Well, continue if you must, if that’s the case. I guess I’m just in the minority of people who find that to be rather pathetic.
Yes. It’s more intelligent a use of our time to try to convinve sail and the other Percentage Players ** of the illogic and danger of their decisions than it is to wait around until we read something in MPSIMS that’s titled ** My Child Died In My Car Today, God Dammit.
I’m so awfully terribly outrageously pathetically woefully sorry if the ferocity that some of us has shown appears to you to be ignorance.
It is, in fact, humanity and caring. Nobody who has posted here is ignorant of how hard it is to deal with a screaming child on a long car trip. ( Well, most of us aren’t, and those of us who are sans petite enfant can well imagine ). What we have been attempting to do, despite the jabs and lunges of the mighty defensive lot of ya, is try to get you to understand that a single 5 minute car ride, 11 blocks away to the 7-11 is simply too dangerous a trip to take with an unrestrained child.
Not a few times. Not once. Not ever. I personally have nothing but bald-faced contempt for those who have tried to hide behind actuarial tables, math formulae and playing the odds. What would you do? Have the stone mason engrave " Sorry kid, you crapped out " on your toddler’s headstone?
A variety of approaches have been tried, and now of course the backlash is in full swing. We’ve been unreasonable. Ignorant ( a fave here, since it’s the SDMB ), abusive, unfeeling, unaware.
Tough shit. This is the life of your kid, and if you can not be bothered to safely restrain that kid each and every time you turn the key in your car, then you deserve the vitriol levelled at you.
Simple enough, really.
Cartooniverse
Glad I could help. No, really. I get all warm and fuzzy inside when I help the ignorant. :rolleyes:
You’re exactly right 'toonie.
I’m not sure why there are the few people who can’t grasp such a simple concept.
Most of us know what it feels like to be stuck in a car with a screaming infant.
Most of us are not willing to trade the headache and bloody ear drums for increasing the risk that our child may die if we have an accident.
Most of us who think those few people who take the risk are irresponsible.
Jeeeeeeezuz, this ain’t rocket science.
I’m sorry sail, but your example is completely inappropriate. In your example, by choosing the cup, you decrease your child’s risk. This can only be analogous to buckling the child up. By analogising the “guilt” one would feel by choosing the wrong cup to the guilt one would feel by not restraining your child, you are attempting to analogise an action that reduces risk to one that increases it. It doesn’t fly. Wring’s guilt would specifically come from the fact that she would know that she could have decreased the risk, but chose not to.
By failing this test at the first hurdle, you are creating a completely different type of utility function in the cups example.
An alternative analogy is if by choosing the cups you increase the risk, but maybe there is yummy orange juice instead of nasty elderflower & ginger in the cups, stopping your child from complaining about the taste. So - do you sacrifice risk for comfort?
pan
On a related note, make sure the kid doesn’t get left in the car!
Va. Father Charged In Death Of Toddler
Up to 15 Years Possible Over Girl Left in Van
But Jeff, he was sleeping and I didn’t want to hear him cry when by waking him up.
posted by Cartooniverse:
This sounds remarkably similar to what overzealous fundamentalists say when they tell all the sinners that they are going to Hell if they don’t change their ways. They do it out of love, they say. They do it out of compassion. But the froth that comes spewing out of their traps does nothing but land on deaf ears and inspire equally loud defensiveness. Surely you guys realize this?
I doubt that you will see the comparison because you are too charmed by your own sense of duty as a seatbelt evangelist. So by all means, continue with your crusade. Consider it your good deed for the day. Get yourself all hot and bothered. A little adrenaline never hurt anyone, right? It’s all going to a good cause.
To everyone who has posted informative anecdotes to support why you believe seatbelts and children are inseparable items in a car, bravo. That’s the most effective way to preach the gospel. To everyone who keeps on with the “Well, me for one would NEVER for one minute consider putting MY kid in a car without bucking him in; what kind of CRETIN are you for not valuing the life of your baby?!!” form of argumentation…I recommend you move out to some remote area in California and start a religion called Seatbeltism. Then the country can have a Bible Belt and a Seatbelt Belt.
No thanks. I hate California.
If you let your kid play with knives, let them cut their fingers off. If you leave cleansers within their grasp, let them have their stomach pumped.
Sure, I would feel real sorry for the kid, but other than that I don’t give a shit. It’s your medical bills. It’s your emotional stress. It doesn’t affect me other than to think you are irresponsible.
However, the second you make the decision to unbuckle your kid, you increase the possibility of me being involved in the death of your child if we have an accident.
It won’t matter who is at fault in the accident, the death of your child will haunt me forever. My life will forever be altered because of your stupidity and laziness. I am still bothered by a cat I hit and killed 15 years ago. It wasn’t my fault, it ran out it front of my car. I can’t even imagine a child.
If you still can’t understand why this tiny little simple fact pisses me off, then obviously there are no more words to get through your mush.
hey, you w/the face the enormous difference between those concerned for your mortal soul and this situation is:
we might have very different opinions on what is a soul, if there’s a hell, religion etc.
but:
we most likely have the same fucking idea of what a dead child is.
I think we can all agree that neither seatbelt advocates nor front porch evangelists can change anyone who doesn’t want to be changed.