Personal Responsibility

[OldNSalty]

I am certain that if you did some type of psych test on active divers you would find trends that are outside the norm of society. What those trends are, I don't know. I would like to think that they would be along the lines of the ones I would consider 'positive traits' but then again maybe we're all a bunch of a'holes and just don't know it

 

[Starlet]

This thread reminded me of this article Sun too hot, drinks too strong: bizarre British tourist complaints

 

[ItsBruce]

Here is my point in a slightly different way:

As divers, we tend to accept responsibility for ourselves, or at least I keep hearing that. Maybe it is the same for back country camping, blue water boating, and scouting (at the senior levels). But for much of society, it seems no one wants to take responsibility for themselves.

 

[Coldwater_Canuck]

Personal responsibility pertains to corporations, as well.

The McDonald's story is classic of "partial truth gets the news". Here's the rest of the story:
Fact: McDonald's superheats (above boiling) the water they blow through their coffee, so they can get more cups per pound of coffee. (or they used to, don't now)
Fact: They had received more that 1,700 complaints of serious injury to customers and staff, prior to this famous case.
Fact: The woman involved received 3rd degree burns to her privates, butt, and legs. That means her skin literally cooked.

So, do you, as a consumer, expect to be burned if you spill coffee on yourself? Yeah, probably. Do you expect to be COOKED, needing months of repair surgery, and godawful pain, because of the corporate greed that wanted to get a few more cups of coffee from that pound? Corporate that -- it was proven! -- knew full well that this was happening?

But yes - I believe in personal responsibility. I do not want the world to pad its sharp corners because of one or two idiots . . . but nor do I expect them to leave a sinkhole in the middle of an expressway . . .

I agree with you here, that story gets blown out of proportion. If you spill hot coffee on yourself it's not going to be pleasant, but you shouldn't get 3rd degree burns. The reason I think McDonalds was to blame there is there was simply no reason for the coffee to be that hot.

I've spilled very hot tea on me: it sucked, but didn't cause me serious burns (basically looked like a sunburn for a few hours).

---------

Anyways, on topic I think in general getting in the water you need to largely be responsible for yourself. People who depend on a dive master to dive safely probably shouldn't be certified in the first place.

 

[bevansmw]

Here is my point in a slightly different way:

As divers, we tend to accept responsibility for ourselves, or at least I keep hearing that. Maybe it is the same for back country camping, blue water boating, and scouting (at the senior levels). But for much of society, it seems no one wants to take responsibility for themselves.

I think the problem is society in general doesn't take responsibility for their actions as much as they should. It's much easier to point the finger at someone else and say it was their fault instead of being a man and saying it was your own fault. Most of society is just simply on a downward spiral, morally, ethically ... when it comes to responisbility for their actions and themselves most people just don't want to have to be accountable. It's easier if someone else is, then they don't have to be concerned about it or later they can blame them and make them pay when they should have taken the initiative to be responsible for it themselves, then perhaps the problem never would've occurred.

I think with diving due to the risks you have to assume that responisbility and accountability for yourself and it happens to be echoed a lot when you read the incidents.

 

[Jeff Toorish]

Personal responsibility pertains to corporations, as well.

The McDonald's story is classic of "partial truth gets the news". Here's the rest of the story:
Fact: McDonald's superheats (above boiling) the water they blow through their coffee, so they can get more cups per pound of coffee. (or they used to, don't now)
Fact: They had received more that 1,700 complaints of serious injury to customers and staff, prior to this famous case.
Fact: The woman involved received 3rd degree burns to her privates, butt, and legs. That means her skin literally cooked.

So, do you, as a consumer, expect to be burned if you spill coffee on yourself? Yeah, probably. Do you expect to be COOKED, needing months of repair surgery, and godawful pain, because of the corporate greed that wanted to get a few more cups of coffee from that pound? Corporate that -- it was proven! -- knew full well that this was happening?

But yes - I believe in personal responsibility. I do not want the world to pad its sharp corners because of one or two idiots . . . but nor do I expect them to leave a sinkhole in the middle of an expressway . . .

You beat me to it, but thanks for explaining the McDonald's hot coffee story properly. The irony is, the general view is the woman who was scalded is the one who did not accept her own responsibility when in reality it was actually a multi-billion dollar corporation that was shirking its responsibility.

well done.

Jeff

 

[openmindOW]

Personal responsibility pertains to corporations, as well.

The McDonald's story is classic of "partial truth gets the news". Here's the rest of the story:
Fact: McDonald's superheats (above boiling) the water they blow through their coffee, so they can get more cups per pound of coffee. (or they used to, don't now)
Fact: They had received more that 1,700 complaints of serious injury to customers and staff, prior to this famous case.
Fact: The woman involved received 3rd degree burns to her privates, butt, and legs. That means her skin literally cooked.

So, do you, as a consumer, expect to be burned if you spill coffee on yourself? Yeah, probably. Do you expect to be COOKED, needing months of repair surgery, and godawful pain, because of the corporate greed that wanted to get a few more cups of coffee from that pound?

Thank you, UsryTregre, for having stating the politically-incorrect facts that people don't want to hear.

 

[cloudswinger]

Here is my point in a slightly different way:

As divers, we tend to accept responsibility for ourselves, or at least I keep hearing that. Maybe it is the same for back country camping, blue water boating, and scouting (at the senior levels). But for much of society, it seems no one wants to take responsibility for themselves.

I think it's because there's a much more concrete liability if you don't take responsibility. The sea is unforgiving. People know they will drown if they don't take care of their equipment, or not pay attention. Same with back country camping, there's no one around to rescue you if you get mauled by a bear, or break a leg or whatever.

In the general everyday life, there's not that sense of urgency or danger. People get complacent. They think nothing's going to happen to them. They think it doesn't matter what they do. Of course there are plenty of divers like that too, so I don't think all divers have some sense of responsibility. It's at a certain level of expertise where you start to be responsible.

Responsibility is an adult trait, and our society is geared toward being young forever. That includes all the irresponsible behaviors you can get away with. People are stuck in the "teenage" thought(living forever, nothing bad's gonna happen to them, etc) for a lot longer then ever now, and well into their 20s and 30s.

 

[kjack_1]

I am certain that if you did some type of psych test on active divers you would find trends that are outside the norm of society. What those trends are, I don't know. I would like to think that they would be along the lines of the ones I would consider 'positive traits' but then again maybe we're all a bunch of a'holes and just don't know it

Not a big difference in psych testing results between divers and general society. Divers are a part of general society....at least in my experience. If I get some time, I'll do some research to see if I can find any studies on this.

....and "a'holes" is not a clinical term we use. At least not in mixed company. LMAO.

 

[Teamcasa]

An increase in personal and corporate responsibility follows soon after a law suit.

I would venture to say that most divers have learned to be more self reliant and accept the consequences of their own actions.