My Favorite Pet Peeve

As all of you know, I despise warning labels. If you hurt yourself trimming your hedges with a lawn mower you deserve it. Better yet if you die doing it, it makes the human race in general smarter because you will not make babies who just might be stupid enough to do such an idiotic thing.

I've always wondered why municipalities, corporations, etc didn't use this thought process:

While virtually every town along the nearly 20 miles of the Long Beach Island, N.J., seashore has signs warning beachgoers of the dangers of rip tides (according to a June Asbury Park Press story), Long Beach Township does not. Even though experts say that most summer visitors are ignorant of the powerful currents and how to cope with them, Township Attorney Richard Shackleton said posting such helpful warnings may hurt local taxpayers. Shackleton explained that a town generally has no legal duty to warn swimmers of natural conditions, but that once a town attempts to warn, judges and juries will too often find the warnings inadequate and permit a swimmer (or his survivors) huge damages. [Asbury Park Press, 6-15-05]

No warnings, no matter the reason is a good thing.