Responsibility and Stupidity

Maybe there is something wrong with me. One part of my paradigm is that each individual is responsible for his or her own actions. I believe that laws, regulations, and rules should be put in place to protect people from the actions of others. People who disobey these laws should be held accountable.

But what about these laws that do not protect people from the actions of others? You know the ones I'm talking about. The ones that attempt to protect people from themselves. Why do governments think that it is their responsibility to protect me from myself? If I do not want to or am too stupid to wear my seatbelt or helmet, that's my prerogative. Under the law, vehicles should have things brakes and insurance to protect those the driver may hit. But if someone wants to have a steering wheel protruding out of his spine, or turn himself into a human cannonball, let him. People should not kill themselves; it is bad for their health, but so is drinking, smoking, and unprotected sex. In fact, drinking, smoking, and unprotected sex are a lot more harmful to others than killing yourself is, and yet they're not illegal, but things like not wearing a helmet, not wearing a seatbelt, and suicide are.

Do not get me wrong. I am not promoting stupidity or suicide. Quite the contrary; I am suggesting that we abolish all the laws that aim to play mommy with society. This would effectively weed out the major idiots in society using their own self destructive tendencies. It's called natural selection. Monkeys who are too stupid to grab the next vine, fall to the jungle floor and go splat. Therefore they will not get the chance to make lots of stupid baby monkeys. You don't see a bunch of the old monkeys sitting down and making laws about vine swinging. So what I am suggesting is that we allow self destructive stupidity in order to eliminate it.

The key is education. I am not so cold hearted that I am not saddened by people who are victims of themselves. But it is not my fault, and it is not the government's fault. Ultimately, it is the self destructive individual's own fault. Children should learn what is dangerous in this world from their parents and in school. When this is not enough for those thick-skulled among us, there is the education that comes from witnessing other's destruction. If you were a monkey seeing another monkey fall to the jungle floor and go splat, you would most likely make sure you always grabbed the next vine. The problem is that there is not enough parental education going on these days nor are there enough "monkeys going splat" to get people to change.

If someone is dumber than a jar of pickles, and does not learn from others' mistakes, there is one possible last chance for them before destruction, and that is surviving. Surviving a fatal mistake of your own can be the best education you could ever get. The saying: "You don't know that fire is hot until you get burned" illustrates this point perfectly. So let people make mistakes if they must.

So what you and everyone can do is to learn, teach, watch, show, and live and let die.