Common Sense
My big revelation this morning is that there is no more common sense. I think it was a discussion I heard this morning about the boundaries for what you can or cannot say on the radio (Imus talk) and someone said that it could be left to "common sense". But my revelation is bigger than what you can say on the radio.
Coffee is hot. You can't sue the company that you just paid to give you hot coffee when they do exactly what you wanted. Common sense.
Prison sucks. You can't sue the prison because you got bit by a mosquito and might have been exposed to West Nile virus. Common sense.
Kids listen to radio. While I'm sure a child would not be permanently damaged by hearing the f-word, it's probably better to keep it off the radio. Common Sense.
Insults upset people. Unless you're friends with someone and they know how you joke, calling them a bad name might come back to bite you. Common sense.
I could go on for a while, but my point is - while these all seem like common sense to me, there's always the possibility that you might not feel the same way. "Common" connotes majority. "Sense" is the root for "sensible" or "nonsense". So, "common sense" would be a general understanding that the majority of people would agree on.
I understand that common sense and law are two different things. And, when you add money to the equation (a lawsuit or injury settlement), common sense can fly right out the window.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh, I also heard a discussion about the shootings at Virginia Tech revolving around how the school security was lacking and could have prevented some of the deaths. To me, common sense dictates that there is no way to stop someone at this stage of mental depravity. Had they called every student to let them know there was a shooter on campus, it would likely just have been more chaotic and different people might have died.
The most ignorant account I heard (wish I could remember where) was trying to determine if this was a terrorist attack or not. Is this not the very definition of a terrorist attack? It's a black day in our country's history whether Al Qaeda is behind it or not.
Posts
5 comments:
The police were conducting what they believed to be an investigation into a double homicide back at the dorms. Newsworthy but hardly a reason to panic the entire school. Police are generally very methodical and don't like to release information until they get the facts.
When the attacks started in the classrooms, the police were on the scene very quickly and did not hesitate to enter the building not knowing the shooter had already offed himself. That sounds pretty brave to me.
I think that even if they had announced the initial investigation, it would have simply caused the students to gather around the dorm or some other gathering place and maybe have made it even easier for this whack job to take people out.
Common sense is rather uncommon nowadays.
Amen to that, Josh.
That was my epiphany. There's an abundance of uncommon nonsense.
I agree. There's only so much security we can accept. Sooner or later a madman will breech that security despite our best efforts.
Post a Comment