Thursday, March 29, 2018

progress

 I was sitting with the wife watching the morning news and just enjoying the morning. A bit of a change in routine. The news stories were running in the background. One catches my attention about a person dying from using a consumer product. A family member is on the television being interviewed and is naturally distraught. This family member is questioning why this product, that can kill you, is even being sold. Now I can empathize with the way he is feeling and it is a tragic thing. The thing is, the product was clearly marked with all the appropriate warnings and directions for usage. The person failed to follow the directions and the worst case scenario happened. The issue being discussed is , is it the fault of the product or the user ?
 I know I lack empathy and understanding but I can't fault the manufacturer. If all the appropriate warnings are clearly printed on the product it is incumbent upon the user to read and follow the directions. I can understand the family member feeling otherwise. To me all this speaks to accountability, something we seem to be trying to eliminate from society except on a corporate level. Individuals are not accountable, it is someone else's fault. The manufacturer shouldn't have made the product. The retailer shouldn't have sold the product. The product itself was responsible ! Everything but a failure of the user to read and follow the directions ! This is followed by a call for more regulations ! The government needs to do more to protect the consumers because the consumers are failing to protect themselves.
 That story was followed by a study conducted by Harvard professors that Facebook is manipulating me ! That's right, Facebook is using my profile data to determine my likes and dislikes. I'm being profiled from my profile ! Imagine that. I fill in the blanks, you read what I wrote and then decide this is what I like or don't like based on that profile ! Then postings show up on my timeline attempting to influence me. Well just how outrageous is that ? You are using information I provided to further your cause or sell your product. Facebook is responsible for that. Facebook created the profile page, what was I supposed to do, lie ? C'mon no one would post false information on their profile page. Funny thing though, at least with me, all you would have to do is ask. If I don't want you to know my opinion I won't tell you. The solution offered by the Harvard professor : educate yourself ! That's right, educate yourself that a profile page reveals your profile ! But, keep in mind that profiling people is illegal ! Having a profile page isn't, but don't profile anyone from it. If you do though it won't be your fault,  Facebook is manipulating you ! Sue Facebook, drag Zuckerberg before congress and demand an explanation !
 In the last story I listened to, it was Trumps fault. All of this is Trumps fault. He probably won't do anything about the sale of that product or something to prevent you from being manipulated. In fact, Trump is manipulating the entire country ! Someone, not you or I, needs to be held accountable. Government intervention is obviously the only way to solve these issues. What do you expect, people to read and follow directions, obey the law when it is inconvenient to do so ? Do you really expect me to accept no as an answer ? Do you really expect me to say, it's my own fault ? How ridiculous is that ? You know I knew someone that just went right out and bought a car. Drove that car into a tree and went flying through the windshield. Whose fault was that ? The car manufacturer. They didn't put a seat belt in there. Luckily the government intervened and had them install seat belts and a five mile per our impact front bumper ! That helped for a while, then we got air bags. Now, the cars are driving themselves and only running other people over, but I'm safe. Ah, progress. When you can just blame everything on someone else, that's progress.  

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