Yeah I know I haven't done this in a long time. It's busy! But I received an email with this little link and I just had to say something about it. When will Americans learn to quit blaming others for our own stupidity? Not any time soon, I imagine. Weep!
... if they died off anyway!
As much as people claim that I am a whiner, I can't stand them. For the amount of shit that the average human goes through on a daily basis, I like to think I am on the low end of the scale when it comes to bitching about stuff. There's some saying I heard recently that it's human nature to complain, regardless of the situation. I heartily believe this. It's human nature to whine like a four-year-old. Witness:
Whiners complain about negligence at WTC cleanup
I suppose this was eventually going to happen. It's really only a matter of time before every American man, woman, child, cat, dog, and indescribable creature is somehow connected to spurious litigation. This one particularly gets my goat, however, considering I worked down there. Hell, my very job was to get these people to put their gear on. Guess what? They didn't.
I love how suddenly the "negligence" becomes the responsibility of the supervisory company. My job specifically was to trudge around the Staten Island site where all of the debris was brought to be searched for Identification, remains, and contraband. Whilst trudging, I had to visit every sorting station and take stock of how many of "NYC's finest" (it was NYC's cops who were doing the sleeping ... er ... sorting) were wearing their gear correctly. Every new worker to the site was given ample instruction on how to use the Teflon space suit, air filter, and goggles. Everyone was given a fitting for their protective equipment. No suprise, it was still uncomfortable and no one wore it. Does that make it the fault of the supervisory entity that individuals are too lazy and whiney to wear protective gear? Some may say "but obviously yes, because you weren't doing your job getting them to wear it." Alas, since the NYPD is a prickly bunch, I nor any of my fellow "safety monitors" had jurisdiction. We could just politely ask people to try to use their stuff next time. If you were more strict about it, you were fired because you stepped on too many toes.
Fast forward 3 years (almost 4, wow), and the workers are moaning about how they have problems. Here's a pointer for you, numnutz: Now you know to wear your gear, don't you? Unfortunately, this suit won't go away, I'm sure. It's really too bad, because I hate to see lazy grumbly can't-do-a-simple-task bitches get rewarded for their own mistakes.
In parting: You may wonder how I can rant about this, seeing as the article is about Ground Zero and obviously I was not there. I was privy to a visitation of Ground Zero, thanks to our ID badges. I remember thinking while I was there "man this is the ritz." Their equipment was twice as good as ours, it seems, and the degree of protection available to the workers was amazing. Yet ... nobody wore it. Similar accounts of the quality of care at the site came in from others who visited. So if the workers are just too "cool" or lazy or whatever to wear their gear, whose fault is it if they're now seeing the consequence of their stupidity?
Hey America, wake up! I'm sorry to be the weenie to report this to you, but it is you who is responsible for your own actions, and no other. It's about time that changed and the government stops taking responsibility for the stupidity of its people. After all, a country is only as smart as its dumbest person. I shudder to think just how stupid we really are.