When seatbelts were introduced to cars, there was a big movement against them. Some by car manufacturers to keep costs down, but a lot of backlash was from good ol’ natural born idiots so contrarian and averse to change they’d let themselves die just to give a smug look about not doing what someone asked of them. The sort of dumbass who during the height of pre-vaccine Covid would drown in the fluid buildup in their lungs and refuse treatment because doing so would be an admission of fault.
These past 9 years have made me DEEPLY cynical about my fellow man. There is no bottom. No level of malicious stupidity is low enough. It’s not even disappointment anymore, I’m resigned to it. Some people are so beyond hope, so beyond redemption, it’s like trying to get a fucking deer to recognize itself in a mirror. Just ZERO awareness, no theory of mind, object permanence is a fucking coin flip. If it weren’t for my principles, my absolute refusal to engage in dehumanization, I’d be tempted to write them off as another species just to cope with the dissonance that comes from seeing people acting that self destructive. Like it doesn’t make sense. You’d expect at some point some form of pattern recognition and harm avoidance to develop. “Hey, putting my hand on the stove hurt. It hurt every time I did it. It hurt everyone I saw someone else do it too. I’m gonna put my hand on the stove and it won’t hurt this time.”.
I was annoyed about the seatbelt laws, but I was a little kid at the time. I came from an era of riding in the back of dad’s truck and enjoying the breeze. Hell, I went from New England to Canada in the back of a capped truck. I was eight years old and never thought anything of it.
However, as I got older into my teens I got more adamant about using a seat belt, even when the laws were still sorta gray here (you were let off with no warning most times). Now its second nature, even if I’m heading 3 mins to the store. Some people still don’t because they think that they’re only endangering themselves. Thing is, I have a brother in law that’s a first responder. He’s seen people torpedo out of windows in head-on collisions and into the other car, injuring the other driver/passengers.
Honestly, I don’t get what the whole problem is. You barely even notice them on you. Most people who don’t put on a simple and comfortable safety belt are just being fucking stubborn children who don’t like being told what to do. I’m glad I grew out of that way of thinking. Some my family are those “good ol’ natural borns”. They’ll tell me I don’t have to put my seatbelt on and every time I adamantly say, “I always do”. My other brother in law will literally crank the radio so he can’t hear the seatbelt alarm. Drives me insane, but I love the idiot.
There are still people that buy “belt silencers” or sit on their seatbelts to drive without. Newer cars will alarm, and mine even shuts down if you drive without a seatbelt
My sister’s boyfriend bought an oldtimer with no seatbelt. The previous owner installed some and he took them out again. I think there is nothing that brings him more joy than to tell people how he doesn’t need a seatbelt. He also drives his children around in this deathtrap. But he also refuses to wear a helmet when they ride their ebike. My sister nagged so long about it that he now takes the helmet with him, but he doesn’t wear it, that’s the compromise they reached. Some people are just fucking weird.
I enjoyed reading this. Well put. I also share this recent realization. It’s made me feel a bit less imposter syndrome. Among other things.
Old car guys are still bitter over unleaded gas. Some will drive to airports to buy the leaded stuff.
LOL, libs are trying to ban asbestos! They want us all to catch fire! Asbestos causing cancer is a conspiracy, do your own research. Besides, Ivermectin will cure any cancer caused by asbestos.
/s (because the USA is crazy and someone would really post this and mean it)
Post it on reddit, and that will end up as a google AI recommendation next week.
I can see them railing a line of asbestos just to own the libs. Better than vaccine denial I suppose, at least it limits the damage.
A guy I went to HS with definitely did this one time on a dare. A piece of insulation fell out of the kiln in shop class n another kid smashed it n told this kid he’d give him $5 to snort it. No one thought he would, but this dude absolutely railed it. Someone asks the shop teacher later what the tiles were made of and he says asbestos mostly, but it’s fine as long as you don’t mess with it. 💀
I keep checking on his Facebook every couple of years to see if lung cancer got him. So far, he’s still kicking lol.
Here in Australia we just banned engineered stone because it tends to cause silicosis
And yep, lots of shitty business owners whined and a few shit customers on Facebook
Silicosis is what’s killing people at the moment, and business owners in particular don’t seem to care, despite the fact there’s is alternatives
I have no idea engineered stones causes silicosis. Is it the manufacturing or the installation or the home owner getting too close to it that causes it?
When it’s cut for bench tops and such , that’s what exposes people.
Lots of stonemasons here in Australia now have silicosis because of it.
Natural stone has far less issues and there is stone available which doesn’t cause it
Business owners were also claiming they weren’t given enough time to switch. Everyone including me (I have a friend with silicosis now) has known engineered stone was dangerous to work with for years.
So they had years of warning that it was dangerous But they pretend like it was unexpected.
We (srtaya) tried to introduce cutting standards as the silicosis is avoidable, but the cutting technique is more expensive so it got skipped for the cheaper dangerous methods.
You probably know about it more than me…
I’ve been onsite plenty of times when they’ve been cutting that stuff up. Some owners argued better PPE would be enough for the Stonemasons, but it won’t protect other people where its being cut.
Furthermore, nobody NEEDS engineered stone anyway, and people tend to take shortcuts when they are in a rush
And its mainly the workers affected. The people selling it are sometimes the ones who aren’t even cutting it up (especially because they know there are risks).
Feel bad for my friend though who now has silicosis and no way to cure it.
It was the same with asbestos, there were correct handling procedures but they were skipped enough for people to still get sick from it. Better we don’t use it if we don’t need to.
People are just going to have to re-learn just how fucking scary the measles and polio are, I guess.
I’m curious if America children dying will weaken the anti vax movement in other countries.
God I hope so. Don’t hope for the US to learn.
We didn’t on guns after Sandy Hook so get some popcorn for the horror show to come for us.
It actually was just recently (a year ago) banned fully in the US. Before that, it was just prohibited to be used in new construction.
People would be making TikTok videos eating asbestos and cramming it up their bums claiming it cures COVID
There’s still some pro-asbestos people, so it didn’t go away 100%. I remember reading a completely mental Conservapedia article blaming 9/11 on not using asbestos.
That was Rush Limbaugh, may he rot in piss.
I used to live in a city called Asbestos, the mine was closed back in 2012 and older folks are still angry about it, they’ll even tell you that the workers handling it weren’t in worse health than anyone else in the city… The worst part is that it was banned in the construction industry 30 years prior, so they kept exploiting the mine only to export it to countries that hadn’t banned it, even if it meant killing people there…
If it didn’t cause cancer, asbestos is a fucking miracle material, there are people TODAY who are hugely pro-asbestos
People have been pro-asbestos dating back to Roman times, and even back then it is said they knew it was harmful as well. But used it anyway. 😆
I mean you do have to wright in thr pros and cons. Like asbestos is crazy good in what it does. if you have it in your building and don’t fuck with it, it doesn’t matter. I’m not some pro asbestos nut or anything, but they banned asbestos because of health concers, but smoking and alvohol is still fine, which has absolutely no positive side effects
Hey guys! Today we will talk about Asbestos 🤯😵😱 Scary! I know!
But I’m here to tell you that actually, asbestos is super useful and the health hazards are so out of proportion! And this brings me to my sponsor, Asbet Health! Asbet Health have given my viewers a 20% discount for the next 30 days on ALL of their 100% asbestos clothing! We are talking about light, breathable, fire resistant and stain resistant clothing that has been proven to support your health!*
*Not FDA approved
And also you wash it down with radithor! The healthfully radioactive water.
It’d be one of those shitty AI voices too.
It probably would be FDA approved now.
Soon we will have “FDA approved pre-2025” to know if it’s not BS
Imagine companies explicitly mentioning the year it was fda approved and people talking about it like they do about a vintage
I’m in a comment war with a nicotine denialist on here now!
In the 90s, there were still tons of people angry about seat belt laws. It’s every American’s God Given Right to fly out of the windshield and probably kill someone else.
There is this meme about:
Don’t forget airbags have also killed people.
As a left libertarian, I have a hard time arguing against seatbelt laws. As in, I know they aren’t consistent with my ideology, but the outcomes of having these laws are so much better than not having them. The only thing that I can say against them is that they’re one of the more commonly used bullshit pretexts for initiating traffic stops. I rationalize this trade off and violation of ideals by pointing out that the government has created a fucked up transportation market by enforcing car centrism, and until we can unfuck that, we need to deal with the side effects.
I think the argument is more about the impact on others. If you aren’t wearing a seatbelt, you become a projectile that can harm others - both in your car and outside of your car.
In general, I agree that ideologically it’s a little uncomfortable to dictate personal choices, but when it comes to road safety I think the government has reasonable grounds to enforce certain expectations (same with things like insurance.)
It is uncomfortable to give police more pretenses to stop people but road safety perhaps is one of those things we could have a hypothetical “good police force” take care of.
Ehhhh… Traffic stops are more often than not excuses to fish for other, more serious violations or initiate a civil asset forfeiture. It’s actually one of the big reasons I’m hugely pro-transit and anti-car-centrism, because it robs the state of a huge excuse for initiating police contacts.
Government dictating that citizens MUST give money to a private company who then gives money to the politicians who make that mandate is wildly immoral. Insurance should be a government program.
Insurance as a whole should be a sort of “public union” thing. No profit motive, everyone who participates in something like driving has to pay some fee for insurance, maybe along with things like registration. Ideally along with massive improvements to public transit.
The concept of private insurance under capitalism seems at odds with itself. You have to pay out a good chunk less then you take in to turn a profit, and the best way to do that is be useless and fuck over your customers. (With health - Cigna was supposed to cover my top surgery. Pay for it up front be reimbursed reimbursed later. Then, later, it turns out that my employer specifically included a rider that excluded it. I’ve talked elsewhere about how I’ve paid CareCredit back.)
I don’t know if we should nationalize auto insurance without doing health insurance first though. Would the government be negotiating deals with mechanics? I think hospitals have structures that are easier to unionize and generally smarter/kinder folks than the general population. Mechanics tend to skew the type that’d get upset over navigating fender bender payouts with Uncle Sam, probably going to be harder to get to understand that their labor rights are good things.
Where’d you get a picture off all my elder family members in one place!? (j/k)
People are emotional. They feel things, and then make up justifications for it afterwards. We all do this to some extent, in some contexts or others, but some people seem to do it the majority of the time.
Someone who smokes and has a choice between admitting they fucked up, they’re hurting themselves and those around them, OR denying it so they’re just a persecuted innocent? A lot of people will go for the latter. It’s weakness and cowardice, but saying that won’t change their mind. If results are wanted we have to do the very arduous task of massaging their emotions and I kind of resent that thankless, endless, work. Even though I almost certainly am the same way about other things.
Humans are a mess.
As a former smoker (now vaper) I understand and agree with non smokers about smoking inside.
However the people who bitch about smokers outside in public piss me off.
Yes my cigarette (now vape) is soooooo much worse than the exhaust of the thousands of cars /generators/construction equipment and so on that are constantly running all around us.
But out of sight out of mind. They can’t see all that exhaust shit so it doesn’t exist - But those fucking smokers how dare they.
I also get mad at people who drive cars instead of walking or taking mass transit, if that helps.
But someone smoking near you makes your day undeniably, immediately, worse.
If you’re sitting in a room that smells uncomfortably of cheese, and someone rips a juicy fart on your face, it would be unreasonable to be like “who cares about my shart it smells like cheese in here”
I have asthma and when I walk past a smoker it makes it harder for me to breathe for a while afterwards. I don’t have the same issue with vapes though so I don’t really care about those even inside of they smell nice.
Some of us do struggle to breathe around vapes though. Not as bad as cigarettes but it’s still a problem
Looked it up and I had no idea how bad second hand vapor can be. I don’t vape or smoke but I’ll give them both the same level of stink eye going forward.
Yes my cigarette (now vape) is soooooo much worse than the exhaust of the thousands of cars /generators/construction equipment and so on that are constantly running all around us.
The problem is that nicotine itself isn’t a carcinogen, but increases the effectiveness of other carcinogens. So like, the nic is going to make that car exhaust/etc more harmful.
I don’t breath in exhaust either, fully concentrated. I have as much of a problem with diffused cigarette smoke as diffused exhaust, but I fucking hate smokers that make me breath in their second hand fully potent, carcinogenic, horrible smelling smoke.
I haven’t seen any car exhausts walking right next to me on the sidewalk though.
Even better, people in the 80s when drinking and driving was made illegal: https://youtu.be/2xcQIoh3FQQ
Still meet plenty of people who drink beer in the car
My step dad had like 4 or 5 DUIs. When I was in elementary school, me and my siblings would get the privilege of “helping” start the car by showing how awesome we were at breathing!
Like, if you can afford the lawyers and come off as the right kind of good ol’ boy it doesn’t seem to matter. I think at one point he got weekend prison. He’d drive us to school with a high ball sitting in the center console.
Lot of people in my town with “party plates”. Yellow plate with red letters to signal to cops that you are a frequent DUI fiend. No clue how youend up with those instead of just having your license revoked
My father was an anti-seatbelter up until 2010-ish, when he got a newer car with a better seatbelt system.
Real men aren’t held back by anything! The belt restricts blood flow through the body! It’s a globalist conspiracy to turn our men into women!
Real Chad’s don’t let some dumb straps stop them from pumping blood like a REAL PATRIOT! B)
Aren’t belts not required in Utah
Also there are pro-asbestos movements
Guess I’m just old
I am evil for this and I admit it.
Seat belts laws should not be enforced on adults. A windshield dive is a good cure for stupid, I bet a lot of MAGA would literally go out like that.Trauma, potential physical harm to others. A whole set of reasons they should be enforced. I get what you’re saying though.
Oh, I know it’s a bad point of view. In my defense I live in a no motorcycle helmet state. As long as you carry the insurance for it.
That is so fucking stupid lol. I guess you’re in a freedumb state?
You should see our gun laws. Buy it, carry it however and wherever you want. Constitutional carry.
In fact, the industry did sue and win a lawsuit in 1991 narrowing the range of asbestos compounds banned by the EPA. There have always been huge waves of resistance to every harmful compound banned by the government, from leaded gas to cigarettes to chlorofluorocarbons that harmed the ozone layer. The difference is that the present consolidation of wealth in the hands of a small group of billionaires, who control a consolidating group of media corporations, allows for unprecedented ability to control public opinion. Meanwhile, the amount of junk information floating around in social media, and failing public education, has disordered our systems of discourse. There is much more limited ability to vet quality sources of information, leaving people to worry more about fictional chemtrails than about the very real pesticides in their food
Leaded gas still isn’t banned. Small airplanes still use it, and homes around airfields (including mine, which my family lived in before the airfield) are contaminated with lead. My daughter failed her 12 month lead test because of it despite us excluding her from outdoor activities in our neighborhood.
100UL (Unleaded avgas) has finally been approved for spark-ignition aviation engines just in the past couple years.
Manufacturers have finally gotten approval to build/retrofit popular small aircraft with compression-ignition engines. These can burn Jet-A in a diesel cycle instead of 100LL. Jet-A is more energy dense than 100LL, and it is cheaper.
We’re finally in a regulatory position where the GA fleet can actually transition to unleaded fuels.
It’s messed up that there are still ways lead is used in this country. Ammunition, also, is a huge scourge on our environment, and sometimes people. I’m very sorry about your daughter having that problem.
Changed it a little.
In fact, the industry did sue and win a lawsuit in 1991 narrowing the range of profits banned by the EPA. There have always been huge waves of resistance to every profitable compound banned by the government, from leaded gas to cigarettes to chlorofluorocarbons that harmed the ozone layer.
In 2018, the U.S. idiot-in-chief tried to bring it back again.
Yes! How do people not remember this?
Because a thousand other crazy things happened.
