Woozle/2022/01/29

About

This is a crosspost from Nextdoor.

Post

So, on a thread in the other pol group (https://nextdoor.com/p/mKgFh9y4XnRS?view=detail), someone I shall not name commented with the following, apparently quoting Bill Maher:

The Biden infrastructure bill has a provision that requires all new cars to install an alert system that goes off when you leave a baby in the back seat... which is something only done by crackheads and people who, sadly yes, do it on purpose.

This is actually a horrible thing when it happens -- and yes, it HAPPENS TO NORMAL, WELL-ADJUSTED PEOPLE. It could happen TO ANYONE.

However, it is also quite a rare occurrence, so yes -- there *is* room for legitimate discussion here. Just how much inconvenience and extra cost is a human life worth? When does that convenience and extra cost, multiplied by millions of car-users and owners, add up to more life lost than the few lives saved?

Trivializing a complex issue by mocking and demonizing one side, however, DOES NOT HELP.

...and anyone who would make fun of what is truly a horrible tragedy for any parent or caregiver, however rarely it happens, is A FUCKING GHOUL, and needs to get the hell out of my spaces.

Bill Maher used to be an advocate for sanity, but lately he has largely joined the outrage farmers.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/8/21/2047330/-Real-Time-with-Bill-Maher-has-become-unwatchable

Further: This is the same kind of cost-benefit calculus we're often looking at with difficult questions like abortion -- although for some reason the same people who oppose saving children's lives via car safety will stop at nothing when it comes to efforts to save the life of an unborn and possibly unwanted fetus.