When did we become a dumber society? At what point in time did our IQ drop? Two of my favorite comedic routines is Bill Engvall’s “Here’s your sign” and James Gregory’s routine on warning signs. We laugh at the routines but they are so true. At some point in our history our collective IQ somehow dropped so that now we have warnings, signs, labels, or notices for even the basic items. Do we really need a warning that the coffee and the cup may be hot? Don’t most people want their coffee hot? Don’t people who drink coffee make the assumption it will be hot and the cup can be hot and that it could burn if they spill it? Do I need sleeping pills warning me that they may cause drowsiness? Isn’t that the point of taking a sleeping pill? Do I need Old Spice telling me that the deodorant should only be used under my arm? Like I was going use it on my forehead. Do we really need to be warned at baseball games that a foul ball may enter the stands and may be dangerous? It is so bad that there are even web sites mocking these warnings http://www.dumbwarnings.com and http://www.bored.com/crazywarnings/ are just two examples.
Look at any instruction manual for any product you buy, how many paragraphs, or pages are devoted to the various warnings? Really do we need all of this “protection”? I know some lawyer will tell you yes, but I ask you again when did we lose our common sense? Maybe its the fact we have to many lawyers? Lawyers, like unions, can serve a good purpose, however I think that purpose seems to get lost or misdirected. Are we as a society going to become dumber and dumber to the point where we will have to have everything thought out for us?
Look at all of the warning signs, notices, etc you see in a day both on products and just in your every day environment, and ask yourself is that one really, really needed? I’ll bet you will find some are not and that a little common sense would go a long way.
Muses from the front range of the Rocky Mountains
FrontRangeScribbles 
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