The fact that a citizen can take another person or organization to court has been one of the bedrocks of American tradition. Unfortunately, as with any system, there will be some people who take advantage of it and risk ruining things for everyone else.

Someone’s coffee was hot. They sued. Now people joke that they could also sue if the coffee was not hot enough, but I bet someone has actually tried that. Cropped from a photo by David Thompson.

The first time I remember hearing about a court case that I found to be ridiculous was the infamous woman who sued McDonald’s due to scalding hot coffee. I have a little more sympathy for her after finding out some of the myths, but she still did spill it herself. In the 20 years since then, we have been increasingly met with legalese wherever we turn from lawyers who attempt to protect their clients from liability. Most disclaimers are common sense labels, e.g. keep plastic bags away from babies, and probably do some good.

Disclaimers really begin to change perceptions when they are spoken, however. Turbulence is a good example of this. Airplanes have had fasten seat belt indicators for decades so they don’t get sued if someone bumps their head.

You are typically forced to sit down and fasten your seat belt, regardless of other possible consequences. Cropped from a photo by Daniel Williams.

A similar sign like this elsewhere would merely provide advice, but announcements remind passengers that they must obey posted placards on-board (the only time I ever still hear the word, placard). However, flight attendants are stuck with a kind of semi-authority so they vary in their enforcement. I have seen some stand near passengers and shame them into sitting back down. Some delight in their new-found power and threaten people in coach until they submit. Yet as one flight attendant said on my recent United flight to Denver, “We are not police.” Then the other crew members proceeded to remind every other passenger who stood up that they were required to say people should remain seated, though they did not intend to actually stop any passengers from getting up. Flight attendants did the right thing and covered their ass while letting common sense prevail in the air for once.

The only people who heeded the call and sat down were two German ladies. This didn’t surprise me, given the evil eye you will get in Germany when trying to cross a street when the light is red.

Yet it made me wonder if all of these little reminders that we get in America have led to exactly the opposite of their intended effect and made us more stubborn. When nature truly calls, no one will be denied regardless of a light or even an authority figure. The same situation is audible in NYC subway stations everyday.

Likely one pet peeve of every New Yorker is the subway emergency exit. Cropped from a photo by Julie DeVito.

Most exit doors are officially for emergencies only so an alarm goes off every time they are opened. Some are marked as service exits for the handicapped as well, seen above. However, other people also have perfectly valid reasons for using the door, since bikes, strollers, and some luggage do not fit through turnstiles. So the majority of people both disregard the law and become dangerously desensitized to an alarm.

Why reinforce warnings that you know people will not listen to? What good is an elevated threat level that never changes? When everyone covers their ass, no one’s ass is covered. Taken to an extreme, it is a continued exercise in crying wolf and we become accustomed to not listening to what in other circumstances could be very good advice.

Politics, not safety, was the real reason that the threat levels were introduced. Illustration adapted from MemeCenter.

Perhaps these are reasonable responses to what are unjust rules. As adults, we should be able to decide whether we risk the very rare possibility of injury during turbulence to make a pit stop.

Yet I can’t help but figure that kids seeing this behavior and social consciousness will turn out to be even more obnoxious than our generation. (I wish I could say rebellious, but American society has been so pacified by bread and circuses that hardly anyone demonstrates anymore) I like to think of myself as a libertarian but I am certainly no anarchist. We should follow guidelines when they are appropriate. If everyone ran red lights, for example, then accidents would increase and lawlessness would begin to spiral out of control.

We as a society need to figure out if we are going to continue this security theater or if we are going to treat each other like adults. Covering your ass may be necessary at times, but stop crying wolf so we know when we should really pay attention.