I’m not responsible for your stupidity…
June 2nd, 2009…and you’re not responsible for mine.
The Golden Gate Bridge
You probably already know I live in the San Francisco area. One of her most famous landmarks is her Golden Gate Bridge, a bridge that crosses the Golden Gate from San Francisco to Marin. It’s a beautiful bridge and a beautiful crossing. Since its inception in 1937, the bridge allowed pedestrian access.
Now some groups are trying to close the bridge to pedestrians because of all the suicides. What a load of horse manure. Look, if you want to kill yourself, go for it. Just don’t blame me and don’t make it an inconvenience for me either. If I ever kill myself, I’ll make the same agreement to you. Deal? Good.
I am not responsible for other people’s stupidity. Why should I be punished because unhappy people end it all by jumping off my bridge? And yes, I call it my bridge because my tax money maintains it.
Be careful what you wish for. Don’t go around banning other people’s freedoms just because some people don’t use them right.
The same applies to handguns
I looked at handgun deaths the other day and you know what? Take out suicides and they’re very, very low. Actually, almost insignificant. Take out suicides and put them up against cars and they barely register. Even better, put them up against “accidental deaths in hospitals.”
I knew a crazy anti-gun activist who one day confessed to me that if he owned a handgun, he would have killed himself. So, my handguns should be banned because this guy is an idiot? Great logic there.
Same applies to drugs
So, I looked for statistics on illegal drug deaths. The National Drug Control Strategy has them published in 2000, and the stats only go up to ‘97 unfortunately. Well, less than 16k people died of illegal drugs in ‘97. Big deal. Double that figure and you still don’t even come close to what cars do. Heck, times that figure times five and it still doesn’t match alcohol, and alcohol is only a fraction of cigarettes.
Not at all implying that we need to ban alcohol or cigarettes. I’m just putting things in perspective. Seriously, not that many people die of illegal drugs. It’s simply not worth the damage to our Fourth Amendment to fight this War on Drugs. No thanks. I’d rather have my Freedom. If people want to pollute their bodies, who am I to tell them not to? Besides, I don’t want my tax money wasted on big government playing Dad.
The same study by the same government agency (paid for YOUR tax dollars by the way) also said that $63.2 billion was wasted in ‘99 on illegal drugs. Great. More reason to legalize it. Imagine the tax revenue if those same drugs were legal.
Once again, I’m not at all for taking illegal drugs. It’s just not my place to tell you how to kill yourself. Big difference.
Don’t be touching my 401k now
So, once again, the stock market crashes and surprise, surprise, the media is harping about how 401k’s are dangerous and you could lose money. No, ****, Sherlock. If you didn’t know that when you started your 401k, you’re an idiot, as far as I’m concerned. You read the fine print? It clearly says you can lose money.
The bad thing is you hear politicians wanting safety nets on 401k’s now. That’s stupid. If you can’t stomach risk, fine. Buy bonds and cash equivalents instead. Your 401k should have given you that option. Just be especially careful with company stock purchases.
If I wanted an annuity, I would have bought an annuity. I don’t want the government touching my 401k. If I lose money, it’s my fault. Not yours. And you shouldn’t be punished for my mistakes.
Tax money is not free money. It comes from hard working people, such as yourself. You work hard. You deserve to keep as much of your money as possible.
So in summary, I’m not responsible for your stupidity. And you’re not responsible for mine.
close the bridge to pedestrians because of all the suicides…. ban sorrowful music (could induce depression), get rid of negative media (one could cry all day with that stuff), don’t forget places like parks and bathroom stalls (i remember reading a bathroom was the #1 place of suicides), and for the love of all that’s good, close the banks and trading centers!
yeish.
Hell no! Keep all that stuff open, dear God I getting sick and tired of all the banal and spoiled people walking around depressed just because they feel life hasn’t answered their every desire. I’m a fairly liberal guy but this transcends politics, I’m talking about rich white people and poor minorities.
Disclaimer: I’m not talking about people with a mental health issue but the obsessive whiners.
Xmircha - I like the idea of closing banks and trading centers. Close ‘em all. If we can just save one poor Yuppie from suicide, it will all be worth it.
Beach - Yeah. If you’ve never been to SF, it’s hard to describe what it’s like to walk on that bridge. There’s something magical about it. I’d hate for future generations to be deprived of the experience just because some folks choose to inconvenience others when they kill themselves.
Jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge for complete and totally useless losers should be encouraged. That’s a good way to go out, so they leave this world on a high note.
What really needs to happen is a good ol’ posse to form and beat the crap out of these groups, who are trying to take the joys and freedoms away from the good people of this world.
Skeletor - Agreed. That also includes anyone who wants to ban my fun, including Heavy Metal music and guns. As much as I don’t like Rap, I will defend its Right to exist. It’s called Free Speech.
And yeah, sometimes I think suicide should be encouraged. One less whiner.
I’m glad to be alive. One Christian saying I like is “count your blessings.” (You don’t have to be a Christian to practice this saying). There is much in this world to be thankful about.
ZS, as always, I’m with you on these incursions into our basic freedoms. Sigh… Slip, sliding away…
Here’s a cheering headline that I saw: in China: “Man shoves would-be suicide jumper off bridge for holding up traffic.”
Grep for ‘china bridge suicide traffic’ and you’ll find it - complete with video showing it. Really funny. YES IT IS.
Sure there are people that find themselves in a horrible way, where there seems no way except suicide. But good ones will have friends that may be able to help, although not always. Still, locking down the rest of us because someone is having a bad day, or a lot of bad days, is ludicrous. I sure hope that there is a more humane view of suicide when I get to the point in life when it is no longer worth living. I’d like an easy way out, thanks.
Handguns. If ghetto kids would stop blowing each other away, then the death rate from guns would plummet even further. I don’t have a problem with gang-bangers killing each other and I bet you don’t either.
401k. Yuppers. Leave it alone. It would be nice if there were a requirement that all 401k offerings MUST have a T-bill or some other ‘principle protecting’ mechanism and do not require you to invest in company stock (although it could be an option). Most don’t. They force you to gamble, even when you are nearing your retirement… Think of all those folks who never had the opportunity to move slowly into bonds and T-bills and are now stuck… When I worked for Motorola we had the option of putting money into Motorola stock, but it was not a requirement. I did. I got lucky and made a bunch on MightyMoto stock, but a lot of people are stuck if they didn’t cash out when they saw the ‘end in sight’.
It would be nice if you could cash out of your 401k and put it into a self-directed IRA when you get a big chunk saved up. Makes me nervous that we have so much money in IBM IRA rollover accounts, handled by Fidelity (we’re going to cash it out this week… but we have been lazy about it). We both worked for companies that were absorbed by IBM at one point.
Why do I think there ought to be a requirement (law)? Because some companies kick in a bunch of money, which is not capped. If you aren’t in their 401k then you don’t get that ‘free money’. Individual contributors ARE capped. Me? I have a SEP and I can put a LOT of money into that (I’m a self-employed consultant). But I don’t get free money from the companies I consult for. (Except they do pay me rather well…)
But I don’t want a net under 401k’s OR SEP’s. We pay enough in taxes supporting people that don’t need it.
It angers me that the ‘liberals’ are so interested in handing money over to do-nothings and yet wounded Veterans? Oddly quiet on this issue…
Wow, if I were dictator. Things would change. A lot. ZS, I’m coming looking for you to be my Chief of State.
Fair Winds and Pleasant Sailing,
Wallflower
Nah, the only power I’d want is Minister of Reproduction.
I’ve been laid off plenty of times. They do give the option to roll your 401k into an IRA, which I love. An IRA has a lot more investment opportunities than a 401k, so you’re much better off with an IRA. I made out big with Ford this year in my IRA. Bought at $1.78, sold at $6. Was enough to make 2009 a very good year.
Yes, if anything with 401k’s, we need more options, not less. If 401k’s were forced to have options for bonds and cash equivalents, I’d be happy with that. I only put enough in my 401k for the company match, then max out my IRA. That’s plenty for retirement.
As for gang bangers, yes, when one kills another, that’s a good thing for the human race. As cold as that sounds, it’s true. One less person pissing in the gene pool. It’s just sad when they kill an innocent bystander because stupid gang bangers never learned how to use a gun correctly.
Yet another reason we should teach people to shoot guns in school. I’d rather have gang bangers be accurate so they kill each other instead of innocent bystanders.
Double kudos for using grep as a verb. Anyone who does that is cool in my book. I bet that would have gone over most people’s heads.
I’d like to shake that guy’s hand that pushed that whiner. So the guy had debt. So did we when my first job got sent to India. Deal with it. Pay it off, and get back to enjoying life.
Money comes. You just have to be persistent.
Yikes Great post ZS. I know we have lost some of Jeff’s 401k. But you know I see it as when the ecomony rebounds we will have more money than we know what to do with. Its going back up slowly and for people wanting to shut a bridge down they should shut our Tower drive or now known as Leo Friggo Bridge down because of suicides and they dont have a pedestrian walk way on it. Several people have jumped so if they are going to shut the Golden Gate bridge down they should shut all high bridges down because of the fact that people feel the obligation to jump from them. Stupid groups not looking at the whole picture.
Hand guns either for that matter. Come on. Lets say i wanted to kill myself with one. Why would you want to stop using it because I was the stupid party that took it to my head not yours or you not wanting to kill yourself with it.. Yikes…. People..
Take out the gun deaths from gang slayings caused by the drug laws, and you’re left with and even smaller fraction of those murders.
I just read a newspaper article about a 102-yr-old philanthropist that stole a car from his retirement home and jumped off a bridge in St Louis.
This man had lived a very full life and wanted to end life on his terms. Who are we to argue with him?
Tweety - Now is the time to contribute heavily. If he can up his contribution, I strongly recommend it.
Plus, you’re both young. You got a lot of time before you retire.
Scott - Yup.
Tshsmom - I’m all for a suicide option for when it’s time to go. I know that’s controversial, but I’ve favored it. I have a living will to let Mrs. Z make the decision about turning off life support.
As for this guy, more power to him. I wouldn’t even call him stupid, although he better have left some money for the guy whose car he stole.
A grieving couple recently committed suicide by jumping off a cliff with their dead son in a rucksack. So, we should ban cliffs, too. And while we’re at it, we should just ban children.
Yes. Cliffs are dangerous. And they’re scary too. Every single cliff everywhere in the world should have a fence blocking people falling off from it. If it can only save one grieving couple…
As for banning children, if you ever become Dictator, do me a favor and appoint me Minister of Reproduction. That’s the only power I want. You can have the rest.
I like what you changed the blog subtitle to.
Make suicide a spectator sport, the only stipulation being that before you leap to your death, you have to do a trial bungee-jump first.
If, after jumping and sproinging up and down, you still feel the need to do it for real, undo the rope and have at ‘er.
P.S. If someone named Cliff were to jump off of a cliff, but it was recorded and they didn’t show the ending, leaving it as a cliffhanger,would time reverse itself leaving Cliff standing at the edge of the cliff?
Kate - Thanks.
Klaatu - Sounds good. At least entertain us.
As for Cliff, that reminds me of a not very PC joke…
There’s a Polish guy and a Jewish guy sitting at a bar watching the 5 o’clock news. Some guy was on a building threatening to jump. The Jewish guy turns to the Polish guy and slaps down a $10 bill. “I bet he jumps,” the Jewish guys says.
The Polish guy whips out a $10 bill from his wallet. “You’re on.”
Well, the guy jumps.
A half an hour and a few drinks later, the Jewish guy turns to the Polish guy and hands him $10. “I can’t take this from you. I watched the 2 o’clock news and saw he jumped.”
“I saw it too,” the Polish guy confessed.
“Then why did you make the bet?”
“Because, I didn’t think he’d jump twice.”
Two guys are drinking at a rooftop bar on the 52nd floor. One turns to the other and says ” You know, the updrafts by this building are so strong that if you fall off,the winds will carry you back up”
Naturally the other guy says ” Bullshit”
First guy says ” No, it’s true” Then he walks to the ledge and jumps off.
He falls,and then his descent slows and he actually starts going back upwards, until he lands gently back on the platform where he started.
Second guy ” That’s friggin’ amazing!” He goes to the edge and jumps.
He falls and falls and SPLAT! ends up a stain on the pavement 52 stories below.
First guy goes back to the bar and picks up his drink.
Bartender lets out a soft whistle, and comments:
” You’re a mean drunk, Superman.”