Somebody is always to blame - and they owe big time
This seems to be a recurring theme in American society - if something bad happens to someone, there must be somebody else who is to blame, and who must compensate the injured party for that harm.
We all know the story of USAir flight 1549 that had to ditch in the Hudson. Nobody has found any reason to significantly fault USAir or its personnel for the incident. The flight lost power because it hit a flock of birds - not because of any fault of piloting or maintenance. USAir was completely unable to avoid the accident, did everything possible to avoid loss of life and minimize injury, and they were fabulously successful. And yet the passengers are insisting that USAir's insurance compensate them for losses, medical bills, and mental trauma.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/business/12aig.html?hp
I don't doubt that passengers have suffered such losses, injuries, and trauma. And I sincerely wish them the very best at dealing with those.
But it seems like this mentality is very common in our society. There's a common belief that nothing bad is supposed to happen unless it's someone's fault. There's another common belief that money will cure all ills short of death. We have forgotten that bad things happen to people every day for no particular reason, and that the capability of money to fix those problems is extremely limited.
We all know the story of USAir flight 1549 that had to ditch in the Hudson. Nobody has found any reason to significantly fault USAir or its personnel for the incident. The flight lost power because it hit a flock of birds - not because of any fault of piloting or maintenance. USAir was completely unable to avoid the accident, did everything possible to avoid loss of life and minimize injury, and they were fabulously successful. And yet the passengers are insisting that USAir's insurance compensate them for losses, medical bills, and mental trauma.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/business/12aig.html?hp
I don't doubt that passengers have suffered such losses, injuries, and trauma. And I sincerely wish them the very best at dealing with those.
But it seems like this mentality is very common in our society. There's a common belief that nothing bad is supposed to happen unless it's someone's fault. There's another common belief that money will cure all ills short of death. We have forgotten that bad things happen to people every day for no particular reason, and that the capability of money to fix those problems is extremely limited.