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I've never bounced off a title so hard. "Safety obsession" is an absurd phrase in this context. No society on earth is "obsessed" with the safety of adults, in

I've never bounced off a title so hard. "Safety obsession" is an absurd phrase in this context. No society on earth is "obsessed" with the safety of adults, in the way we use the word "obsessed" to e.g. describe helicopter parents. One can easily argue that specific rules are ineffective or have unintended effects, as the body of the article appears to at a glance, but that's not a problem with being somehow overly-dedicated to safety - it's a problem with making rules. Making rules is a hard problem.

karamanolev 4y ago
Regardless of the merits of the article, as a European, "safety obsessed" describes my experiences in the US. Not a good or a bad thing, each society makes its own choices, but for me, the US is safety obsessed. And that comes from someone who rides 10k+ miles a year and always wears a helmet.
nostrebored 4y ago
Our society in the U.S. is absolutely obsessed with safety. The level of risk aversion in western society today is crazy. Part of our safety obsession is helicopter parenting.
- midoridensha 4y ago
  If the US were truly obsessed with safety, they'd ban guns and make cars much more inconvenient to own and use. As it is, any moron can buy a gun or drive a car with pretty much zero training. As an American, I honestly have no idea what you're talking about: the US is by far the least safe society among developed nations. If you want to see risk-averse to a fault, come to Japan. US society is anything but risk-averse. It has its elements of risk-aversion (notably your helicopter parenting, which is actually completely absent here in Japan, as little kids routinely walk around alone here), but overall, it is anything but. I'd say the helicopter parenting is actually a reaction, by a portion of parents, to the extreme danger present in daily life in America. By contrast, no one blinks an eye here in Tokyo when little kids ride the subway by themselves because it's so safe.

karamanolev 4y ago

Regardless of the merits of the article, as a European, "safety obsessed" describes my experiences in the US. Not a good or a bad thing, each society makes its own choices, but for me, the US is safety obsessed. And that comes from someone who rides 10k+ miles a year and always wears a helmet.

nostrebored 4y ago

Our society in the U.S. is absolutely obsessed with safety. The level of risk aversion in western society today is crazy. Part of our safety obsession is helicopter parenting.

midoridensha 4y ago
If the US were truly obsessed with safety, they'd ban guns and make cars much more inconvenient to own and use. As it is, any moron can buy a gun or drive a car with pretty much zero training. As an American, I honestly have no idea what you're talking about: the US is by far the least safe society among developed nations. If you want to see risk-averse to a fault, come to Japan. US society is anything but risk-averse. It has its elements of risk-aversion (notably your helicopter parenting, which is actually completely absent here in Japan, as little kids routinely walk around alone here), but overall, it is anything but. I'd say the helicopter parenting is actually a reaction, by a portion of parents, to the extreme danger present in daily life in America. By contrast, no one blinks an eye here in Tokyo when little kids ride the subway by themselves because it's so safe.