This time (make the most of it dear reader) the title fits the post (well to start with anyway).
I'm all for good ideas, after all they are good, such as unification of a measuring system, (and with a few exceptions) we (the population of the green/blue marble) have sidled over to the metric system (see previous).
This really does make things easier! Honest, try it, go somewhere else and try to explain to Johnny Foreigner that you want a pint, or a quarter pound of Yorkshire mixture, and watch the furrowed brow dominate his facial expression. (OK maybe the Yorkshire Mixture is a bad example but I hope you tag on to my gist).
Standards can be (and in most cases are) very useful (by definition: Something, such as a practice or a product, that is widely recognized or employed, especially because of its excellence.)
Common practices are also useful to enable universal understanding and work practices.
OK all well & good, we can all get our heads around (individuals with more than one head should identify with this) the supposition that good ideas should be adopted with gusto and a general sense of satisfaction that the right thing is being done. However, (this is the part where my mind overtakes my typing ability) who regulates the label "good" when it is applied to ideas?
Elected bodies (such as governments) purportedly assume this role and often arbitrarily enforce decisions, (remember that invading Poland was an instance of this before you jump to the back up rant of the prole who lays everything at the feet of such bodies) without due consideration to the moral, practical or even cultural consequences of said decisions. It could be noted at this point that it benefits, such as, the tabloid press in UK when "Brussels" allegedly hand out their "Whackey regulations" trying to standardise such things as fruit. In fact without such copy, the Daily Express would be reduced to fish & chip wrapping. (some say that wouldn't be a reduction).
So, I hear you ask, what defines a good idea? One that benefits the majority of society (tis you & I), one that makes life easier to live etc.
OK, what's a bad idea? (much easier) National ID cards (to name one), why? Unless you are going to use them as passports and driving licenses and eradicate the latter (two), what is the point, their reason for existence is the same (essentially) as passports & driving licenses, to identify the bearer, unless of course there is a more sinister, underlying reason to introduce such items, (if so I would argue that there is no need in fact to have any such thing, just give everyone a mobile phone and sit back and track their whereabouts from there).
Health & safety (oooh watch out), I'm not saying that this is a bad idea, just bad implementation! ({readers voice}how so?)
(Takes a run up to the keyboard)
Well, whilst many wonderful years ago (ooh lets get back to Victorian values, yes let's stuff small boys up chimneys and use little girls as dust collectors under large plant machinery) there were no regulations to protect the proletariat and the wool and cotton barons made huge piles of filthy lucre off the backs and sweat of the great unwashed. This was a bad thing, yes it was (well not for the barons, but we all know it was a bad thing). Enter the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Tarra! (that was a fanfare for those who didn't know) and all was well with the world (OK the UK at least) and it was so. Unfathomably the act didn't cover all eventualities (tisk! what an oversight) and has been updated fortnightly since. Now, personally, I work in an industry which frowns upon being held up by minor inconveniences such as safety, but it truly spits the dummy when it gets hauled over the coals for losing one of its modern day chimney sweeps, so accordingly (and prevention is better than the cure in most cases) we (my comrades in production) are subject to ever increasing regulations (Harking back a couple of paragraphs to those who make the decisions, yes add this lot too) and the most noticeable is Personal Protective Equipment (PPE for short), looking back at the old lags photos, PPE was scant (even Scanty) to say the least, nowadays you would not be allowed out on the worksite without the full kit. (OK you say, what is wrong with that?)
Nothing wrong (at face value) with that (do let me finish before you butt in), except that now we seem to be legislating in favour of the moron, now we can see gaggles of retarded manifestations of the entire stocklist of a safety catalogue, infesting the woksite looking like they have just rolled off the set of a remake of Robocop with vacant smiles on their faces due to them being under the apprehension that they are wearing the suit of protection which makes them safe. We are taking the Darwin factor out of the equation, (there is a percentage in nature that just doesn't make it) not just that but it is now becoming obvious that if someone with a death wish wants to walk under a swinging load, they seem to think that as long as they have a plastic hat on their heads, they are safe.
No you tit, you are just easier to clean up after the load has squashed you into your hat & boots!
My idea for a safety campaign poster would be worded:
Don't hurt yourself because the paperwork is a bitch
Conclusion, Yes there are some good ideas, but it might be an idea to consult the people whom the application of these ideas affect, prior to implementation.
I'm all for good ideas, after all they are good, such as unification of a measuring system, (and with a few exceptions) we (the population of the green/blue marble) have sidled over to the metric system (see previous).
This really does make things easier! Honest, try it, go somewhere else and try to explain to Johnny Foreigner that you want a pint, or a quarter pound of Yorkshire mixture, and watch the furrowed brow dominate his facial expression. (OK maybe the Yorkshire Mixture is a bad example but I hope you tag on to my gist).
Standards can be (and in most cases are) very useful (by definition: Something, such as a practice or a product, that is widely recognized or employed, especially because of its excellence.)
Common practices are also useful to enable universal understanding and work practices.
OK all well & good, we can all get our heads around (individuals with more than one head should identify with this) the supposition that good ideas should be adopted with gusto and a general sense of satisfaction that the right thing is being done. However, (this is the part where my mind overtakes my typing ability) who regulates the label "good" when it is applied to ideas?
Elected bodies (such as governments) purportedly assume this role and often arbitrarily enforce decisions, (remember that invading Poland was an instance of this before you jump to the back up rant of the prole who lays everything at the feet of such bodies) without due consideration to the moral, practical or even cultural consequences of said decisions. It could be noted at this point that it benefits, such as, the tabloid press in UK when "Brussels" allegedly hand out their "Whackey regulations" trying to standardise such things as fruit. In fact without such copy, the Daily Express would be reduced to fish & chip wrapping. (some say that wouldn't be a reduction).
So, I hear you ask, what defines a good idea? One that benefits the majority of society (tis you & I), one that makes life easier to live etc.
OK, what's a bad idea? (much easier) National ID cards (to name one), why? Unless you are going to use them as passports and driving licenses and eradicate the latter (two), what is the point, their reason for existence is the same (essentially) as passports & driving licenses, to identify the bearer, unless of course there is a more sinister, underlying reason to introduce such items, (if so I would argue that there is no need in fact to have any such thing, just give everyone a mobile phone and sit back and track their whereabouts from there).
Health & safety (oooh watch out), I'm not saying that this is a bad idea, just bad implementation! ({readers voice}how so?)
(Takes a run up to the keyboard)
Well, whilst many wonderful years ago (ooh lets get back to Victorian values, yes let's stuff small boys up chimneys and use little girls as dust collectors under large plant machinery) there were no regulations to protect the proletariat and the wool and cotton barons made huge piles of filthy lucre off the backs and sweat of the great unwashed. This was a bad thing, yes it was (well not for the barons, but we all know it was a bad thing). Enter the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Tarra! (that was a fanfare for those who didn't know) and all was well with the world (OK the UK at least) and it was so. Unfathomably the act didn't cover all eventualities (tisk! what an oversight) and has been updated fortnightly since. Now, personally, I work in an industry which frowns upon being held up by minor inconveniences such as safety, but it truly spits the dummy when it gets hauled over the coals for losing one of its modern day chimney sweeps, so accordingly (and prevention is better than the cure in most cases) we (my comrades in production) are subject to ever increasing regulations (Harking back a couple of paragraphs to those who make the decisions, yes add this lot too) and the most noticeable is Personal Protective Equipment (PPE for short), looking back at the old lags photos, PPE was scant (even Scanty) to say the least, nowadays you would not be allowed out on the worksite without the full kit. (OK you say, what is wrong with that?)
Nothing wrong (at face value) with that (do let me finish before you butt in), except that now we seem to be legislating in favour of the moron, now we can see gaggles of retarded manifestations of the entire stocklist of a safety catalogue, infesting the woksite looking like they have just rolled off the set of a remake of Robocop with vacant smiles on their faces due to them being under the apprehension that they are wearing the suit of protection which makes them safe. We are taking the Darwin factor out of the equation, (there is a percentage in nature that just doesn't make it) not just that but it is now becoming obvious that if someone with a death wish wants to walk under a swinging load, they seem to think that as long as they have a plastic hat on their heads, they are safe.
No you tit, you are just easier to clean up after the load has squashed you into your hat & boots!
My idea for a safety campaign poster would be worded:
Don't hurt yourself because the paperwork is a bitch
Conclusion, Yes there are some good ideas, but it might be an idea to consult the people whom the application of these ideas affect, prior to implementation.
2 comments:
You seem to have become quite the blogger recently.
Keep it up it's been fun (thus far), but the moment the quality drops I'm going to slag you off and moan.
It's nothing personal it's just how the internets work.
That is what time available will do to you, and yes if the quality drops I deserve a huge pineappleing.
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