To the Editor,
According to Tina Eichner (Missed Opportunity, RCR, Dec. 11), it is time for the wireless industry to join the cause that infects America-the assumption that people have no responsibility for their conduct or actions. Eichner believes that manufacturers need to supply hands-free kits for their cell phones because “they can’t hurt.” This in the foreshadow of her own comments that “they can’t help.” Logic is not involved here, only feelings.
Perhaps we shouldn’t fault her. She comes from the generation that says all children should be forced to wear helmets when they ride bicycles; we need a law to force people to wear seatbelts; and the gun industry and cigarette industry should be responsible for keeping their products out of kid’s hands.
The responsibility for individual health, safety, and personal conduct is stripped away so that big government and big business can make the decisions for us. Little by little, the results of our poor decisions or carelessness become someone else’s fault.
A parent places a loaded revolver where their small children can get it and then does not teach them. The child gets a hold of it and shoots someone. Now, according to the ideas of people like Eichner, it’s the gun manufacturer and ammunition manufacturer’s fault-and the government needs to make a law or the manufacturers need to do something to protect Mr. and Mrs. Brain Dead. The stupidity of the parents or the responsibility for their (dare we say it) accident is nullified. Certainly there are consequences, but whose responsibility are they, the parents or someone else?
This is no different from the proposal for manufacturers to “include hands-free kits” with all cell phones. Is it Nokia’s fault that I didn’t use a signal or failed to stop because I was unable to hold a phone to my ear and stop at a light at the same time? I thought RCR was the friend of the wireless business and took realistic approaches to problems.
Perhaps Eichner thinks a hands-free kit is an important safety consideration. She probably developed this thought in her SUV where she has cup holders for her big gulp, which she drinks going down the road with the fries and a “wrap” she eats in traffic. Let’s not let her get a hold of that or we will soon be pulled over for: “OK buddy, license and registration, and keep your hands away from that coffee cup you were drinking from … step away from the cup. And what’s this, an opened cell phone? Assume the position.”
John Jones
Communications Solutions
