On Sat, 07 Aug 2004 11:37:26 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:


Anyone is free to wear a helmet if they choose, even if it's only
because they don't understand statistics. But it does seem a shame that
such a well-reasoned, well-documented letter as the one at
http://www.imt.ie/displayarticle.asp...724&NS=1&SID=1 would draw such
hostile, unthinking reaction.

Postmodern society pays lipservice to rationality, but worships at the
altar of avoiding pain.

No weight of statistics nor empirical data will convince scared people
to go out and do what they've been told not to do. That requires an
irrational act of will.

My father won't ride his bicycle in the street because he's scared--no
matter how persuasive I am with the statistical arguments for accident
rates, visibility, etcetera.

I should make a full disclosure of my hypocrisy: I wear a helmet for
protection not entirely related to impact: it's big and white, and
fairly bright in most lighting conditions. I'd like to think it makes
me a bit more visible. And should anything bad happen to me, I'll
never get the miscreant to pay out unless I have one on, since
otherwise I'd be vulnerable to charges of contributory negligence.
All the rational argumentation in the world is for naught when you're
in front of ignorant people who are (even temporarily) empowered to
deny you justice.

=-Luigi