In hot water we trust

Long before racks of lawyers and idiotic political correctness became the norm, there was this arcane concept called common sense. Armed with this fanciful notion, one was able to predict that:

• buying coffee meant the cup was likely to be hot
• there was an element of risk climbing a ladder
• water from the toilet was not for drinking

One thing I’ve never figured out is why hot water bottles are not to be filled with boiling water. There’s always been a legend printed on the rim that states that. So what should they contain? Tap water? Water boiled twelve minutes ago? Sand? Badgers?

Further, hands up who ignores the warning and tips in water straight from the kettle?

^{Stef raises his paw}

Have I burned myself? Yes, once I got splashed when I tipped too fast. Did I learn from this mistake? Hell yes: I do it more carefully now, and call that process learning. The day that my first reaction to burning myself on the kettle water is “I think I’ll sue the manufacturer because they didn’t tell me it was hot” is the day I immediately pour the remainder of the boiling water into my underwear.

That got me wondering: is a litigious society a symptom of being oppressed by those in power and feeling that the only way to happiness is through rapid accumulation of wealth, or is it a symptom of people preying on the vulnerable with widespread advertising promising such riches? Chicken? Egg? Bit of both?

I can’t trace back to what point common sense was swapped for greed en masse. Clearly some time in our very recent history there was a transition or tipping point. Anyone?