People are stupid around waterfalls and rivers that look clean. I volunteered at a waterfall and hiking park and I'd get yelled at constantly for asking visitors to stay behind the ropes, and not drink untreated water directly out of the stream. We had a giant sign that said the water had a bacterial outbreak and was dangerous to drink, especially for the elderly and children, and this lady filled up a baby bottle with stream water and was having her few months old baby drink it. I pointed her to the sign and she told me to fuck off its her kid.
She can certainly try (as people have), but if there’s signs saying don’t drink it and staff members telling her not to drink it, a lawsuit will go nowhere
Its Dunning Kruger effect in mass scale. People had false perception that with easy access to knowledge (internet, google etc) they can make the “inform judgement” by themselves and felt their intelligence being disrespected when corrected.
Don't confuse Dunning Kruger with stupidity. For DK to be in effect you have to have a decent knowledge of the subject in the first place, enough to give you confidence but not enough to match that confidence. For example pilots make the most unforced mistakes between1000 and 1500 hours of flying.
Sorry, but I'm fairly sure most people could safely make their own judgement about such things and be perfectly fine. I mean walking on rocks etc isn't rocket science and life isn't without any risk in general.
Now yes, without such rules there are issues, every so often some idiot who has no business going out their (because they are an idiot) will fall in. But usually that isn't the concern that gets those signs put up. They get put up because people don't want erosion from those walking past, don't want people on certain bits of land or just generally find it easier to keep people at a distance. And if someone has travelled half way around the world to see something, its not ridiculous to expect them to want to see it up close and unobstructed imo.
I dont intend to label everyone more like it’s happening in mass scale whether we realise it or not. The idea is people think they know what they’re doing when they’re actually not, hence the “dont realise” part.
The problem is a lot of seems simple in the surface, but thats because we dont know exactly what to look for.
Im pointing to the people that often retort when being advice on something by others because they think its fine and refuse to acknowledge others.
Sure, but the point I was making that the more you're pushed to question things decided by experts, the less you trust rules. Misinformation sucks.
People no longer trust rules to be there for a reason, so they do what they want. Goes way beyond climate tbf, I just felt that was the start. In the uk the covid response and how Boris Johnson took the absolute piss while expecting everyone else to act to a higher standard... that killed a lot of social goodwill towards rules too unfortunately.
Whatever rule you set, there will be some that challenge it and when its a good rule that's a very small number so isn't that big an issue.
If you write unrealistic or stupid rules then a lot of people will ignore it and some will break it just out of principle. Then you either cought up the cash to renforce the rule or you let the issue go if it isn't that important.
People challenging bad rules serves an important function as it stops petty tyrants writing excesive amoutns of silly rules that disproportionately bother people without any real justification.
Because "safety" precautions are all too often ridiculous and unreasonable.
No-one is getting in trouble because they blocked public access to an area or put signs up, so instead of doing a sensible risk assessment, it's safer to be cautious to the point of absurdity.
It's life the boy who cried wolf, when 90% of "Stay away, danger" signs turn out to be completely unnecessary, people ignore the necessary signs.
The over cautious attitude is actually more dangerous.
But it isn't about safety anyway, like most government projects, it's primarily about avoiding accountability.
Yeah, let people know there is a bacterial outbreak.
Don't put up a generic "danger: do not enter" sign in the full knowledge that many people disregard them due to the fact that 90% of the time there is no danger.
Some regulation is written in blood, a lot of it is ill-considered reactionary policy or the result of decision makers trying to avoid any potential for liability or backlash with no regard for the real-world consequences.
It’s kinda like disregarding a weather red flag at a beach but we’ve fished out plenty enough corpses out of the lakes and the sea to tell you „the flag is there for a fucking reason”. Every life saved by a deterrent sign is worth it, even if it might seem overzealous.
And the commenter who started this thread literally had „there were signs placed about a bacterial outbreak in the water” in there. Even if your 90% isn’t straight out of the ass (like the most common source of the water bacterial contamination) a 1 in 10 gamble with potentially getting sick or in worst case scenario dying doesn’t sound worth it if I’m not about to die of thirst.
Also stupid around wild animals. We get people getting attacked by Bison at Yellowstone because they decide to ignore signs to leave the animals alone. I don’t know why everyone sees a herbivore and automatically assume it’s friendly. A deer will easily death stomp you, if they want to or suddenly perceive you as a threat, with their knife like feet.
People are actually insane over how they think they can act around wild animals.
I refused to take any of my friend group from the city to my family's spot of land that backs up to a national forest because they "wanted to see a bear up close". I told them I wasn't spending my vacation trying to keep them out of a wild animal's digestive system. "But...but... animal preserves let you", was what they said next. "This isn't an animal preserve. If you want to be eaten, put ketchup on your head, porkchop, and go find you a bear. It's the literal wilderness out there and there's no talking a wild animal out of anything.' The literal lack of animal awareness is baffling.
The worst are the people who approach grizzly bears. Absolute fucking morons. Part of me kinda wants to see those idiots get what's coming to them, but then you realize they'd have to put the bear down because of it.
Yeah, grizzly are not teddy bears. The two bears you should never even think to go near are polar bears and grizzly bears and we can add the hybrids of both too! Those are considered the most dangerous bear species. Not saying to go to any bear that isn’t above types because that’s stupid.
But I assume most people that do these things aren’t actually educated on animals. They probably don’t care or just never bothered to educate themselves about them. If I go camping out of state I would typically search what wildlife are native to the area so I can keep myself safe and sadly not many people do that.
I am a huge animal lover as a child. I either watched cartoons/anime, read fantasy books, watch sci-fi like stargate sg-1, and watched a fuck ton of animal documentaries because I found them fun and interesting! Meerkat Manor was my jam. I had a crush on Steve Irwin so I watched Crocodile Hunter anytime it aired. I watched the TLC, animal planet, discover, and other channels with animals before they all moved to reality show based series (and educational content) which I wasn’t a huge fan of.
There's this state park we go to with a beautiful waterfall with signs saying not to go in the water because it is connected to a river contaminated with cow manure. What do people do? Go in the water, take their kids and dogs in the water
I live with a place with quite a lot of waterfalls and rivers and I can confirm people are dumb as hell around them, even worse than around the sea. I don’t know if this is the illusion of safety or clean water that turn them like that.
Had members of a family swept away over a waterfall at a local gorge because they thought climbing over a rock wall and a fence to stand in some rushing water for picture was a good idea. Two young boys died.
Edit: for those who have failed to make the connection. My post is about another situation where people ignored barriers etc and put themselves at risk. Hopefully this helps those who are confused understand.
including me when i was like 8 and a little dumb fuck, saw older kids rolling and floating down the local rapid so i tried what they did, i couldnt really control where i was going and i got swept really far away until i pass a random dude who was chilling on a rock in the middle of the stream who jumped down and grabbed my arm, my parents were not there because i snuck out and went there by myself so dont put the blame on them for not looking out for me
The water does not have to be looking like it's fast moving to be dangerous. The Strid on the River Wharfe has a part that looks like a regular stream but is considered dangerous because of the current that you don't see on the surface most of the time.
You also dont really live there to know what the situation is. People are not dumb. Im sure they could all gauge whether it was dangerous or not. All these comments are like overly ridiculous and over the top. People act like they were dangling the child off the top of a waterfall or something. People should be allowed to think for themselves. We dont need all the Reddit hall monitors telling everyone what they should and shouldn't do. They walked next to the water, not swam in it. Get a grip.
Nope, I just don't go around trying to be a hall monitor and come up with a bunch of hypothetical situations that "could" happen in order to tell others what to do. If they want to walk next to the water as opposed to staying behind the gate, that was their choice, not mine or anyone else.
Your comment hightlights the exact issue, however: they don't know what the situation is. Without that information, it's not always possible to make a good judgement call on the actual dangers present, and basing a decision on that which could have drastic consequences isn't something that seems logical. There are also more considerations than just humam safety: ecosystem protection, prevention of contamination, environmental impacts, wildlife safety, etc. In this case, I don't know (and am too lazy tk Google) the reason the area is off-limits, but I bet there is one and it's not from Grandpa wanting to keep the kids off the lawn.
You don't know what the situation is there either. You've never been to this waterfall in Japan. You're chiming in with the rest of the frenzied control freaks on here and trying to come up with all kinds of hypothetical excuses as to why these people are just so wrong.
Pretty sure these people walking next to the water didn't cause ecosystem problems, nor contamination. We literally have government greenlighting things like lithium mining that are creating massive toxic wastelands to gain metals for electric car production, and that part is fine with you. But some family walking by a waterfall is suddenly creating all of these environmental problems according to you. This is the brainwashing that our sad society has fallen victim too. Just follow rules and don't critically think for yourself.
Hey some lots of protected plants can be trampled easily and in many places are planted in areas with signs saying “do not enter”. They very well could be causing ecological damage without noticing and it is ignorante to think otherwise.
Protected plants? Really? Your priorities are so out of whack its laughable... I can think of about 1000 different environmentally destructive things governments do on a daily basis and none of you bat an eyelash at it. But you're worried about some mythical protected plants that you still dont even know if they exist or not there. Reach more please... 🙄
How do you know people don’t care? The issue is the government allowing production plants to continue polluting the earth like there’s no tomorrow. But guess what. I can’t fight the damn government can I idiot. So I will fight for the things that are changeable, such as idiotic assholes ignoring signs because they have “other priorities”
Yes, I quite clearly said that, and I also said I'm too lazy to Google the reason. I listed no hypotheticals, just mentioned there is probably a good reason some actual agency went to the trouble of making a whole sign and installed a barrier. I listed out some additional broad categories of reasons that most folks don't think of. I have not claimed that anyone walking next to a waterfall did anything. I'm very concerned about you're reading comprehension and logical thinking.
You're clearly chiming in with the Darwin award and natural selection crowd, many of whom give me unending job security. Possibly with the Earth annihilation crowd, depending on what the reaaon for not being there is.
Having large numbers of people walking next to sensitive areas can cause issues from soil compaction and increased erosion from destruction of flora, to disruption of local fauna. It's well known in environmental management that humans carry organisms that can shed into and alter waterways (they can leach in from the mud) not to mention the seeds and things that travel on our clothes and shoes.
Whoa, whoa, whoa - you're complaining about other people throwing hypotheticals out, but you're in here straight up lying plus throwing down the biggest hypotheticals and weirdest nonsequiturs, my dude/dudette/human. You either have me confused with someone who loves their lithium, or you're just pulling stuff out of a magical hat. I'm 100% sure I could look up or ask what the reason is to stay away from the waterfall. I'm sure it won't be a stupid reason.But, so could you. And then you wouldn't be brainwashed into thinking that your observational and risk assessment skills were infallible, which again, is the sort of assumption that keeps me in a paycheck.
This is too long, and I'm not going to convince you to look beyond your own opinion. While I love a good conversation (because how else would I hear new things), this will be anything but a conversation, unfortunately. Most likely this was done to troll replies, and as a sucker for sharing knowledge and information, I'm pretty gullible. Time to cut my losses and enjoy the rest of the day!
Am a whitewater boater. Where the family is sitting is dangerous, particularly for someone as small as the kid.
Look downstream. You see all the white coming off those rocks? The water is moving pretty fast. If the kid slips, they will be dragged over those rocks, which is not fun even when you’re wearing a helmet, gloves and a wetsuit.
“Do not enter” signs aren’t there to ruin your Instagram opportunity. They’re generally because someone got hurt or died.
Any water you can’t see the bottom of is potentially dangerous, and still can be even if you are able to see. On the bottom right it does look like there is at least a little speed to the water, and it doesn’t take a lot to sweep away a small child
I don't know maybe you should try reading comprehension and go back and read the title and the OP's post. Then maybe the light bulb will go on, though I doubt it
There is a waterfall in Minneapolis that has a similar deal (Minihaha Falls). There is a chain with a sign hanging off of it saying not to climb over fence. Each time I go, I see people on the other side of the fence where there is a path that goes underneath/behind the waterfall.
For the most part I don't think it's that dangerous, except for in the winter when the jagged rocks that you have to walk across get covered in ice, and there is risk of icicles falling on your head.
That’s the exact same waterfall I was thinking of when I saw this post! It’s so annoying to see people just blatantly ignoring the sign and walking on the dangerous steep river banks. I once saw someone even bring their little dog on a leash past the sign 🙄. People also bring their small children. It’s even worse in the winter months, the steps down to the bridge by the waterfall are closed too, yet people walk down them and walk up right next to the frozen waterfall. It’s a lot more dangerous when it’s slippery like that
Only toxic if you act on it. Wanting to do something is fine, actually jumping over and take the risk of forcing people to go diving for your corpse is not fine.
If it's a dangerous dive, they likely will, no-one is risking their life over a corpse.
Let people do their thing, they want to die let them. If they want to have a bit of fun, let them, and stop making up stupid hypotheticals to justify your need to restrict them.
I have been to this waterfall a couple of years ago and people were doing the exact same thing. The signs saying not to enter are so obvious, but people just chose to ignore them in order to take photos from a little closer to the waterfall. It was also a family with young children.
Parks Canada, has more than one had to issue public warnings telling tourists to stay away from the wildlife, and not to try and take selfies with bears, bison, and moose.
Because tourists will literally pull over, get out, and walk away from their vehicles to take a selfie with a bear, bison, or moose behind them. It doesn't matter if you've got 18m/60ft between you and the animal. Those animals can charge you faster than you can get back to your car.
It’s not about danger it’s about protecting and respecting the local nature/landscape. It looks fucking pristine in person but if hundreds of people climb around the moss and grass everyday and leave trash it won’t look so nice pretty quick
Even if they're tourist who can't read or speak the local languages, there's no real excuse. Translation apps with the capability to translate text from a picture are readily available for most modern phones.
Anyone traveling to a destination where they can't speak or read the language at a basic level should have one downloaded prior to boarding the plane.
Nothing on this guy, 40 ft up a waterfall in a water collection basin. Rocks are mossy and slippery and this is 30 minutes from the nearest clinic and 1.5 hrs from a hospital
I was at a penguin watching event and they had to explain that cameras and phones were not allowed, nor was standing as all of these can distract and deter the penguins from coming on shore. However they had to advise nearly every single tourist about 4x to put their phones away, please sit down and no walking around. Asians give no fucks.
They're not only endangering their children, they're also stealing green plants 😀 Look at the ninja's hand. What will she do? Will she try to grow them at home?
Man, we visited the Cliffs Of Moher in Ireland, and so many people had their kids right on the edge of the cliffs (past the barricades and signs saying not to). Wind gusts were 50+ mph that day.
?? What are you even talking about bruh, there's nothing in the religion that even refers to a situation like this for their religion to affect their decisions. Y'all just be talking for the sake of talking
...They do realize their child could get so many diseases from merely sitting there?? Babies have such a weak immune system, and shove anything in their mouth- let alone whilst being there. With all the other obvious risks, the only question is why on earth would they do that?
Imo, we need to get rid of all signs and rails for places like that, I'd be driving next to way fewer idiots if all the dummies fell off cliffs and waterfalls
I have to assume this sign is more about preserving the landscape and biome, because that area is quite far from the waterfall. Worst that could happen is slip and fall, which might warrant a sign indoors but is expected on a hiking trail.
Too many rule followers here. They are pretty far from the actual waterfall.
Some of life's best experiences are when you don't follow the rules. I see nothing majorly wrong with this. They aren't swimming in it, just got closer to the river area which looks fairly calm actually.
You’re in a foreign country as a tourist of course you should follow the rules? This is why Japan are starting to reduce tourism because of people like you.
But the sign also includes a picture with a human crossed out 💀 And it is blocked off 💀💀 Its really not hard to figure out what the sign is saying without knowing a lick of Japanese
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u/Hero_The_Zero 17h ago
People are stupid around waterfalls and rivers that look clean. I volunteered at a waterfall and hiking park and I'd get yelled at constantly for asking visitors to stay behind the ropes, and not drink untreated water directly out of the stream. We had a giant sign that said the water had a bacterial outbreak and was dangerous to drink, especially for the elderly and children, and this lady filled up a baby bottle with stream water and was having her few months old baby drink it. I pointed her to the sign and she told me to fuck off its her kid.