We’re Doomed

By Daniel Miessler on August 26th, 2005: Tagged as Culture

I’m sitting here in jury duty waiting for selection and it’s quite demoralizing to hear what the average person here finds interesting. Gossip and complaining — not a single decent conversation yet. :(

Like 80% of everyone in the room has been divorced (many of them multiple times), and ironically the conversations many of them are having are centered on them suing someone over something. Divorce, lawsuits, why their bosses are bad because they’re trying to make them work, and Church. Those are the main topics.

Edit: I was asked by one of the attorneys whether or not I could follow a particular Florida law blindly — specifically one stating that a rental car company is responsible for anything a renter does in one of their cars. I told the court that that would depend on what the law stated. I told them that if it said the rental car company was guilty of manslaughter if one of their renters ran over someone then I wouldn’t support it, but in other cases I would. I said it depended on what the law actually said.

So the judge stops the attorney and addresses me directly. She says that she appreciates my thoughts but that my only job is to interpret the facts according to the law. She gave the example of Marijuana use, saying that even if I didn’t agree with the law I’d have to rule according to it.

So that’s when I chimed in with, “So what you’re telling me, your honor, is that it doesn’t matter what’s right or wrong, but only what the law says?” She laughed and said, “Exactly.”

So anyway, for some strange reason I wasn’t picked for that jury. :)

Viewing 4 Comments

Tim 3 years ago 1 point
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Well Dan, you have to realize that the average American isn't geeky, or even intellectual. Though a small percentage of us actually like to stimulate our brains and gather knowledge, stereotypes (for some large portion) hold true. Perhaps you haven't seen it because you've taken shelter with people you know to be like you, or perhaps I've only seen it because my parents both taught public school.

It's the reason our education system sucks (compared to the rest of the world) and our teachers are underpaid and underappreciated. It's also why so many jobs are being oursourced to other countries.

On the upside, people like us are not desireable to most defense attorneys, so you probably won't get jury duty.

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Daniel Miessler 3 years ago 1 point
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> Well Dan, you have to realize that the average American isn’t geeky, or even intellectual.

That's the whole point. If I were in a Jury in Sweden, for example, the conversations would have likely been much different. Or Canada, or China, etc. It's just disturbing where we are at as a country intellectually.

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1 /people/danielrm26/ /people/danielrm26/following/ http://dmiessler.com/ danielrm26

Ken 3 years ago 1 point
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I really do not agree that the conversations would be much different in other countries. The only thing I have to go on is people I have met/worked with from other countries. They seem to be rather similar to the greater portion of Americans. I am sure they do not sit around and only discus politics in China. You also have to consider where you are at. You would not expect to have good conversations with people in the DMV. These are just my feelings.

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http://kenswain.com

Linda Miessler 2 years ago 1 point
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When I was in the jury room a few months ago in Oakland, I didn't hear ANY conversations.
People kept to themselves, or read.

I was glad to be there because I got 2 days off of work, got to see a glimpse of the "workings" of the court--was dismissed early the 2nd day, and got to buy moon cakes in Chinatown before my trip home on BART.

It was an experience I would not have had unless I'd been summoned.

I also believe that people should feel it a privelege and a duty to participate, IF they can afford it--IE: their job pays them while they are off....

Tim: Wouldn't you like to have a thoughtful person such as yourself on the jury if you were in a trial??

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