Sheer lunacy

Emp_Fab

Look at this photo:



Zoom in and you will see children playing on top.  What kind of idiot has a picnic just feet from certain death?  What kind of idiot sits at the foot of a cliff where even a small object dropping from above is likely to kill you, never mind a few hundred tons of chalk, rock and other idiots landing on you?

This kind of idiot....



https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-48026250

Sassafras

You're right.
All areas of natural beauty should be cordoned off, huge warning signs placed everywhere and loud sirens sound continually for the benefit of the blind. Only that way can people be saved from themselves.
Conversely, let nature sort the stupid from the bright.

Sassafras

I like the bit about the warning signage not being large enough and not being in other languages.
How stupid must you be if you don't realise that standing inches away from plunging to certain doom might not be in your best interest.

fretmeister

Sassafras said:

I like the bit about the warning signage not being large enough and not being in other languages.
How stupid must you be if you don't realise that standing inches away from plunging to certain doom might not be in your best interest.

Go and buy a new clothes iron.

Look at the warnings

It will say "Do not iron clothes while ironing."

QED.

ChuckManual

This is Beach Head lighthouse...



You see how far it is out to sea? Well, the last time there was a landslip here it put the lighthouse at the tip of a peninsula. So much of the cliff fell that the lighthouse keeper had to be rescued, as the door was completely covered-up. Luckily, you could walk to the lighthouse now, so it wasn't much of a problem...

It's not just the people on top, or directly underneath, who are at risk - it's everyone on the beach. When these things go, 100's of tons of chalk, rock and sandstone could be on the move.

My local beach has a fossil-strewn cliff that people love digging into - seemingly oblivious as to where the massive rocks they just climbed over to get to the cliff-face have come from...

Octafish

fretmeister said:

Sassafras said:

I like the bit about the warning signage not being large enough and not being in other languages.
How stupid must you be if you don't realise that standing inches away from plunging to certain doom might not be in your best interest.

Go and buy a new clothes iron.

Look at the warnings

It will say "Do not iron clothes while ironing."

QED.

Not any less ridiculous, but don't you mean "Don't iron clothes while wearing them"?

mrkb

ChuckManual said:

This is Beach Head lighthouse...



You see how far it is out to sea? Well, the last time there was a landslip here it put the lighthouse at the tip of a peninsula. So much of the cliff fell that the lighthouse keeper had to be rescued, as the door was completely covered-up. Luckily, you could walk to the lighthouse now, so it wasn't much of a problem...

It's not just the people on top, or directly underneath, who are at risk - it's everyone on the beach. When these things go, 100's of tons of chalk, rock and sandstone could be on the move.

My local beach has a fossil-strewn cliff that people love digging into - seemingly oblivious as to where the massive rocks they just climbed over to get to the cliff-face have come from...

These events are fairly infrequent, so I don’t think we should stop people enjoying nature, but there’s a difference in risk between sitting near the base of a cliff and holding your toddler near a crumbly edge while looking over the edge. There’s been a few selfie deaths where people have been more interested in showing off than preventing death.

munckee

mrkb said:

ChuckManual said:

This is Beach Head lighthouse...



You see how far it is out to sea? Well, the last time there was a landslip here it put the lighthouse at the tip of a peninsula. So much of the cliff fell that the lighthouse keeper had to be rescued, as the door was completely covered-up. Luckily, you could walk to the lighthouse now, so it wasn't much of a problem...

It's not just the people on top, or directly underneath, who are at risk - it's everyone on the beach. When these things go, 100's of tons of chalk, rock and sandstone could be on the move.

My local beach has a fossil-strewn cliff that people love digging into - seemingly oblivious as to where the massive rocks they just climbed over to get to the cliff-face have come from...

These events are fairly infrequent, so I don’t think we should stop people enjoying nature, but there’s a difference in risk between sitting near the base of a cliff and holding your toddler near a crumbly edge while looking over the edge. There’s been a few selfie deaths where people have been more interested in showing off than preventing death.

What did you do to lose your picture chief!

Caffeine_Vampire

Reminds of a time I visited some castle ruins. A guy positioned his very young daughter on an uneven section of wall with a considerable drop behind her. He stepped too far away to be able to intervene if she fell backwards and proceeded to take her photo as she kicked her legs happily and waved her arms for the photo. I was frozen. Too frightened to dash over and take her out of danger in case I spooked her and she recoiled. Never been so scared for somebody in all my life. 

Kilgore

Sassafras said:

Let nature sort the stupid from the bright.

I'm with Emp on this one. The kid in the 2nd photo shouldn't have to face the possibility of imminent death because of the reckless behaviour of his/her idiot dad.

You can't protect the guy from himself but you can try to protect the kid from the dad.

JerkMoans

Puts me in mind of a sign I saw near some perilous attraction or other in Oz:

’Your safety: is our concern 
But your responsibility ‘

MagicPigDetective

@Emp_Fab I suggest you never visit the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland, you would be horrified. Warning signs being ignored, people taking stupid risks next to 200m drops, it was terrifying. 

Sassafras

Do we know for certain that it's his child?

DefaultM

Can't even take your kid for his first flying lesson these days without some prick questioning your parenting ability.

Grumpyrocker

See a lot of this kind of stupidity near us at West Bay. There are often massive (thousands of tons) rock falls at the cliffs and the idiots will go clambering over the fallen rock, or letting their kids play underneath the cliffs. It's absolutely insane, and that's before we even get to the twits taking selfies at the cliff edge. 

Kilgore

Sassafras said:

Do we know for certain that it's his child?

Yes, because ironically, nobody would dream of doing the same thing with someone else's child and nobody would let someone else do it to their child.

Jalapeno

Also - we can't see the perspective - chap may be 3-4ft behind the edge.

As for a possible chalk cliff collapse, I get it, but these tend to be during adverse weather rather than warm sunny days.

Emp_Fab

Sassafras said:

You're right.
All areas of natural beauty should be cordoned off, huge warning signs placed everywhere and loud sirens sound continually for the benefit of the blind. Only that way can people be saved from themselves.
Conversely, let nature sort the stupid from the bright.

I wasn't suggesting any kind of 'nanny-state' intervention.  What the local council do is really neither here nor there.  I was just expressing alarm at the number of utter twats that are walking around us all.  These dipshits drive cars....  and vote !

ICBM

You can tell that rock falls are very common there because of how sharp and fresh the cliff edge is, like a slice straight down through the layers of grass, soil and rock - it can't have been like that for more than a few months or the soil becomes rounded by weathering and the grass starts to grow down to the rock.

While it's true that falls are most common in bad weather and after it's been below freezing at night, they can happen at any time. Sometimes all it needs is a little bit of weight on the top not far from the edge...

p90fool

Jalapeno said:

Also - we can't see the perspective - chap may be 3-4ft behind the edge.

True, it looks to me like the edge of the cliff directly in front of him is the section bang in the middle of the photo. 
I'm not defending him, but he was probably being a little more cautious than the perspective suggests. 

Sassafras

Kilgore said:

Sassafras said:

Do we know for certain that it's his child?

Yes, because ironically, nobody would dream of doing the same thing with someone else's child and nobody would let someone else do it to their child.

He could've snatched the child and wanted to teach it a lesson.