Greed vs. Stupidity

Back in the late 1970’s, an international push began to help foreigners, and Americans, alike, to better maneuver through society.

This effort began the transition from worded/written signs to pictures that could be easily deciphered by anyone, anywhere.

If you’ve ever left your home, you likely witnessed crosswalk signal figures – hunched over stick people appearing as if suffering from scoliosis – to indicate the appropriate time to cross the street, or wait.

This is important to the safety of non-English speakers visiting America, and non-foreign language adept people remaining safe in America while on-the-go.

Speaking of going, bathroom signage has also been artistically manipulated to allow the quick and efficient identification of the “men’s room” over the “women’s room.”  Those readers wanting to know more about cross-gender and bi-sexual bathrooms need to wait for a future story.  But I digress.

Driving along major arteries, commuters can expeditiously see which exits offer food, gas, and lodging, because of pictures of eating utensils, a petrol pump, and a bed, respectively, on blue signs.  Pretty efficient, I’d say.

Whether in Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, or the United States, anyone with the IQ of a rake is now able to navigate to their destination or service of choice.  But these signs also include warnings about possible dangers to be found in the immediate area, thereby providing not only conveniences, but potential life savers, as well.

As an aside, I’ve traveled around the world and stumbled into an occasional time or two when I found myself lost for direction and the ability to communicate with others.  As such, I feel this initiative created a great tool for everyone.

It’s been roughly 40-years since this international program began here, and seems to be a success.  Well, a partial success, if you want to be petty.

A newspaper article I was reading explained that a Guatemalan family brought a lawsuit against Universal Orlando Resort regarding warning signs.

Per the Associated Press article, “the family’s 38-year-old father suffered a fatal heart attack two years ago after going on the Skull Island: Reign of Kong ride.  Jose Calderon Arana, who had prior heart problems, didn’t speak English…”

Arana’s family evidently decided Universal has really, really deep pockets and needs to be summarily punished for “not displaying warning signs in Spanish.”

Of course, the family’s attorney doesn’t feel it’s unreasonable to force Universal to post warning signs in varying languages, to include Spanish.

In 2017, local tourism figures show that over 6,000,000 of Orlando’s 72,000,000 visitors came from outside the United States.  It is unclear how many of those visitors don’t speak English.

In any case, the Kong rollercoaster ride had been open for about 18-months at the time of Arana’s unfortunate death.

“A sign at the entrance of the ride says in English, “Warning!  This ride is an expedition through rough terrain of King Kong’s natural habitat.  The movement of the truck is dynamic with sudden accelerations, dramatic tilting, and jarring actions.”

As you can probably tell, this was penned by some corporate lawyer, the same type that writes warning notes posted on those cheap, plastic butane lighters that tell you to keep them away from children and open spilled gasoline.

The last sentence of the article reads, “Each of the situations has an accompanying drawing.”

It is here where I ask the simple question: Why did the world go through all the trouble and expense of changing and modifying signs to cartoon-like pictures?

What am I missing?