By Ashley Sanchez (asanchez@austin.rr.com), Austin American-Statesman, 09/03/2009
http://www.statesman.com/search/content/editorial/stories/2009/09/03/0903sanchez_edit.html

I don't agree. What's more, I didn't read it.

I'm tired of playing the "Cover Your Butt" game. Whether it's going to the doctor, buying music online, taking a child to a birthday party at a skating rink or signing off on the mountain of paperwork that schools just sent home, we can't participate until we sign and check the "I agree" box.

But to what exactly are we agreeing? Nobody really knows, because what used to be referred to as the "fine print" on forms has become the text of the form itself. So almost no one reads it.

Why bother? It's not as though we get a line-item veto. It's take-it-or-leave-it.

The fact that most of it is mumbo jumbo is confirmed by the practice of a "helper" who gives us the short version. A nurse might say, "It basically says things can go wrong, such as death or dismemberment. But it's just a formality - we have an excellent track record. Initial here."

Of course, the reason the text is so much longer than the summary is at least in part to stymie lawsuits. In other words, they're dotting their i's, crossing their t's and covering their butts.

As for music, when I buy a song online, the only thing I'm agreeing to is to pay for it. I won't pirate because it's illegal, not because of the fine print. Clicking "agree" after the fine print that most of us have never read is, however, a mandatory part of the transaction.

And that's troubling. Not long ago, people never signed anything without reading it. But now an entire generation is trained to mindlessly click "agree" because life has too many details, so they just say yes to whatever and move on.

Schools contribute to that mindset when a teacher summarizes a lengthy handbook and then asks students to sign a statement to the effect that "I have read this 25-page handbook in its entirety, and I agree with it." Asking students to lie is a bad idea.

Mercifully, I haven't seen any such forms this year (yet). What I have seen in abundance, however, are forms about handbooks and grading policies that students and parents must agree to be bound by in their entirety. (But at least the forms allow for veracity: They say, "I've seen the handbook or know it's online." They don't ask us to lie that we've read the thing.)

But it does speak poorly of society that instead of just agreeing to behave, what constitutes as behaving must be spelled out in excruciating detail.

The antidote, therefore, is simplicity. Instead of the verbose disclosures and the proliferation of agreements for the most mundane activities, a brief statement would be far more powerful: "I agree that there is risk in this, and I accept that risk."

Until then, the meaningless declaration that "I agree" will be the game we have to play to get by in today's society. But we don't have to agree with it.

[HOT: How about, “If we have a problem in the future I agree now to give up my Constitutional right to a jury trial and instead be forced into binding arbitration.“ Or what about, "We reserve the right to choose the arbitrator and the arbitration location.” Nobody in their right mind would agree to such terms, except they are often embedded in non-negotiable contracts. We consider that a restraint of trade.]