Whose Fault Sauce?

In this issue I would like to address the issue of things that people are being sued for where it is unclear on whether it is the defendants fault or just the foolishness of the people who are letting this happen to them. I'm sure we can all agree when it comes to things like someone suing McDonald's over there coffee being too hot, because it is clearly the fast food joints fault for telling you that it wouldn't be a good idea to spill it on your lap. Also (again for McDonald's, I guess they just attract some pretty dumb people . . . . .or people who are geniuses for figuring out a way to get one over on our justice system, which as you can see from my last post that I am not the biggest fan of.) the people who sue over the fattening food that for some reason makes them fat. The case that I want to bring up is a little more recent and serious then just making someone fat or scalded and that is the case of the Sweat Lodge deaths that happened out in the desert of Arizona. And before I began I want to be clear that I am not making light, in any way, the deaths of the three people involved in this case.

For those of you not familiar the case I will give a short description. Basically there are people who are paying James Ray to help them find spiritual enlightenment. They are paying him upwards of $10,000 for the ability to participate in the following retreat activities: 36 hours of meditation in the desert with no food or water, shaving their heads and spending enough time in a sweat lodge to "die and be reborn".

No I think this guy was taking things to an extreme, and maybe all the facts haven't been made known about the case, but as far as I can tell nobody was holding a gun to these peoples head and making them stay in this sweat lodge or participate in this enlightenment process at all. They were paying for what they should have known to be a dangerous project. Maybe the people assumed that they were being watched over and that the leader would not let their bodies go past their physical abilities. And maybe some of the negligence then does fall and Mr. Ray's shoulders.

I guess that this is similar in some ways to the end of the world cults that are popping up all the time. Like the one where the people believed that there was a UFO behind the tail of a comet and that they needed to kill themselves so that they can be taken up into space. Does the blame need to fall completely on the shoulders of the person who came up with the idea and should that person be punished in the same way that someone shouts fire into a crowded room is punished, or should it be spread around to those who decided to take up this belief?

I just dunno . . . .You guys have any ideas?

Confused about whose fault sauce.