Don't going giving out reasonable advice..... it is too dangerous

It really worries me sometimes when, as moronic as governments can be, the public as a whole acts in a manner that is even worse.

Recently a govenrment minister told people that they should probably be keep in mind the potential of a (petrol) tanker drivers' strike and as a result keep a reasonable amount of fuel in their tanks. No need to queue, but if you get the chance, pop some fuel in and maybe keep a bit in a jerry can.

What resulted was a reasonably sizable amount of queuing while flustered drivers drained the fuel station's forecourts dry. Petrol stations actually run out of fuel despite there being no shortage whatsoever.

Now this idiocy wasn't too much of a surprise, but what was, was the result. After this panic, after the British public demonstrated that they had no greater ability to mashall their powers of reason and emotion than a herd of edgy wilderbeast, the blame was laid at the feet of... the government.... for 'causing panic'.

Perhaps I was brought up in an odd area, but if someone says 'you probably want to take reasonable precautions to avoid 'X'' and then people act in a completely different way and over react then the fault lies at the door of the person who was acting unreasonably. Yet that isn't what happened. Apparently now, it is not only the government's job to give advice, but also to account for the fact that some people are totally unable to keep a sense of perspective or use an ounce of logic and will hear something completely different to what you actually said.

How can anyone work in conditions where you ask someone to behave reasonably, they don't and then it is your fault. If you think like that the goverment isn't our government, but rather our parents, and when they try to act like our parents they will always fail, because:
a) they aren't our parents;
b) they can't take the place of our parents because they don't know us/care like parents;
c) we're meant to hold them to account, not the other way around;
d) we're meant to be adults.

Perhaps a new strategy would be, when people totally disregard what someone says and acts irrationally, instead of blaming the person who gave them reletively reasonable advice, we admit to ourselves that some people will always act in a ridiculous way and the people who need to change their behaviour.... is them. Just a thought. Is that too irrational?