Another example of something that tempts people who have no business doing something into doing it would be the Half Dome cables, the biggest money pit in the national park system - all the dollars that flow into rescues, trying to pre-SAR the hike, trying to choke back the flow of thousands of people trying to wangle and scalp and finagle permits, dollars spent chasing the scalpers, all from taxpayers pockets into perpetuating that giant attractive nuisance pulling all those tourists up the trail, limping and blistering all the way, to ascend a rock face they have no business ascending and ignoring every piece of advice doled out on pamphlets, websites and by people sitting at the table in Happy Isles....

Any piece of gear needs to be used appropriately regardless. It could be argued that there is a dangerous way to set up a tent. Ignorance in the wilderness is in general going to increase your risk to unacceptable levels. Rope can be dangerous, just ask any newbie trying to toss up a bear bag line. (Ow! $%^@#, I'm just sleeping with it....)

It's sort of tempting, roping everyone together when facing a stretch of really exposed slope, but it takes some kind of training or experience to tell the rest of the group what the risks of doing that are if no one in the group knows how to arrest and can do it with three other people dangling from their belt. And despite the strength of paracord (that favorite rope recommended in so many gear lists newbies read) in some conditions, it can and does snap in nothing flat under others - why there is a ton of it dangling in the tops of trees all over Yosemite. All you have to do is look up when you get to a spot that has flat spots clearly used by tenters and fire rings.