Should stupidity be legal?
(By guest blogger Philip)
Should stupidity be legal? What about laziness? In the news today NY City and Chicago are working to ban trans-fatty acids. We are far too dumb to determine whether or not we should be eating a particular fat. While they are at it perhaps they should ban indolence. Oh, and how about a ban on not trying hard in school! That is surely bad for your prospects in life. Maybe a ban on headphones that will output volumes that are unsafe for your long-term hearing. You know, this banning stuff is fun and easy! I might be a natural for government. Think of all the lives I could save. Let me see… A ban on driving without a seat belt! Wait, they already got that one. Bike helmets? Already been discussed on this very forum. Alcohol! No more than one drink per customer a night at bars. Afterall that is the healthful limit. A ban on stressfull work. A ban on long nights sleep, as it turns out it isn’t good for you. Sleeping too much puts you at risk for heart attack, parkinson’s, and diabetes. A ban on sunbathing (skin cancer kills plenty). Maybe even a ban on red meat and dairy, prostate cancer and natural TSAs, you know? Think of the good I could do for man kind. After a life of helping my fellow man in this manner, when I die (though not of anything preventable) they will put on my tombstone “Here lies Philip, good riddance you damned busy body.”
September 29th, 2006 at 12:49 am
Phil,
it was a great article, but one can also argue that the people who eat BigMacs not only harm themselves but also harm their peers by increasing the health care (insurance) costs for the everyone. Same goes for the no-seatbelt girl and the helmetless guy. One solution can be taxing the sale rather than the income. If you want to eat BigMac, you pay more sale tax than the salad guy. If someone wants to drive without seatbelt, fine, the police rather than giving him/her a ticket, would write down his/her name, so if he/she is later hurt in an accident, the insurance would not cover his/her health bill. I know it does not look that practical, anyhow it sucks to live with the stupid.
September 29th, 2006 at 7:07 am
Well, you assume that I think that there should be socialized medicine. This actually is my number one argument against socialized medicine: it gives the government too much financial incentive to interfere with every thing you do, since most health problems are lifestyle related. In socialized medicine you are either forced to finance bad decisions or you are forced to meddle enormously in people’s lives. Therefore, socialized medicine = bad.