Re:Bill to put health warnings on soda and sugary drinks adv...
by code_duck on Friday May 24, 2019 @11:20AM
(#20002440)
As far as the overall utility to harmfulness ratio, I'm sure cigarettes lose compared to those products. It's like comparing crack to cell phones. Yes, they are both somewhat addictive. However, one has demonstrable utility, and the other doesn't, even for narcoleptics.
The discussion of whether the use of state power to regulate products is appropriate is a potentially lengthy political discussion that isn't worth starting here.
Re:Bill to put health warnings on soda and sugary drinks adv...
by 300bps on Friday May 24, 2019 @11:30AM
(#20002576)
You could say the same about cheese, coffee, cars, alcohol, etc.
No. Cigarettes have no positive purpose. They are 100% negative and a society is well served by discouraging their use.
Everything you listed has a positive purpose with the mere potential of being misused.
Re:Bill to put health warnings on soda and sugary drinks adv...
by conanbatt on Friday May 24, 2019 @11:56AM
(#20002835)
You can usually plot people's beliefs on what deserves punishing imagery with this convenient formula:
Uses it: don't punish
Doens't: punish
Re:Bill to put health warnings on soda and sugary drinks adv...
by 300bps on Friday May 24, 2019 @12:03PM
(#20002908)
You can usually plot people's beliefs on what deserves punishing imagery with this convenient formula
Similarly, you can usually plot people's feelings on cigarettes with:
Addicted: rationalizes their use
Not Addicted: doesn't rationalize their use
How about having to put a picture of a pregnant woman being run over on the hood of every tesla, to remind about the murderous and gruesome reality of the manslaughters of the autoindustry?
The difference is not the product, its the popular sentiment that legitimizes a terrible overreach of state power.