How can I get my boyfriend to stop digging his tunnel?

Re:How can I get my boyfriend to stop digging his tunnel? by mardifoufs on Wednesday April 20, 2022 @11:55AM (#31098809)

Should we then police the caloric intake of people too? Obesity kills way way more people than tunnels. Like where's the line? And while tunneling might damage utilities, obesity is putting a strain on the healthcare system. To be sure, I'm not saying we should treat overweight people any differently. It's just that your reasoning can be used to justify disallowing pretty much everything that isn't risk free. "We live in a society" goes both ways and does not imply individuals need to give up everything for the greater good

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Re:How can I get my boyfriend to stop digging his tunnel? by krapp on Wednesday April 20, 2022 @01:00PM (#31099879)

I think you're confusing the premise that society should have limits with the premise that things should be illegal. We do police caloric intake, and honestly I think we should do more because obesity and associated problems cost the American taxpayer $200 billion per year. Other societies than the US are healthier because those societies believe that the collective has a responsibility to individuals and individuals to the collective, and vice versa the government.

We limit risky behaviors all the time as well. It's illegal to parkour on private property, but not everywhere. It's illegal to freedive and BASE jump in many places, but not everywhere. Some caves aren't legal to explore, for others, you have to be an expert. Expertise is a way society gatekeeps many dangerous activities. If you're under the age of 18 or older than 75, you can't climb Mount Everest.

We no longer put heroin or cocaine in soda, we regulate some drugs and outlaw others on the premise that addiction poses a burden both on the society and the individual. We also have doctors and treatment centers as society's way of intermediating between people and bad behaviors.

And yes, there are reasonable limits placed both by society and by the law, on where and how and how big you can dig holes. It isn't an unacceptable imposition on your personal liberty that you just cant take a shovel anywhere you like and start digging anywhere you want.

>"We live in a society" goes both ways and does not imply individuals need to give up everything for the greater good.

No, it doesn't and I never claimed it did.

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