In society, we require that restaurants that serve food also to also provide free water to anyone who asks because not everything should be commidified.

I have never not been able to get free water in a restaurant in the US. Usually they pour you some without even asking, if there is table service.

Only in Europe is there a perception that (a) businesspeople are raging assholes who (b) want to screw their customers even though doing so drives them away. So only in Europe are there actual laws forcing restaurants to give out water.

I'm not even kidding, here is a source: https://www.restaurants.com/blog/are-restaurants-required-to...

You can easily find more sources if you just Google "Are US restaurants required to provide water."

So yeah, your point is completley incorrect.

Also, I am actually trying to intellectually engage with the issue, and it seems like you're just making a pithy comment, but maybe I'm just misreading your intention.

Well... looking at your own source one would have to be really naive not to think that businesspeople are raging assholes.

Water charges from five cents to a dollar for a glass of water with some restaurants charging even if you did not order water!

That's almost the definition of businesspeople being assholes and wanting to screw their customers!

Its a social standard not only because of the very low cost but also due to the horrible things that happen to dehydrated people and the frequency that it recurs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehydration#Signs_and_symptoms

I suppose should have added the qualifier decent to society.