(no subject)
31/5/12 15:26![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
owlectomySo, Bloomberg has proposed a ban on high-calorie sodas over 16 oz. at restaurants, movie theaters, and street carts.
I'm really a bit amazed at how people will go along with increased regulation as long as they can rationalize that the thing they're regulating is bad and the people who do it are bad people. (And I've seen a LOT of discussion online about how this is a good thing because people are too stupid to make decisions for themselves and OBESITY EPIDEMIC OH NOES.)
I'm generally the farthest thing from a libertarian in terms of what I think of government regulation (and I think it would be great if we could end corn subsidies and I acknowledge that Coca-Cola and Pepsico are, as corporate entities, Not Good People) but I just don't think that a soda is in the same class of things as asbestos toothpaste and heroin cough syrup.
I acknowledge, too, that it's not a great choice if I'm underslept or migrainey and get a breakfast Coke for the caffeine-and-sugar rush. (I am so not a coffee person. Tea, yes, but tea made with hot water from the water cooler is not optimal tea.) But I think generally we should err on the side of letting people make their own bad choices.
And everything I've read has done nothing but convince me that this isn't really about concern for other people's health, but about being judgmental about other people's choices.
I'm really a bit amazed at how people will go along with increased regulation as long as they can rationalize that the thing they're regulating is bad and the people who do it are bad people. (And I've seen a LOT of discussion online about how this is a good thing because people are too stupid to make decisions for themselves and OBESITY EPIDEMIC OH NOES.)
I'm generally the farthest thing from a libertarian in terms of what I think of government regulation (and I think it would be great if we could end corn subsidies and I acknowledge that Coca-Cola and Pepsico are, as corporate entities, Not Good People) but I just don't think that a soda is in the same class of things as asbestos toothpaste and heroin cough syrup.
I acknowledge, too, that it's not a great choice if I'm underslept or migrainey and get a breakfast Coke for the caffeine-and-sugar rush. (I am so not a coffee person. Tea, yes, but tea made with hot water from the water cooler is not optimal tea.) But I think generally we should err on the side of letting people make their own bad choices.
And everything I've read has done nothing but convince me that this isn't really about concern for other people's health, but about being judgmental about other people's choices.
Well...
1/6/12 07:23 (UTC)But that would be, y'know, work and would cost money. Shaming is cheaper and more fun.