So, then some day in the distant future a 66 year-old guy standing outside a store will be asking a 67 year-old guy to buy him a pack of smokes.
Smoking ban for people born after 2008 in the UK agreed
351–360 of 430 posts
Re: Smoking ban for people born after 2008 in the UK agreed
#352Earlier quoted context omitted.
In a country with a national health system, why should you be able to internalize the benefit of smoking whilst externalizing the cost?
You could use this logic to ban unhealthy foods, or restrict people from eating too much.
not could, should. i'm fully in favor of banning processed foods that fall below a threshold for calories/micronutrient ratio (and no artificial enrichment permitted)
Re: Smoking ban for people born after 2008 in the UK agreed
#353[dead]
Re: Smoking ban for people born after 2008 in the UK agreed
#354Earlier quoted context omitted.
They already prevent advertising the sorts of foods that contribute to obesity to children, and encourage you to drink less sugary drinks by applying tax to them (though unfortunately manufacturers have responded to this by reducing choice and adding artificial sweeteners instead of selling something at a higher price that can be enjoyed once every few weeks. I don't think any of this is unreasonable in a country tha…
Would a calorie cap be reasonable?
a better solution is banning processed foods which fall below a threshold for calories/micronutrient content (and no artificial enrichment allowed)
Re: Smoking ban for people born after 2008 in the UK agreed
#355It's sad that the UK, which invented liberal philosophy, is increasingly accepting of paternalism. It's important that people have an inviolable personal sphere inside which they can live their lives as they see fit. That includes making decisions of which society disaproves. Moreover, essentially all behavior plausibly has "diffuse negative externalities". We should be very careful about adopting that ("harms others…
we now have empirical evidence of where liberalism leads us: to an amoral, predatory marketplace. which profits from exploiting people who are helplessly addicted to poisons like nicotine, processed foods and alcohol. how much worse does it need to get before we go back to the drawing board?
Re: Smoking ban for people born after 2008 in the UK agreed
#356Earlier quoted context omitted.
what if they told you your kids would never be allowed to have a drink?
Sounds like a great way to avoid alcohol addiction, prevent drunk driving deaths, and save countless generations from being negatively impacted in one way or another by alcohol.
You have conveniently left out the cons and only listed the pros. That's just a comment in bad faith.
Re: Smoking ban for people born after 2008 in the UK agreed
#357Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s awesome to decide what your children, once they are adults, can’t do? Seems borderline psychopathic. Kinda sums up democracy in current times though.
If future generations want to smoke, they can change the law as easily as yours passed it. Running government budgets further and further into deficit, believing that, as a result, your children will, some day, be in a stronger financial position to repay the resulting debt that, until that day, continues to grow at an ever-increasing rate? That seems psychopathic.
That's not how politics works, and you probably know it. "Easily passing laws" is not a matter of voting demographics but of political power, and any thinking person knows political power usually does not belong to younger voters.
Re: Smoking ban for people born after 2008 in the UK agreed
#358Bans are surely going to work for sure. /s
Re: Smoking ban for people born after 2008 in the UK agreed
#359As a former smoker (who quit for seven years and regrets taking it up again), and as a present-day vape user, wtf. This is a clear restriction on liberty. It may be stupid that I do it. Just like many stupid decisions (junk food included), it ought to be my right to decide how to live. Cut off production so cigarettes are no longer made or imported. Don't block me from them while letting others have them. (Not in UK)…
How is it that different for it being banned for underage vs banned for people born after 2008?
Its just that for one group is never becomes okay
Re: Smoking ban for people born after 2008 in the UK agreed
#360Alcohol costs the UK 4-5x more than smoking. Coincidentally, it's the upper classes drug of choice. Must be a coincidence though
> Upper classes drug of choice
You're joking me. It costs more in Australia for a pack of cigarettes than it does for multiple beers or even a bottle of decent wine.
Alcohol is not the upper classes drug of choice, its all classes drug of choice.