| I think the big argument here is: Is doling out medical advice to an individual to protect the group ethical? Or should the medical advice for the individual be directed at the potential outcomes for the individual. This conversation of individual vs communal rights is much simpler when we tell smokers they should keep it to designated areas or their private property. It's a bit of a different animal when we're essentially encouraging and coercing people into taking potentially unnecessary medication for OTHER people's benefit. It's not an easy question, if you're being intellectually honest. People who are hardliners on one side or the other on this debate, i feel aren't honest about the problems this poses. They're so wrapped up in their side of the individualism/tribialism or collective-safety/freedom dynamic, that they're not giving the other side a fair look. This is a problem that plague the human species. Our greatest strengths are also our greatest weaknesses. Both our nature as collective/tribal animals, but with a deep since of contradictory individualism leads us to success and survival and wellness, but both of those aspects of us lead to great tyranny. it's the communism vs capitalism debate - both sides have tons of blood on their hands. Tons of oppression too. It's the debate played out between Kirk and Spock about the needs of the one vs the many. And it's an honest, real debate that i don't feel will ever be solved because of the myriad of ways it plays out in a complex society. |