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by xondono 1763 days ago
The problem with this argument is that you can use it to also ban tobacco, and alcohol, and sugar, and red meat, and then you can move to things like sports, and start banning bungee jumping and rock climbing,…

There’s no obvious way to draw a line, but you definitely need one.
2 comments
wtallis 1763 days ago
> There’s no obvious way to draw a line, but you definitely need one.

That's why you look at the magnitude of the effect, not just the direction of the effect. Not all slopes are slippery. Our legal system does not collapse as soon as it is tasked with determining which harm is more important to prevent.

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xondono 1763 days ago
> Our legal system does not collapse as soon as it is tasked with determining which harm is more important to prevent.

No, it just sucks at drawing lines and harms thousands if not millions of innocent bystanders.

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SideburnsOfDoom 1763 days ago
> is that you can use it to also ban tobacco, and alcohol, and sugar, and red meat, and then you can move to things like sports

To be honest, IMHO both smoking tobacco and sports that cause a lot of concussions (eg. Rugby, American Football) are not going to last in the long term, or become marginal not mainstream activities.

This might involve legislative pressures on them, as well as a decline in social acceptance. In the case of Tobacco, we see this drop well advanced already. This is no bad thing, considering the outcomes from these activities.

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bradknowles 1762 days ago
If eating red meat was causing the ICUs to fill up, then I think the public health concerns should take precedence. And then we should be talking about a nationwide ban of the practice.

Likewise with smoking.

But neither of those activities has that level of impact on public health. So, the measures to be taken to curtail that kind of activity likewise should not be as strong.

But COVID is that bad. So, yes — vaccinations should be mandatory. Masking in public should be mandatory. At least, until the pandemic is over and we have sterilizing vaccines as well as medications that are proven to help cure the disease. And yes, this period could last years.

And if you don’t want to be vaccinated and you don’t want to wear a mask in public, then you don’t have to go out into public. You can stay home. And if you want to violate that rule too, then we should be able to lock you up in a COVID hotspot jail.

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SideburnsOfDoom 1762 days ago
Smoking _does_ cause hospital wards to fill up. But it happens on average a few decades later. So, the measures taken to curtail it have also come in over decades. But in the end, they will be strong.

I'm in agreement with you on COVID and the necessary public health measures during an active pandemic.

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