[bdunbar]

destroying countless lives worldwide.

Sure, it's a tragedy.

Philosophical question - why should I pay my taxes to cure this condition 'worldwide'?

This isn't polio, this isn't the 18th century. We know how people get sick, we know how to prevent this problem. Everyone does.

This isn't something money can fix - this is a cultural problem.

[eli_gottlieb]

Umm... actually... the reappearance of such "Third World problems" as tapeworms, bed-bugs, and other parasites in America has become a major issue. Congress does need to allocate money towards keeping our nation parasite-free.

[bdunbar]

I disagree it's become a major issue. A problem, yes, but exaggerated by better reporting and invasive media.

We don't need to throw money at it, and certainly not at the Federal level. Because this isn't some kind of new thing, it's a people that have gotten lazy about public health and forgotten how awful epidemics can be.

It is - just like tape worm in the brain, a cultural problem, not something that money can fix.

[eli_gottlieb]

I wouldn't say people have gotten lazy. Somehow you just can't prefurnish an apartment or buy used furniture anymore if it involves upholstery, because bed-bugs have returned. I don't know whose "laziness" that is.

[bdunbar]

I don't know whose "laziness" that is.

I don't habitually go around blaming individual problems on 'society' or 'the masses'. But ...

It's 'us' that got weak. Our culture. We got lazy, decided that the poisons that eliminated bedbugs were bad, forgot how awful the things were, how much work it was to keep a household free of pestilence, and let them slip back in.

You can see this attitude everywhere from vaccine deniers to the fools who deride public health measures as intrusive on their liberties.

[eli_gottlieb]

Ah, fair enough.