Unexpurg8ed:
Well, we agree on one thing. Parents are doing a lousy job of parenting. I certainly agree that is a major cause of many social ills, including these troubled kids shooting up our schools.
But you haven't explained why you think corporations should be allowed to market dangerous products to minors.
The tobacco companies fought the age 18 smoking limit. (Prior to about 1975, few states even had such a limit. Kids in my high school smoked at 16 in the 1950s.) Thank your government, that you railed against, for that piece of legislation.
How do you propose to protect the public from every greedy entrepreneur who wants to sell a defective or harmful product? If you listen to the Libertarians, such legislation is not needed or should be greatly reduced (i.e. repealed) You can rail against the government all you want, but when your neighbor dumps PCBs in his backyard, 200 feet from your well, you will be screaming: "Why doesn't the governement do something about this?" I could give you a thousand examples of defective products which the federal and state governments have ordered off the market because they were defective or falsely advertised. Tobacco has not been one of them because the companies have done such a great job of coopting the Congress and buying their votes with money.
The general public is really just becoming aware of the insidious nature of smoking. The medical evidence has been piling up since the 1950s, but the public's focus has not been on this issue as much as it is now. Thank God for that small bit of good news.
Regarding drinking, we have made great strides forward in limiting the number of deaths attributable to drunk driving, but we can do more. You can thank MADD for that. A parent, just like you, did something. Many legislators finally listened and lowered the BAC necessary for a conviction for DUI and lengthened the jail sentences. I rarely drink, like you, so I have no vested interest in seeing alcohol even on the market. But your government did do something about drunk driving. They only got interested in the tobacco companies when they figured out a way to hit them up for billions of dollars. The hypocrisy of the state and federal governments on this issue is mind boggling. Where were they in 1965 when I was speaking publicly against tobacco? They were subsidizing tobacco farmers.
I also agree that you should listen to your body. When I got sick from smoking my first cigarettes, I never smoked again. But most kids in search of acceptance and the elusive "adulthood" will put up with almost any pain to achieve their goals. That's why we have so many addicted smokers. This is not a difficult issue to understand. Nicotine is addicting and it only takes 2 weeks to addict a teenager.
And, frankly, FettsBabe, who is pretty smart by the way, is wrong about the evidence. Plenty of evidence exists that smoking alone will cause lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, and plenty of other medical problems. Many people developed asbestosiosis and black lung disease who didn't smoke, and many smokers who weren't exposed to asbestos and coal contracted lung cancer. My sister-in-law, who was the nicest human being I ever met, died of lung cancer because she started smoking at 14 to be cool. She never worked in a coal mine or installed asbestos. She was a legal secretary and a mother.
On the issue of choice, you are dead wrong. Teenagers undergo enormous social pressures and will frequently make choices that are not in their best interests. (I have a very smart 12 year old daughter [Duke TIP] who I may strangle any day now because she is testing the limits of our patience to the max.) Most of us have very few choices. Isn't that the 20th Century lament? The nub of the existential crisis of man? Our lives are so meaningless because we don't have complete control? Well, we have very little control, but that doesn't mean our lives are meaningless and we have to give up. I believe in trying your best without deluding yourself that you and everyone else are able to make meaningful and correct choices at every turn. Personal responsibility is the flat tune of the morally tone deaf.
But, regardless of the issue of choice, which is really irrelevant anyway, companies should not be allowed to market unsafe or defective products without full disclosure of the risks and safeguards for minors. The tobacco companies tried to avoid these responsibilities to the American public and are now paying the price. Why do you think they pled mea culpa so strongly to the Miami jury? "We done wrong, we changed our ways, please don't spank us mister juryman." Pfft!
Quit making excuses for the criminals. Hang 'em high, hang 'em low, but hang 'em.
