What we say is good for you

From Sebastian, I find that Philly is getting ready to “fire up” (haha – ed.) their own little smoking ban. Personally, I despise smoking bans. Moving on, you’ve probably heard about New York’s ban on trans fats, in related news King County in Washington State is considering a similar ban. I also do not like bans on trans fats.

I was having this discussion the other day with Mrs. Ahab about the government’s propensity for banning things that they think are bad for me. The obvious targets are smoking, meat, and then…what next? Drugs are already illegal, so we can’t outlaw that. I posited the theory that we’re heading towards another prohibition. I mean, think about it. Everyone knows that drinking isn’t really good for you.

Now, I don’t think that they’d be dumb enough to flat ban the consumption of alcohol again, namely because it worked so well last time, but I do think that we’ll begin to see creeping restrictions on when and where you can consume alcohol. Of course, it will be silly stuff like “Drinking in plain sight of a minor” or some other regulation.

And you know what? I used to be a smoker. I loved smoking. With exception of the part where I knew that smoking would shorten my life expectancy, I really enjoyed smoking. But I quit, because I knew that it was bad for me. But for years, I did it anyway. I did it because I enjoyed it, and at the time, the benefits outweighed the risks. When you’re 20 and single, cancer when you’re 60 is a LOOOOOONG time away.

I’m in a rather ornery mood today. I guess I’m just tired of day after day reading about the government deciding what’s in my best interests. I am a grown-ass, semi-muscular adult, I am perfectly capable of reading the relative health benefits of something and deciding if I want to do that.