Kurt Vonnegut said “We’ll go down in history as the first society that wouldn't save itself because it wasn't cost effective” and damn if that isn't exactly how this is all playing out
@jason_pontin@alexrmoskowitz Conterpoint: economics is a political field purporting to be a hard science in order to justify removing from poor countries the ability to get themselves out of poverty
It's impossible to have a conversation around this but, if I were to try, it would be this:
People (esp young people) are furious at the diffusion of responsibility that our modern world represents. Bureaucracies, public & private, can do anything and no one is held responsible
She’s doing it because she understands British politics isn’t meaningfully real, you just stand up and shout whatever you want people to believe is true regardless of reality and if you’ve done a good enough job kissing the right arses, then the press will repeat it to the public
As it becomes increasingly popular to want to completely abolish the FDA, I highly recommend that you all read the Jungle by Upton Sinclair…and then read the investigation and actions that followed it. Although every federal program can have flaws, the FDA exists for good reason. Before these regulations were passed, they investigated and found evidence of meat companies selling rotted meat, contaminated meat….and meat containing formaldehyde that killed more people in the Spanish-American war than the actual combat. It used to kill an estimated 400,000 American infants per year.
Some people believed at the time that, if people were getting sick from the meat, these companies would naturally go out of business. But this didn’t happen. This just doesn’t happen when every single meat company is doing it in order to increase profit margins. There has to be some level of food regulation and safety for what we eat. Corporations will feed us poison to make a quick buck.
I think this is a surreal picture to frame this issue with.
I suspect a realistic picture - of a person living out their last days in unnecessary agony - wouldn't sway this guy either though.
I'd just like to be able to die with dignity when it comes to it thanks.