4 ms·

That is missing the point of letting people make their own choices.

• pixl97 4y ago
  I'm glad I got that choice of breathing my dads secondhand smoke growing up! Um...
  • serf 4y ago
    he made that choice for you. children have choices made for them in droves. children rarely have the ability -- or are given the opportunity -- to make choices for themselves. Not a lot of infants going around asking for circumcisions and ear-piercings, but...
    • flangola7 4y ago
      > Not a lot of infants going around asking for circumcisions and ear-piercings, but... Those are wrong too, what's your point?
• cycomanic 4y ago
  Before we let people make choices about smoking, I'd rather let them do heroin or cocaine. At least that does not force me to inhale their smoke. But as a more general answer, we (as society) always make trade-offs with letting people make their own choices, and forbidding behavior for the better of society. The boundaries will always be somewhat arbitrary. That said, the economic costs of smoking to society is significant and there are some corporations that essentially make a killing on it (don't get me started on the anti-science propaganda that they funded. If people want to smoke tobacco in their own home, sure let them grow their own, so at least there is not a corporation who tries to peddle smoking to children in order to improve their profits.
• TheRealPomax 4y ago
  Not really, it feels like you forgot the distinction between personal choice, where the decision affects only you, and group choice, where a decision is made for, and affects everyone in a group. Smoking falls in that second category, so it's not just your decision to make, the entire group gets to weigh in. So they did. Democracy works, even if (especially if) you don't like the result.