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Forcing people to take good advice makes you the bad guy. The same is true in government. People getting sick from raw milk might actually rebuild the cultural

Forcing people to take good advice makes you the bad guy. The same is true in government. People getting sick from raw milk might actually rebuild the cultural reputation of food safety institutions; if they crack down average people will continue trusting them less and less.

llamaimperative 2y ago
Like driving on the right side of the road? Stopping at red lights?
- whatshisface 2y ago
  I think the constant exposure to traffic at wreck-jammed intersections reinforces a respect for the existence of traffic laws that doesn't exist for good regulations that aren't violated as often. Also, many people absolutely do see traffic cops as the bad guys.
  - llamaimperative 2y ago
    Yeah, you’re just explaining a textbook confusion of cause and effect: “milk is generally safe, therefore we don’t need these pesky regulations!” We know what life looks like without these regulations. Answer: Lots of safety problems. If these people didn’t produce risk of contagious pathogens I’d not really have a problem with their own decisions, but since they do produce that risk, the right way to prove these regulations unnecessary is to conduct scientific experiments and prove the regulations unnecessary. It was real world experience and scientific experiments that got them put in place to begin with.
    - whatshisface 2y ago
      Maybe people would find it less onerous to require testing. Technology for that stuff has advanced a lot since raw milk was originally banned on epidemiological grounds.
      - scoofy 2y ago
        I have no idea what you're trying to argue beyond "people don't like being told what to do, even by people who are generally experts, and know what probably good for them." I mean, I get that people don't like being told what to do -- I don't like being told what to do -- but it's part of being an adult to accept that you might not know what's best, and sometimes you ought listen to people who have dedicated their lives to the issues at hand. I think a lot of this probably has to do with religious impulses, which, to some extent, require believers to reject empiricism and the scientific basis for knowledge, again, to a degree.

llamaimperative 2y ago

Like driving on the right side of the road? Stopping at red lights?

whatshisface 2y ago
I think the constant exposure to traffic at wreck-jammed intersections reinforces a respect for the existence of traffic laws that doesn't exist for good regulations that aren't violated as often. Also, many people absolutely do see traffic cops as the bad guys.
- llamaimperative 2y ago
  Yeah, you’re just explaining a textbook confusion of cause and effect: “milk is generally safe, therefore we don’t need these pesky regulations!” We know what life looks like without these regulations. Answer: Lots of safety problems. If these people didn’t produce risk of contagious pathogens I’d not really have a problem with their own decisions, but since they do produce that risk, the right way to prove these regulations unnecessary is to conduct scientific experiments and prove the regulations unnecessary. It was real world experience and scientific experiments that got them put in place to begin with.
  - whatshisface 2y ago
    Maybe people would find it less onerous to require testing. Technology for that stuff has advanced a lot since raw milk was originally banned on epidemiological grounds.
    - scoofy 2y ago
      I have no idea what you're trying to argue beyond "people don't like being told what to do, even by people who are generally experts, and know what probably good for them." I mean, I get that people don't like being told what to do -- I don't like being told what to do -- but it's part of being an adult to accept that you might not know what's best, and sometimes you ought listen to people who have dedicated their lives to the issues at hand. I think a lot of this probably has to do with religious impulses, which, to some extent, require believers to reject empiricism and the scientific basis for knowledge, again, to a degree.