[thechat] roll yr own blackout

[Erika Meyer]

>>>I mean, the next logical step is to just outlaw smoking, drinking, 
>>>guns, sex, red meat, fried foods, video games, the internet 
>>>because let's face it, none of it's really safe for us.
>>
>>the best argument you can make is a fallacious one?
>
>I'd hardly call it fallcious.  Baby steps.  Every step forward gives 
>argument to someone else who wishes to advance his own personal 
>causes.  "Well, if Mr. X can do Y, why can't I do Z?  It's all in 
>the name of public safety, after all."

http://www.mackido.com/Thought/SlipperySlope.html?print
not saying it's totally invalid, just fallacious.

>Maybe I should have rephrased my initial argument better:
>
>It's not the government's place to be mandating the safety of our 
>nation's citizens when it comes to personal decisions.

okay then.  There can be a fuzzy border between personal and public 
however.  If my neighbor wants to douse his lawn with DDT, I'd want 
to be able to say, even do something about it.

>We've gone off on a tangent.  In terms of personal decisions, I'm 
>quite Libertarian.

not me.  Libertarians tend to be too individualistic "each man for 
himself" for me.

We live in a global community and everything we do affects the lives of others.

Erika

--