Quote:
Originally Posted by kristin
I would rather just see smaller cups offered, no one needs 100 oz. of soda, no one.
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No one is forcing people to buy large cups. The people who buy them, voluntarily agreed to buy them. Personally, I'd never buy those extremely larges cups, but the fact that they continue to be able to sell them shows that there are people who do prefer those large cups.
One can try to convince those buyers that the product is not healthy. One can offer alternatives or show people there are alternatives. One can spread information about obesity and the dangers of excessive food consumption etc. But the second you prevent two people from making a peaceful, voluntary transaction because you don't think that transaction is in their best interest, you violate their property rights and are by definition committing an act of aggression. Any act of aggression is immoral and unethical, no matter how good your intentions may have been.
Every time something bad happens like for example the shooting in the theater last week, people start posting things like "what's wrong with people? what's wrong with this country? what's the world coming to?". One big problem we face these days is that fewer and fewer people respect their fellow men as the individuals their are. They no longer respect their neighbor's physical integrity. They no longer respect boundaries. And those boundaries are actually pretty clear: property rights, private property rights.
Every human is allowed to do whatever he wants with his own body and his property as long as he doesn't cause damage to another human or that human's property.
That is real tolerance. Do-gooders talk about 'tolerance' as if we all should be friends and hug. Real tolerance is about recognizing that all people are different. We are all individuals. We all have our goals, dreams, hopes, fears and preferences. You may not like the choices your neighbor makes, but those are his choices to make. You may think the tattoo your colleague just got is ugly and she would be better off if someone had stopped her from getting that tattoo, but it's her body, her choice. You may think it's dangerous and irresponsible for your friend to go hiking in the Amazon, but it's his body, his life, his choice.