Personal Responsibility
After I got back from my run I watched the 10 o'clock news (or at least part of it). One of their major pieces was on Bitter Orange, a supplement similar to Epehedra (which, as we all know has been banned by the FDA).
FOX 5 (the local news station) even had a legal activist (is there such a term) on whose (fully grown and a soldier in the Army) son had died from taking Ephedra. She pledged her undying support to the quest to ban Bitter Orange. Now, I see several avenues by which her quest would be justified: 1. If her son was forced to take the pills (nope, sorry, didn't happen). 2. If he had a batch that was somehow defective or otherwise inconsistent with the description of the drug (again, nope.) 3. If the packaging did not have a warning on it (possible, but every package of Ephedra that I've EVER bought has had a warning). Simply put, this kid ODed on the pills. Now, do we go around banning sleeping pills because some angsty teenager decides to take the whole package? Where is the personal responsiblity in this? I'm sorry her son died but he did it doing something stupid. If I decide to take my Mossberg 500 shotgun, load it, then start playing around with it while pointing it at my head, don't be surprised if I end up dead by morning! Guess what though? It's not Mossberg's fault! As an adult, I read the instructions for operating my shotgun and decided to act stupidly. Her son, as an adult, neglected to read the instructions and killed himself. I understand that she wants someone to blame for her grief, but this is ridiculous.
Maybe this is where we are today. We no longer believe that we are responsible for ourselves. Maybe this is an outgrowth of Baby-Boomer psychology - "Oh, it's not your fault, it's your parent's!" (this, of course, is not to bash people who's problems are a result of their parents, i.e. being abused, molested, etc... NOT being fat!) Over time our belief in reality has only grown weaker...when will this stop? While I'm not exactly in favor of big business (I'm not a Republican) I'm also not in favor of litigation-happy idiots like this lady! (I'm not a Democrat) I feel like I'm sinking into some sort of Orwellian dystopia (to rip off the daily show)...
FOX 5 (the local news station) even had a legal activist (is there such a term) on whose (fully grown and a soldier in the Army) son had died from taking Ephedra. She pledged her undying support to the quest to ban Bitter Orange. Now, I see several avenues by which her quest would be justified: 1. If her son was forced to take the pills (nope, sorry, didn't happen). 2. If he had a batch that was somehow defective or otherwise inconsistent with the description of the drug (again, nope.) 3. If the packaging did not have a warning on it (possible, but every package of Ephedra that I've EVER bought has had a warning). Simply put, this kid ODed on the pills. Now, do we go around banning sleeping pills because some angsty teenager decides to take the whole package? Where is the personal responsiblity in this? I'm sorry her son died but he did it doing something stupid. If I decide to take my Mossberg 500 shotgun, load it, then start playing around with it while pointing it at my head, don't be surprised if I end up dead by morning! Guess what though? It's not Mossberg's fault! As an adult, I read the instructions for operating my shotgun and decided to act stupidly. Her son, as an adult, neglected to read the instructions and killed himself. I understand that she wants someone to blame for her grief, but this is ridiculous.
Maybe this is where we are today. We no longer believe that we are responsible for ourselves. Maybe this is an outgrowth of Baby-Boomer psychology - "Oh, it's not your fault, it's your parent's!" (this, of course, is not to bash people who's problems are a result of their parents, i.e. being abused, molested, etc... NOT being fat!) Over time our belief in reality has only grown weaker...when will this stop? While I'm not exactly in favor of big business (I'm not a Republican) I'm also not in favor of litigation-happy idiots like this lady! (I'm not a Democrat) I feel like I'm sinking into some sort of Orwellian dystopia (to rip off the daily show)...
