Why don’t we ban stupidity instead?

• Guns
• Drugs
• Smoking
• CO2

What do they have in common? DANGER! We often hear how dangerous they are… Especially when we link them to irresponsible people… This makes some people think we should ban them… But the list goes on:

• Junk-food
• Sexting
• Alcohol
• Cars

You see where I’m going with this? But still, let’s keep going:

• Stairs
• Tall buildings
• Swimming
• Snakes

Well, if you didn’t get it by now, I will point it out: these things can all be harmful to us. In fact, most of them have been associated with many deaths. But most of us still have strong feelings only about some of them. Why is that? I agree, there are some strong reasons for disliking the first group and mostly weak reasons for the last group… I mean, no-one likes the idea of snake bites and drowning, but we don’t go as far as to campaign against them :) On the other hand, many feel that governments should strongly regulate the first group… Do we have double standards? One can say that guns kill more people than stairs (well, stairs don’t kill, people fall and get killed… but then again, guns actually don’t kill people either)… and then there is the second category... For example, junk-food – one of the biggest killers in the USA. Still legal! Not only that - no-one serious is trying to ban unhealthy food!

Now, before I go on talking about food, I may want to a clear the possible confusion about what sexting is: it is sending sexual messages and/or pictures with your phone… I found out about it in this NY Times article. I only included it because it is the last word I learned :) And it is, arguably, as controversial as smoking or drinking alcohol, heh... You know, kinda OK if adults do it, but totally wrong when it comes to teenagers...

Found at: http://blogs.trb.com/news/opinion/chanlowe/blog/2009/02/sexting.html

OK, let’s go back to the topic of food – one of my favorite topics :) I LOVE FOOD. Especially the good food! But there is the problem: we have good food and bad food. It is not easy to say which is which - is red meat bad? Is milk bad? Is corn bad? Is a Big-Mac bad? I’ve heard it all and I’m still not convinced… but I’m gonna keep my ears, eyes and, most importantly, my MIND open.

But there is another issue – the bottom line is that, except for some Indians (from India, not North America), no-one can survive on sunlight and water alone. WE NEED FOOD TO SURVIVE. We don’t need cigarettes, guns, drugs, cars, stairs, swimming and sexting, but we do need food. Yes, the other ones are convenient or make us feel good, but people have survived without them…

So, what we actually have are two things: (1) we need food; and (2) not all food is good food. And in addition, we have a hard time telling which food is good. And even worse, most of us agree that even the worst food can be a nice treat from time to time – which is probably why we don’t try to ban junk-food.

Well, what can we then do about it? A lot. Ms Obama is always working hard in this regard and Walmart actually responded. However, I keep wondering whether this is enough? What I miss is addressing the issue at the source – the consumer. What are we doing to change the behavior? Sure, making healthy food available at supermarkets and restaurants is important, but unless we raise the awareness among the consumers, no-one will bother with choosing the healthy option…

Found at: http://bob-brown.greensmps.org.au/node/4879

I have a confession to make (some of you know this): I smoke sometimes. I used to smoke more, now I smoke a little. You know, when I have one too many… But what I’m trying to say here is that I noticed something rather curious: when, back home, they introduced “smoking kills” labels on cigarette boxes (there were other slogans), no-one cared! And after a while, we got used to them… like ads on Facebook… it’s just a section of the screen (or your cigarette box) that your eyes don’t go to anymore…

What we need is education. More in line of what Jamie Oliver was saying in the video I posted a while ago. (I highly recommend watching the whole video, but the general idea is that we need to educate our kids about healthy food, especially veggies (small children in the video did not recognize plants, not even potatoes and tomatoes!), we need to educate people to buy and prepare healthy food and start everything by putting healthy food on the menus in school cafeterias). Not only should we bring healthy food to schools, we should promote it. In fact, I believe we should promote a balanced lifestyle. Have a Big-Mac every once in a while, who cares, just make sure you eat your fruits and veggies too. And make sure they’re fresh – that leaf of lettuce in a Big-Mac does not count :) Let alone French fries. In fact, I don’t think potatoes count as vegetables anyway… When in doubt, my rule of thumb is "if it ain't green, it don't count as a vegetable" :)

Why I like the balanced lifestyle idea is that it does not create rules – it just gives you guidelines. Don’t follow diets and all that – just make sure you balance it out. And observe how your body reacts. Don’t like carrots? No problem, eat celery. Also, you can apply this logic to other healthy behaviors… Don’t like running? Try swimming or cycling!

To sum it up, I’m a firm believer that unless we make people smarter, we will continue to do stupid things. Rules, especially when detailed, can only apply for a short period of time. When the circumstances change (e.g. new technology), the old rules do not apply anymore – people find a way around them. It’s like sexting – those kids didn’t even think that they were doing something wrong – the rules they knew did not apply to sending sexy pictures! If instead someone would talk to them about issues, they would probably not do anything as stupid…

Found at: http://www.webcomicsnation.com/kevinmoore/incontempt/series.php?view=single&ID=142801

The same goes for food. We can add nutrition labels on boxes, even in restaurants. We can have the healthy section in our local super market. But unless people are aware of the problem, they will not notice the solutions around them. Without going as far as to banning unhealthy food, there is no better way to ensure people will eat better. And I guess we’d all be sad if our local supermarket could not sell our favorite cookies anymore ;)

Found at: http://usefulfunnystuff.com/page/3