Karen: Not only should people be free to ingest whatever they want, but in doing so they bear the burden of making their own assessments of the risks and benefits of their decisions (a responsibility most have learned to dread). I am somewhat amused at seeing the following sets of commercials on television: The first involves happy, smiling faces who no longer suffer from Plotnick’s Disease because of a prescription-drug manufactured by Big-Pharma. Of course, in fine print the commercial informs you of various serious side effects. This is followed by a commercial from a law firm — involved in a class-action suit against drug companies. “Have you or a loved one suffered kidney failure, blindness, a heart attack, or even death from using such-and-such a prescription drug?” Boobus undoubtedly regards this as evidence of how the corporate-state drug racket is “protecting” him from the burden of his more severe ailment, what another has called “decidephobia” (i.e., the fear of making a decision).

The Best of Butler Shaffer