Damned, Evil, Refillable Cup

The de-adultification (yeah, I know, I just made that up...) of America continues. See, adults bear responsibility for their actions. Children don't. You know, eat ten-thousand double-cheese-bacon-burgers-with-an-bushel-of-fries-gimme-a-gallon-o-Coke-thanks and then sue the company that sold it to you. You know, kill your fucking children and blame your poor, sad, suburban life while your husband says he'll stick by you. You know, smoke right through the damned Surgeon General's warning label, ignoring all the pictures of black, swiss-cheese looking lungs that they show you in high school, and sue the tobacco companies because damned if it could be your fault.

See, kids are supposed to get away with crap like that. They're supposed to have that responsibility disconnect because they're still learning what it takes to be a full citizen of a country. We sometimes let them off the hook because they're children. Adults, though, are supposed to accept the responsibility and pay the cost in legal sense and in a personal sense.

Luckily, researchers and government agencies are slowly letting us all off the hook. We no longer have to be responsible for our choices, even if those choices are exercised over a few decades of time every time a person chooses to light up a cigarette. Chooses...consciously...to...do...it.

And now my "binge drinking" is off of my conscience, too.

“It’s not just the advertising dollars. It’s the five-cent and 25-cent beers, it’s the extra pitcher of beer for a penny, it’s the $5 refillable cup. It’s not simply that these things make people drink, but that they make people drink much more,” said Wechsler.

Wechsler defines binge-drinking as the consumption of five or more drinks in one sitting by a man, or four by a woman.

See, the cup forced me to drink. I sure as hell wouldn't have had two if it weren't for that damned, evil, refillable cup.

Of course, if they can convince us that we're just children, that we can't control ourselves, and that they always know better than us, then it just makes it that much easier to pass laws governing our actions. I'm just sayin'...

Read the story.

Posted by zombyboy at September 12, 2003 04:34 PM | TrackBack