> But the US government's big successes have been in legislating that
> CORPORATIONS do what's good for us. Mandatory nutrition labeling and
> censorship of cigarette ads are delightful examples with near-100%
> compliance.
Yes, now the companies tell you that what you're eating is bad for you.
And people still buy it. People already knew that the bag of chips or
steak dinner was clogging their arteries, and they didn't care. If the
point of the nutrition facts was to get Americans to eat better, then it
failed. Similarly, if the govt. tried to legislate people into being
vegetarians, meat would be right up their with cuban cigars, which goes
with my next point.
I just saw an expose on the 5 O'clock news the other day detailing "fine"
cigars and where to find them. Apparently cigars are all the rave now,
despite direct advertising. Popular culture and media icons do the work
for the companies indirectly. And incidently, smoking among teens is on
the rise. So the tobacco companies are guaranteed another generation of
users. Where there is a will, there is a way.
The point is that you can't control the flow of ideas. Just like water,
they will find their "own" level.
+---------------------------------------------------+
| Oceania: A New Country In Development |
| oceania@terminus.intermind.net |
+---------------------------------------------------+
Finger erich@igc.net for my PGP Public Encryption Key