Neal Anderth wrote:They could make it a felony to have more than one serving size of sugar a day too. Think of all the good that would come from nipping that social problem in the butt.
Yes they could and it would be nearly as stupid as the drug laws. However for my point it's entirely irrelevant. You argue that if you harm only yourself then it shouldn't be anybody elses business and i agree.
I'm however also saying that if you are incapable of making a sound judgement or any at all for that matter we should deal differently with you than if you willingly and knowingly acted against the law. Think minors or insane people were you can proof developmental stages/problems, antatomical malformations or chemical imbalances of the brain.
In my opinion these aren't cheap cop outs, but rather scientific reasons why our justice systems have to be overhauled. They and public opinion have been outpaced by science.
Neal Anderth wrote:It's a perfect example of having a justice system that isn't based on real harms and is instead based on thought crimes and social engineering.
I've found in a multitude of discussions that a term like "real harm" is open to wide interpretation and entirely a matter of opinion. Thus you can only ever discuss one specific "crime" if you ever want to get somewhere with your argument.
Neal Anderth wrote:What natural right do you have to make laws and punish people that have not nor intend to harm you with their personal actions?
Frankly i don't care to start a debate about libertarianism, or whatever your favorite flavor of ism is. It's complicated enough already without considering the option of burning the system to the ground in hopes that some libertarian utopia will arise, instead of some strongmen which i think much more likely.
My only point is that i don't believe it's fair or rational to ignore scientific facts like real illness or developmental issues when considering the appropriate punishment (or treatment for that matter) for a crime. And i don't think it's appropriate for laymen in either law or science to have to decide such issues .
The average person is sadly highly uneducated in such matters, but at the same time usually believe to have some sound idea or common sense (enemy of rational thought that one) about topics like mental illness (everything is one, like sex addiction :/ or they are all just excuses for weak minded people) or science in general (think ID).