I was monitoring one of those idiotic Internet discussion recently. In this discussion, people were debating about whether it’s right for society to enact laws that require people to buckle up. Some people were saying that it’s wrong, and that requiring them to fasten their seatbelts was an egregious infringement of their freedom. ”What business is it of yours, anyway? I’m the only one who’ll be affected if I don’t buckle up.”
This is a silly argument, of course. When somebody is injured or killed in a car accident, other people are affected as well. What about situations where someone is thrown through the windshield, for example, or thrown from the backseat into the front seats? And what about the emotional trauma that witnesses would be forced to endure? And what about the burden to the health care system?
Another person said, “It’s wrong! Why don’t you people shut up? You’ve got no right to tell people what they should or shouldn’t do!” Not surprisingly, he failed to realize that his own argument was self-refuting. After all, if it’s wrong to tell people what to do, then why was he telling his opponents that they shouldn’t tell people what to do?
