We live in a state of information overload.
We have no reason what so ever to not always be fully informed of the possible consequences of our actions.
With that in mind, lets consider pay-as-you-play health care.
Everyone knows smoking is bad for you and if you are lucky you wont die from the cancer it creates in your body. So lets assume you still decide to smoke, despite knowing all the consequences, despite being fully informed of all the health risks. You still smoke. And you continue to smoke. In 15 years from now your pack a day habit has rendered your lungs full of cancer and you now need tens of thousands of dollars worth of health care.
In this big, beautiful country, that health care would be provided to you free of charge if you so needed it.
Is that really fair?
If you DECIDE to have a habit such as smoking and you know the risk's, should the consequences not be your responsibility?
Should tax payers really have to fund your poor health choices?
I think I am a socialist? I'm not sure. I do know that we rely too much on the government and not enough on ourselves. We take for granted the fact there will almost always be someone there to bail us out, be it the average tax payer paying for your health care or the government giving away free money and calling it a stimulus.
You play you pay.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Do we suffer from too much choice?
Do we suffer from too much choice?
Think about it.
Think about the last time you visited the supermarket, think about Coles and Woolworths and the like.
Everytime I walk into a supermarket I am overwhelmed by choices.
Do I need to be able to choose from 15 different types of milk?
Do I really NEED it? We are allowing every man and his bloody cow to produce milk, we all know that it pretty much tastes the same from brand to brand because it's milk, it comes from a cow. Milk is milk is milk.
So Woolworths have their own brand milk, plus homebrand milk, coles milk, dairy farmers milk, big M milk and so on and so forth.
Not including the lite and soy varieties is there really any need for so many different brands of milk?
Bread is exactly the same. We have grain bread, white bread, brown bread and I don't dispute the need for those types of bread but must there then be 10 different brands for each type of bread?
Now I am by no means saying we should have just 1 choice, I know plenty of people who delight in parusing the milk fridge, fingers on chins and a look of complete fascination at the plethora of choice before them., but with great choice comes great responsibility.
This is where I struggle. When I am faced with 10 different types of milk to purchase, my brain assumes, based on price and packaging, that some milk must have certain extra ingredients and or benefits that a cheaper, less pretty milk has. So I must then read. Read the labels, find that key ingredient that seperates the expensive and pretty milk from the cheap and nasty milk.
There is no bloody ingredient. Milk is milk is milk. I have wasted so much time searching for that elusive *thing* that attracts me to the milk that will eventually grace my fridge door, but alas, I am yet to find it.
I guess my real issue here is that with excessive choice comes responsibility and with responsibility comes time. Time management is not my strong point. I can't just *run into the supermarket* anymore, quickly grabbing what I need.
Grocery shopping has become a full scale event. I am not alone in this either.
I see crazy people in the supermarket, refusing to move themselves or their trolly so I can either go past them or share their space to paruse the product they are looking at.
People have become rude and arrogant time wasters all because we suffer from too much choice.
We even have a half a bloody supermarket ailse dedicated to womens sanitary products, a.k.a pads and tampons. Yes, those delightful things. Fan-fucking-tastic, apparently I can now select from 23 different brands of tampons. Different sizes, different colours, different absorbency levels, I mean wtf?? I just need a tampon, dont give me a fucking choice.
And dont even get me started on Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Caffeine free Coke, blah blah blah.
This does my head in. How irresponsible can one race be? We must realise that with all these choices we insist on having we are adding to the already huge environmental problems, not to mention my mental health!!
Think about it.
Think about the last time you visited the supermarket, think about Coles and Woolworths and the like.
Everytime I walk into a supermarket I am overwhelmed by choices.
Do I need to be able to choose from 15 different types of milk?
Do I really NEED it? We are allowing every man and his bloody cow to produce milk, we all know that it pretty much tastes the same from brand to brand because it's milk, it comes from a cow. Milk is milk is milk.
So Woolworths have their own brand milk, plus homebrand milk, coles milk, dairy farmers milk, big M milk and so on and so forth.
Not including the lite and soy varieties is there really any need for so many different brands of milk?
Bread is exactly the same. We have grain bread, white bread, brown bread and I don't dispute the need for those types of bread but must there then be 10 different brands for each type of bread?
Now I am by no means saying we should have just 1 choice, I know plenty of people who delight in parusing the milk fridge, fingers on chins and a look of complete fascination at the plethora of choice before them., but with great choice comes great responsibility.
This is where I struggle. When I am faced with 10 different types of milk to purchase, my brain assumes, based on price and packaging, that some milk must have certain extra ingredients and or benefits that a cheaper, less pretty milk has. So I must then read. Read the labels, find that key ingredient that seperates the expensive and pretty milk from the cheap and nasty milk.
There is no bloody ingredient. Milk is milk is milk. I have wasted so much time searching for that elusive *thing* that attracts me to the milk that will eventually grace my fridge door, but alas, I am yet to find it.
I guess my real issue here is that with excessive choice comes responsibility and with responsibility comes time. Time management is not my strong point. I can't just *run into the supermarket* anymore, quickly grabbing what I need.
Grocery shopping has become a full scale event. I am not alone in this either.
I see crazy people in the supermarket, refusing to move themselves or their trolly so I can either go past them or share their space to paruse the product they are looking at.
People have become rude and arrogant time wasters all because we suffer from too much choice.
We even have a half a bloody supermarket ailse dedicated to womens sanitary products, a.k.a pads and tampons. Yes, those delightful things. Fan-fucking-tastic, apparently I can now select from 23 different brands of tampons. Different sizes, different colours, different absorbency levels, I mean wtf?? I just need a tampon, dont give me a fucking choice.
And dont even get me started on Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Caffeine free Coke, blah blah blah.
This does my head in. How irresponsible can one race be? We must realise that with all these choices we insist on having we are adding to the already huge environmental problems, not to mention my mental health!!
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