Butt out

As Charlie Sheen clearly appreciates, it's not of infinite worth. What's invaluable is what we do while we're alive.

If existence was all that mattered, there'd be no room for the mysterious things in life that truly matter. It's irrational to seek to make life riskless. Those ads suggesting it is stupid and selfish to kill yourself smoking can make matters worse. Doing what you're told and responding like a machine actually crowds out trusting ourselves to make the right choices. The resulting despair and anxiety then fuels the need for more drugs and booze and reckless behaviour to ward off the escalating dread.

Fascist attempts to realize a Zero Harm world can thus be inherently counter-productive. There was a time when Australia knew this, and our political culture reflected the need for balance.

Though my father would automatically roll his eyes at the human rights agenda of the late 20^th century, it's clearly been a positive move. Governments, manufacturers, parents all have a duty of care to do the right thing regarding cigarettes.

That said, the old bloke wasn't completely mistaken. Liberalism is a fraught ideology if it refuses to also acknowledge a higher truth: people cannot be made to stop something deemed unhealthy or unsavoury.

Uncertainty is a necessary and unavoidable part of life and establishing the right trade-off is something only the individual can ultimately achieve (doubtless, this is also part of Tiger Blood's emerging narrative).

Governments and do-gooders can help with this process. When they attempt to force it, we all lose out.