only semi related to previous post, but an important general principle:
"people should make better choices" is never, ever, the correct solution to any large scale problem.
it's like saying your well-digging technique is that the water table should be shallower. whether you're right or wrong in that judgment doesn't even enter into it.
Hell, even on a small scale I run into this trying to reduce errors at work. "People should just not make mistakes" isn't going to cut it. People are going to make mistakes and bad decisions even if they're well meaning individuals. You have to find ways to make doing things correctly and/or safely as easy as possible.
oh yeah absolutely. this is why nurses switched from "when you recap dirty needles, make sure to use safe technique" to "we added safety devices and put sharps containers in every room so you don't have to recap dirty needles."
never trust anyone that's trying to sell individualistic solutions to systemic problems
