People Who'd Rather Make a Rule Than Fix a Problem

Toys Banned from Happy Meals

So the story linked above has gotten a lot of attention lately. It's not the first time that something like this has happened. Basically, to encourage healthier eating habits in Americans, the City Council of San Francisco has banned toys in meals from restaurants that don't meet certain health standards. Don't get me wrong...I think that we're incredibly unhealthy as a country, we need to change our eating habits, etc. All that jazz. But this is like when the city of New York banned trans fats at all fast food restaurants. Yes trans fats are terrible and yes kid's meals are often terrible for you. But I have a HUGE issue with policies like this:

When did we decide that you should just make a rule, a law, an ordinance that prevents everyone from partaking in something because some people are making poor choices, while others are making good ones?

This example is a controversial one, but to me, it's evidence of a problem that teaching middle school highlighted for me. There is no such thing as personal responsibility any more. If you asked a child what this means, they would have no fucking clue. If you asked many young adults, once again, no idea. I think that personal responsibility has been abandoned in favor of rules to follow like the one above.

Instead of teaching people that if you eat unhealthy foods your entire life, you will get fat and have heart disease and diabetes and die, we say "happy meals are bad and can't be sold." This means that if you were like me as a kid, and you weren't fat and you ate healthy foods 80% of the time, and you went to get happy meals as a treat, because it's okay to treat yourself to unhealthy yet delicious food that comes with a toy occasionally, that's over. That's not okay, because of a stupid ordinance that someone passed that does nothing to fix a problem.

Instead of teaching kids the value of being on time to class and having respect for other people around them, we have bizarre systems of behavior in the hallways of our schools, where people have to march in lines and make no noise and be policed for 100% of their lives at school. Then, if a teacher isn't policing because THEY have no sense of personal responsibility, the kids start to act like monkeys and show up for class 10 minutes late.

Have you noticed that left turn "yield on green" lights have disappeared? That's because apparently no one is smart enough to use these systems of lights. No one is responsible enough to drive responsibly! Oh, wait! I am! You are! Too bad, you don't have a choice, anymore.

I realize all these are just little examples, that cities and states are allowed to pass ordinances as they choose. But I feel like they are all small parts of a large whole. Our lives have become a set of rules to follow, and I think this is why no one thinks the rules apply to them. People can't distinguish between what is important and what is just shit for them to do. I don't know, I just have a huge issue with this system. It doesn't work.