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ZorbaTHut  2yr ago (text post)   45548 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022

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I agree with much of what you said and want to add an additional layer - everywhere outside of "performance enhancing drugs", Americans are obsessed with pharmaceutical intervention to make their lives easier. This is true from psychoactive drugs of questionable efficacy to spamming statins and diabetes medications on every sedentary middle-aged patient that could probably fix their metabolic health through non-pharmaceutical means. People take medications for all sorts of things and don't feel even the slightest bit of shame that they've damaged their minds and bodies to the point that they require daily chemical alteration to avoid falling apart.

But if I wanted EPO simply because I think it would be neat to ride my bike up hills faster? Nope! Somehow that is where we draw the line and decide that this isn't just a bad idea, but downright unethical. I won't make a penny doing it, I'd be happy to pay for the drug out of my pocket, but somehow we've decided that there are classes of drugs that are simply beyond the pale. The same goes for various steroids that would improve my fitness and strength, effectively making me a better version of myself.

Can you imagine the absolute shitfit that would be thrown if anyone in a position of power suggested that all people who require psych meds should be thrown out of the military?

Or the shit fit that was thrown when some people who take the same hormones were going to be disqualified from military service.

While this is true, saying "americans" suggests other modern countries are less so. China/asian countries do similar, although sometimes using different interventions. I'd guess europe is similar to america, although with less spending.

I don’t know about being thrown out of the military but being on many common phsyc meds (I.e. anti depressants) can make it difficult or impossible to enlist in the first place https://www.military.com/join-armed-forces/military-recruiting-process-faqs.html/amp

(See section 9 on anti depressants)

Americans are obsessed with pharmaceutical intervention to make their lives easier.

Probably because they work. People have this notion that millennia ago people lives long heathy lives without modernity. I think this Romanized view ignores that people live and died of chronic pain and other conditions that today can be treated. Urinary tract infections and such.

But if I wanted EPO simply because I think it would be neat to ride my bike up hills faster?

agree but for drug tested competitions obviously it seems unfair taking drugs. I otherwise see no problem if athletes want to take drugs..their choice. But then you have to deal with the issue of externalities. If some of these people are getting sick and need healthcare for PED complications or develop chronic conditions later in life from use, this imposes a public cost.

Americans are obsessed with pharmaceutical intervention to make their lives easier.

And That's A Bad Thing because, in most cases, meds don't mend. Do you see this obsession with medication as a positive characteristic? Sure, it's arbitrary to draw the line an PEDs, but are you saying there shouldn't be a line?

I also see it as a bad thing, but think it's even worse that effective enhancements are seen as immoral while patching over bad behavior is seen as totally normal.

"Bad behavior" is a tricky thing. Never using your automobile for anything that isn't absolutely necessary reduces your chance of dying, but we don't say that it's immoral to treat someone for injuries suffered when they drive to visit their relatives for the holidays and get in an accident.

In other words, pretty much any "behavior" has an effect on your life expectancy. Claiming that we shouldn't treat people for medical problems related to their behavior is equivalent to saying that we shouldn't treat them for anything at all except a few edge cases.

The argument "they're imposing a public cost by their behavior" is really an argument against all publically funded medical treatments--that is, publically funded medical treatments are bad because they create incentives to restrict behavior, not the other way around.

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