About a month ago my wife groaned to me that she could no longer order her contact lens replacements online. Apparently now she needs the prescription *rewritten* by a cartel optometrist every 12 months.
Hmmmm....that's got to be bad for 1-800-CONTACTS and good for Big Medicine docs, I thought.
A possible blog topic? Well I started googling and came upon a few discussion forums covering this very topic.
Essentially, the argument went like this:
If someone orders the wrong contact lens and wears them, it can really damage their eyes, possibly permanently. Ergo, the lumpen masses need enlightened doctors to oversee the disbursement of corrective eyewear.
This *logic* probably doesn't seem so intrusive - at least to the casual, unthinking reader who's been conditioned since pre-school to submit to the recommendations of government-sanctioned experts.
But do y'all know anyone who has worn the wrong contacts and messed up their eyes? I sure don't. Though I know plenty of folks whose doctors have misdiagnosed and aggravated their conditions.
I submit that this supposed small beer begs a larger philosophical question - one that was addressed with this well-argued retort I found online:
A government obsessed with keeping stupid people from doing stupid things is far more likely, instead, to keep clever people from doing clever things.
Yes indeed!
2 comments:
C,
And what are your thoughts on the Drug War, again?
You want to open that can of worms on a Friday?
I can feel, see, and practically quantify the collateral damage from *protecting us from ourselves* Big Government when it comes to medicine, education, etc.
Perhaps I'm ignorant on the matter, but I don't feel so effed by Big Government drug laws/enforcement.
Enlighten me.
Post a Comment