Jon Stewart promoting the FDA

[bill1971]

I was watching Jon Stewart last night and was surprised how much he was supporting the FDA and mocking anybody who is against it. The sad thing is, if you only watched him he made it seem like his view was the only logical one and to be against it is absurd. To be honest the FDA at first seemed like a great idea to me until I read a bit deeper into it and what it entails.

Anyhow, first post here. It's refreshing to find a forum where people are against govt intervention from everything to taxes to marriage.

[Austrian Econ Disciple]

Yeah...the FDA that kills millions of people. Such a great institution.

[haaaylee]

Was this on his show? I didn't see it, but he is satire and there is a real possibility he was mocking support of the FDA.

[Kotin]

Welcome to The Forums!!


:D

[Eryxis]

I'm a pharmacist, and I see every day how much of a joke the FDA is, but I think most people on RPF know this.

[ClayTrainor]

The FDA does a great job of making people think dangerous substances are safe for mass consumption, denying terminal patients from using experimental medication, slowing down medical research and driving up health care costs.

YouTube - How to Reduce Healthcare Costs by 80% Overnight (Without Spending $2 Trillion) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XcOMJoEJVQ)

[bill1971]

He was not mocking support of the FDA. He is generally for big government.

[BenIsForRon]

Yeah, I love Jon Stewart, but he was completely wrong here.

Yes some people have died from nationally distributed peanut butter. Jon wants to make that peanut butter safer. But what he really needs to think about is why the fuck do we have nationally distributed peanut butter. Why do we live in an economy where it is cheaper to make peanut butter in one place and ship it across the world, instead of local grocers producing it themselves? And why is a can of spaghettios cheaper than a fucking fresh tomato?

[Knightskye]

Anyhow, first post here. It's refreshing to find a forum where people are against govt intervention from everything to taxes to marriage.

Welcome to the forums. :)


I was watching Jon Stewart last night and was surprised how much he was supporting the FDA and mocking anybody who is against it. The sad thing is, if you only watched him he made it seem like his view was the only logical one and to be against it is absurd. To be honest the FDA at first seemed like a great idea to me until I read a bit deeper into it and what it entails.

Stewart was making a straw-man argument -- that instead of an FDA, there would be no organization ensuring food safety. There's no reason why we couldn't have an organization like Underwriter's Laboratories checking our food and putting the (UL) mark on packages.

[MyLibertyStuff]

Yeah...the FDA that kills millions of people. Such a great institution.

Haha, you think these guys can see the abstract logic required to realize this? :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

[Depressed Liberator]

Thing is, the idea that all food would be unsafe has been so instilled into people's minds, that making an argument against it makes you sound like a fool.

[AGRP]

I was watching Jon Stewart last night.

That's where you went wrong.

[guitarlifter]

Welcome to the forums. :)



Stewart was making a straw-man argument -- that instead of an FDA, there would be no organization ensuring food safety. There's no reason why we couldn't have an organization like Underwriter's Laboratories checking our food and putting the (UL) mark on packages.

Exactly. Any place that produces or sells food products, supplement products, drug products or ANY product, for that matter, can be graded and analyzed by free market companies, and these companies are the checks to having dangerous or misleading products out there. With these product-analyzing companies in place, all companies will want to perform well in order to satisfy customers lest they want to go out of business. It really is a beautiful thing.

[bill1971]

That's where you went wrong.

I am not a fan but he is one of the rare people who go after the absurdities of the left and right, although he mainly goes after the right. Also he can be pretty funny. That being said many many people watch him for their only source of news and that is pretty sad.

[Epic]

Jon Stewart is quite often simply a tool of the establishment to prop up their machinations.

Here's how the plans always go:

1. Be really good and "anti-establishment" on some issues.

2. Then, once you've convinced a bunch of politically-brainwashed 20-somethings to like you, start arguing for greater tyranny to "keep us safe" (this is like the neocon argument applied to domestic stuff).

And kaboom, you've now co-opted their anti-establishmentism into shilling for greater government power!

[bill1971]

Jon Stewart is quite often simply a tool of the establishment to prop up their machinations.

Here's how the plans always go:

1. Be really good and "anti-establishment" on some issues.

2. Then, once you've convinced a bunch of politically-brainwashed 20-somethings to like you, start arguing for greater tyranny to "keep us safe" (this is like the neocon argument applied to domestic stuff).

And kaboom, you've now co-opted their anti-establishmentism into shilling for greater government power!

That is pretty funny and accurate. The more I watch him the more I realize how big government he is. You're right though for all of his anti-establishment attitude he is quite for government control. The right wing hosts play the same game, they say how bad and big the government is but then want the government to dictate who can get married or that we cannot smoke pot. Now even though I'm straight man who doesn't smoke pot, I think people should have that choice for themselves.