Comment by argvargc | Hacker News Reader

Comment by argvargc | Hacker News Reader

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Actually you can. They might be eating a sugary dessert, and then you think "mmm, I'd like one of those".

And the person might not even need to be there physically, they could just be an image.

Do we need to publicly shame and ostracise employees of all advertising and marketing companies?

All ice-cream manufacturers?

What about smoking? Smoking kills 10 million per year, COVID is a pittance by comparison. Should smokers wear a yellow cigarette badge to distinguish them from others?

1 million die from the effects of second hand smoke - which can come off of clothes, even imperceptibly. Best to know about it, and give them a wide berth. Eg, probably a good idea ban them from going into shops at all. And from buying food, starve them out of the habit, eh?

Do remember here, COVID is NOTHING compared to smoking.

That is, by supporting such measures against COVID and not against smoking or any other preventable cause of death, you're effectively a "murderer".

As such, I'll be giving you and folks like you a wide berth myself, though I wouldn't go as far as restricting your ability to feed yourself.

No need to thank me, it's just common human decency.

> Should smokers wear a yellow cigarette badge to distinguish them from others?

Please put the nazi card back into the deck. You and I both know that we are not in nazi germany, nor is asking people to get a jab (and to accept that their actions - or inactions - have consequences) even remotely close to the plight of the Jews during the Holocaust.

I think the rest of your comment is worth responding to, and I will do so in a separate comment. However this is such an inappropriate comment that it deserves its own reply. I've linked some resources below where you can learn more about the Holocaust because it's clear that you're at least a little bit uninformed.

US Holocaust memorial museum - https://www.ushmm.org/learn/holocaust

National WWII museum - https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/holocaust

This one's geared towards educators (and unfortunately requires you to register) but has some excellent resources if you're willing to work through that - https://education.mjhnyc.org/

Thanks for the "education". Your claim of my "ignorance" essentially insults my entire existence. I can guarantee that I personally know a fuck-tonne more about this issue than you ever can.

For your education, look up the several videos of holocaust survivors, and those who lives through other oppressive dictatorships, speaking out against what they perceive as a present-day repeat of exactly the conditions that lead to those horrors.

For example, any recent interview with Vera Sharav or any recent speech/press conference by Romanian MEP Cristian Terhes. (And if you don't find YT serving those up go to bitchute or odysee.)

And do bear in mind please, that one of the defining characteristics of the path to this level of societal degredation, is precisely that the majority of people at the time do not believe it could possibly be happening, and mock those who say it is, whilst simultaneously encouraging their silencing and censorship.

> Actually you can. They might be eating a sugary dessert, and then you think "mmm, I'd like one of those".

Ok? This doesn't _make_ anyone obese, while sitting on a train next to a COVID+ person gives you a pretty high likelihood of getting COVID.

That is, unless there's some new research that shows that simply seeing sugary deserts can turn people obese.

> Do we need to publicly shame and ostracise employees of all advertising and marketing companies?

??????

> All ice-cream manufacturers?

Should they stop marketing towards children? Absolutely. Again, I'm not entirely sure what you're going for here so I'm really just inserting a suggestion.

> What about smoking? Smoking kills 10 million per year, COVID is a pittance by comparison.

In the US but we have effectively banned indoor smoking on those grounds. In ATX you're not even allowed to smoke within (if I'm remembering the numbers correctly) 30 ft of an openable window of a business. Because it directly impacts people's health. Like spreading COVID does.

> 1 million die from the effects of second hand smoke - which can come off of clothes, even imperceptibly.

That's terrible, we should curb smoking if this is proven to be the case.

> Best to know about it, and give them a wide berth. Eg, probably a good idea ban them from going into shops at all. And from buying food, starve them out of the habit, eh?

what the fuck are you on about? root was talking about how people need to accept that they've contributed to the pandemic through their inaction, not advocating for barring people from shops. that's ridiculous.

> As such, I'll be giving you and folks like you a wide berth myself

I'm impressed- you've seemingly judged my entire character based on a single-sentence comment. Have you considered pursuing a career as a judge?

> though I wouldn't go as far as restricting your ability to feed yourself.

how gracious

Advertising and marketing are forms of social manipulation. If they didn't work, and were not effective, they would not be used.

A thought-experiment: how many people would be obese if it were impossible for manufacturers of unhealthy foods to market their products to anyone?

Look at the obesity levels in countries that such manufacturers exclude from their marketing campaigns.

The point is that advertising makes people do things they otherwise wouldn't have done. That's kind of the whole point of it.

It's an entirely valid and important argument for something such as obesity, that advertisers and manufacturers of obesity and diabetes-linked products, may play a major, even dominant and causal role in those diseases proliferation. How could people become obese, for example, to take it to an extreme, if there was nothing but healthy fruit, vegetables lean meat and water to buy - anywhere?

If you're a coder or engineer you'll know you find the faults of a system by pushing it to its extremes. Society/health and the struggles we face in those arenas are no different.

As for the pandemic, there are countries in "free Western Europe" that have violently arrested people for attempting to go and buy food. I've seen elderly assaulted, who - with trembling hands, hold their medical exemptions to merciless and uncaring store security, and a hopelessly split society pouring derision either upon the woman or the security staff. It's up to people such as ourselves to pick up the pieces.

These scenes are familiar to some of us, and people such as yourself discounting it is heartbreaking and frustrating.

Spend a little time rooting out what it is you're "not supposed to see". Maybe your perspective will shift. It's all there, if you're willing to look.

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