Human comes from homo, latin for man. 

"They pushed themselves into them and they opened themselves like a flower, welcoming their humanhood."

 

Let me first say, that I was not limiting my opinion on this to just the actions of the Berkeley City Council - I was speaking much more broadly.  In the past decade society has seen a proliferation of laws, rules, regulations, etc. FROM the left and far-left aimed at CONTROLLING what we, as individuals, say, think, and do, they included, but by are no means limited to:

banning/regulating certain foods and drinks (e.g., soft drinks, energy drinks, the very types of fats (trans fats) that you can cook with, etc.

banning plastic drinking straws, store shopping bags, etc.

banning the sale of vaping products (even for those over age 21 - as in San Francisco a few weeks ago) despite the fact that the FDA has not yet made a final safety determination on the product.

Establishing "free-speech safety zones" in public universities - where WHAT you say is regulated/prohibited.

Taxing products it "disapproves" of out of existence

Attempting to mandate the use of condoms in adult film productions (Los Angeles DID pass this, but the voters overturned it)

The list, of course, is MUCH more extensive than what I have included.

Some might feel comfortable comparing and making value judgements on whose ox is being gored by government - but I choose not to do that.  

I didn't like it when the far-right was determined to "save my soul" and I don't like it when the far-left is determined to "save me from myself".

Marc

Hi fat/sugar is linked to all sorts of health issues than then cost the tax payer a lot of money to resolve.

What is being said there is - you want us to fix it? You pay for causing the damage.

Plastic straws is not about saving ourselves but a start of an attempt to decrease this dependancy on single use plastics. Not really about us but more of an attempt to decrease destruction of the environment.

It can be viewed as ‘saving you from yourself’ or it could viewed as ‘decreasing your impact on another person when that impact does not have their consent’.

Banning smoking in eating establishments & pubs for example. I really can’t see a single downside to that.

I guess it's the thin edge of the wedge for me.  Your argument about reducing health costs to society-at-large via the law reminds of when conservatives vehemently oppose any of their tax dollars going to pay for things THEY object to: abortions for poor women, purchasing contraceptives that might be construed as abortifacients, safer-sex education programs, HIV/AIDs preventing condom distributions programs, funding for clean-needle exchange programs, funding for the arts, etc. etc.

The tax-dollar argument has never been persuasive to me, as we ALL throw ALL our tax dollars in the SAME huge pot - EVERYONE gets an equal chance to be offended by one thing or another that they are spent on.  

Marc

Labeling things as "far-left" doesn't make shitty false equivalence real.

California is a favorite target of the right for its stricter environmental laws, but I remember car trips through Los Angeles as a child, and the sky was /brown/. The air is still not the greatest in that area, but it would be much, much worse.

Smokers complained about how their freedoms were being infringed upon with smoking bans, but guess what, smokers are still able to smoke, but non-smokers no longer have to have their health put at risk just to go to a restaurant or club.

Straw and plastic bag bans don't prevent people from using plastic straws or plastic bags. What they do is prevent businesses from being careless with single-use products. Your personal freedom to use straws and bags are not infringed upon.

Anti-discrimination laws don't prevent you from being a bigot. You are free to be racist, sexist, and homophobic as you want, as long as your bigotry doesn't infringe upon someone else's right to be hired, find a home, be served by a business, etc.

These laws aren't about saving you from yourself. They're about protecting me from your shitty decisions. Which is the role the government should play. YMMV.

Measure B is still in effect. Prop 60, a similar law, was rejected as a statewide measure. But the big issue with that law was that it allowed /any/ California resident to sue a pornographer if they claim they didn't see a condom in a pornographic film. Which is dumb.

Okay. Mr. Woodcock. From what I've studied (non-professionally, admittedly), females have one main job - to propagate the species. They bear offspring or lay eggs, they feed and guard the offspring, and do their best to assure that the offspring grow to the point that they can maintain themselves. Males generally defend the "home" or make sure that it is suitably defended (e.g., a female parent who can protect the young.) They are brighter, bigger, and decoys for attackers. This might not apply so much to humans (save for the size variance), but a lot of birds, mammals, fish, etc. all seem to kinda fit this. Again, it's not to the exact letter; it's not my profession.

If I have it wrong, please point out where I need to be corrected. I can only work off my own experience.

Mr. Perrin - I've no doubt your mother is awesome. But if she were challenged to a weight lifting contest, would she win? A footrace? A cooking contest? A crossword or sudoku contents? Of course she might. I used superior in the literal term, in that everyone is superior to someone, and everyone is inferior to someone else. 

We're all different... smarter, dumber, faster, slower, stronger, weaker, stealthier, obviouser (sic), etc. But we humans get our talents to work together, and (hopefully) to use the best skills in the best positions. For example, one would NOT put me at the top of the mailman* list. I could sort and organize it just fine, but my ruined foot would not allow me to deliver house to house. Even with vehicular assistance, I couldn't do it very long or prob'ly very well.

*Oops... I think I did it again. Perhaps we'll use the phrase "mail carrier" instead.

The human diversity is what makes us wonderful, different, and exciting to relate to and learn about. So, with no offense to your mom... some of us are better at things than others. That's where I've used the word "superior" - but again, please correct me if there's another term I'm missing that's more suitable... you know, superior to that word. :)

Thanks for the clever responses, y'all.

_______

Calling a "Copper" would be confusing!