171 - Personal Responsibility Pt2

Jun 12

Knowing what’s within our power to change is the cornerstone of stoicism. So how much can we change in the face of relentless corporate lobbying?

In his book Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman explains how “nudging” works in making healthier choices. In short, if you give people options, but make the default option the healthier choice which has to be rejected in order to make a bad one, then almost nobody makes poor choices. This was a revolutionary, utopian way of looking at how we could all improve our lives, and the world. If you want children to eat healthier in schools, make fruits and vegetables the default. If you want people to take responsibility for their healthcare, make healthier choices the default. Same with student loans, housing, and adult food. Simple, right?

Well, not so simple. Especially when lobbyists, advertisers, and politicians read those same studies, then spend vast fortunes to make the addictive, unhealthy, irresponsible choices the default.

How do we, as Americans, reclaim our personal responsibility? How do we reject the terrible defaults addictive food companies have put in front of our kids? How do we say “no” to a medical system designed to over-bill us by default? How do we walk away from a system that puts us all in debt or makes us fat, when the news media blames us for not taking personal responsibility?

History Links:

https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/firsthand-accounts-great-depression

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/04/10/lunchables-lead-consumer-reports-school-cafeteria/

https://www.npr.org/2024/04/10/1243939166/lunchables-consumer-reports-school-lunch

https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1198909604

http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1653/commercialization-and-discontent-on-the-american-farm-the-farmers-movements-of-the-late-19th-and-early-20th-centuries

Science Links:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10017337/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3695078/

https://educationdata.org/student-loan-debt-by-major

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10017337/

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/07/state-lawmakers-america-medical-debt-00114330