I disagree with Owen Robinson

As much as I hate to disagree with fellow blogger Owen Robinson, buy viagra hospital I have to take issue with his recent editorial denouncing smoking bans.

Owen’s entire argument rests on the following paragraph:

Ultimately, discount viagra it comes down to a matter of rights. Rights are based entirely upon the self-evident truth that the individual owns oneself, that the individual is sovereign and has the right to choose to do anything one wishes, so long as one doesn’t deny other individuals the equal right to the same freedom. As such, every human possesses the same rights.

My problem is that the above definition would clearly give me the right to go around shooting people in the head, or raping them, or screaming obscenities in their ears as long as I grant other people the same rights.

The way I define rights would change Owen’s paragraph to:

… that the individual is sovereign and has the right to choose to do anything one wishes, so long as it harms no one but himself and he doesn‚Äôt deny other individuals the equal right to the same freedom.

This is where Owen and I begin to part company. (It’s also worth noting the no other Conservative blogger I know agrees with me on the following point either.)

Smoking in public is a physical harm committed on everyone around you. As such, I have the right to defend myself against that harm. In a lawless society, my right would encompass killing the smoker in self-defense, but because we live in a community of laws it’s preferable that smokers are not allowed to smoke in an enclosed public space near anyone who does not choose to smoke themselves. Thus, I support public smoking bans and disagree with Owen.

(A fellow I otherwise find to be very agreeable.)

By the way, an interesting consequence of my reasoning is that I would also be perfectly satisfied if the law mandated that a restaurant had to be either all-smoking or no-smoking.

6 comments March 21st, 2007