On Friday, June 25, 2004, at 02:47 PM, Ken Jorissen wrote:
Does personal choice preclude something being considered a "public health
issue"? What is the definition of a "public health issue"? I am surprised to
learn that I am operating without a good definition. I've been trying to come
up with one but it keeps either getting invaded by concepts that should be
separate or just leads to needing more definitions.
Public health is the organised response by society to protect and promote health and to prevent illness, injury and disability. (National Public Health Partnership 1997)
I think the confusion comes in part from separating society from government, as if these are two different authorities and further, that they are in many instances counter to one another. Societal mores are not all enacted into law, but customs and laws are traditionally closely allied, especially in the western traditions ("By Laws" and so forth).
Reactionary conservatives have done a great job of planting an image in many minds that somehow our government and our society are separated. True the administration and enforcement of laws, and the enactment and interpretation of laws fall into categories we know as government. But that representation is not out of step with societal views and mores.
At the edges of every society there are strongly held views but these minorities do not have enough momentum to upset the large middle. Rap artists have a better shot at mainstream society than anarchists or religious extremists.
I worry about the voting numbers going down in democratic societies. It means to me that people are voting without voting --- that tolerance for all kinds of formerly fringe views has gained acceptance in the broader milieu of comfort, leisure, and consumer choice.
The silent killer is the gathering of wealth into fewer and fewer hands, not the big brother nation.
Laura Waterman Wittstock
MIGIZI Communications, Inc.
3123 East Lake Street
Minneapolis, MN 55406
612.721.6631 ext 219
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.migizi.org
http://laurawatermanwittstock.blogspot.com/
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