Personal responsibility is an interesting concept. My
roommates and I had a lengthy conversation about the importance of being the
master of your own life and our class on Justice caused me to reflect on some
of the things we discussed. One of my roommates was convinced that a type of
utopian society would effectively operate if everyone exercised personal responsibility
and the government had much less control over its people. In this way, everyone
would simply be responsible for looking after him or herself and fewer
resources would be expended ensuring the safety of everyone. A main concept was
that of advertising. It was claimed that in this society, a person had the
right to produce and market any good they wanted without being held responsible
for the effects of the product. It was up to the consumer of the product to
exercise the appropriate cautions when deciding whether or not to purchase the
good. An explicit case would be a drug advertised to cure symptoms of an
illness but was not required to list possible side effects, or even prove that the drug
was effective.
This concept of strict individuality seemed quite
disconcerting to me, especially with the presence of the FDA and other safety administrations
in the US that act as safeguards to these types of actions. My question on this
matter is simple: is it the responsibility of the consumer or the producer to
ensure the safety in products? On what grounds can the producers claim no responsibility
for any harmful consequences? These questions can also be related to the recent
government mandated cigarette ads that were the result of a 2006 court case.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/11/27/566014966/in-ads-tobacco-companies-admit-they-made-cigarettes-more-addictive