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  • From: Clansgian AT wmconnect.com
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Insurance
  • Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 00:29:10 EST


> Some easy ones: lung cancer and heart disease caused by smoking,

But not all of those cancers are caused by smoking or even second hand
smoke.

But over 90% are caused by smoking. Add second hand smoke into that,
environmental causes which are under our control and the percent is even
higher. And
what about general ill health caused by bad diet, obesity, lack of activity,
and bad outlook (like believing that we are predestined by our genes) and how
many more cases could you write off.

After all this, what role does genetics play? Not much room left to cause
much mayhem.






> On the news tonight, they reported a woman died while sitting
> at a traffic light (in traffic) when a car that had been racing another
> car slammed into her car, injuring her children and killing the mother.
> How was that her fault?


And this would affect your choices in ... what way?

But more to the point, as someone pointed out earlier, our choice (generally,
overall) in transportation has its consequences. As a whole we think it is
so neat to zip around in ton and a half vehicles at fatal speeds that some of
us ARE going to be killed. Just as with diseases, all you can do is make the
odds better in your favor, you can't eliminate the risk entirely and I'm
quite
amused at the absolutism that brings it up. A family that chooses to shuffle
it's children ot school, to scocer, scouts, ballet, tiddly wink lessons,
church six times a week, and then go out to eat every other meal is greatly
increasing their odds of a fatal auto wreck. Someone who is content to stay
at home
(or homestead) and go into town once or twice a month greatly reduces their
odds of a fatal wreck. Ya pays your money, ya takes your chances.

The whole thing that started this thread was the mentioning of the idea of
odds in avoiding disease. Bringing up countless examples of one remote thing
that COULD happen or odd exceptions to the rule is the sort of thing that
people
do when they don't want to face the reality of their choices.

My take is this: If you spent your life's energy providing yourself a
physically vigorous lifestyle, good diet, peaceable envirnonment, and avoided
bitheringly stupid life choices like smoking .... you would have better odds
of
avoiding disease than having access to modern medicine has odds of curing
those
diseases. If anyone has evidence to dispute that, I'd be interested. But
citing that Tay Sachs disease exists, or that a small percent of lung cancer
deaths
are not due to smoking is not said evidence.




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