what about nobodys?

I heard this anti-drunk driving commercial on the radio, and I have a bit of a beef with it. What could possibly be wrong with such a commercial? The overall message, DON'T DRINK and DRIVE - nope, nothing wrong with that.

Its the fact that the message couldn't stop there. For some reason we need all these incentives, all these reasons not to. Okay, here is my list.


  • It's stupid. I don't use that word often, so I will actually apologize if it offends you.
Okay, not much of a list, only 1 good reason I can think of! But the radio commercial included a few more reasons, here are some of them.

  • You could hurt (or worse) a mother with small children in her car.
  • You could hurt (or worse) someone on their way home to a family that relies on them.
  • You could hurt (or worse)... insert some other person of value here
I question these. Not that these people in any way deserve to be hit by a drunk driver, but what about the people that don't have the same value or worth that is implied by this list? What about the nobodys?

What about the guy who just lost his job, on his way home to a house the bank just foreclosed on, a guy with no family, no friends. He does not seem to be cherished by anyone. Why is he not included as an incentive?

I understand that people need these incentives, because logic and reason on their own are not enough to impact them when they choose to get behind the wheel after one or more too many. I understand that the potential of taking away something that is cherished by another can be a powerful incentive, but I have trouble with the whole thing still...

I have trouble that there is some apparent arbitrary assignment of worth. Implications seem to be there that some lives are just more valuable than others. Maybe I am just reading too much into it...

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