I see your reductio ad absurdum and counter you with its exact inverse:
Because something bad has happened at some point to someone somewhere, you personally must take precautions against it happening to you?
Do you intend to modify your behavior, spending habits, or thought patterns to reduce the risk of catching mad cow disease? Oh, no? So you're saying mad cow disease doesn't exist?
But mad cow disease has a documented casualty count and data breaches do not. So actually, you're being irrational if you care about and take measures to mitigate the one but not the other.
Now that we've established that you are rationally obligated to mitigate the risk of mad cow disease, I have some guaranteed Definitely Not Placebo[^TM]-brand pills to sell you.
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If you find this counterargument spurious, absurd, or unfair, then I have a proposal for you: let's both agree that reduction to absurdity benefits no one, and try to talk reasonably in the middle ground between extremes.
> you personally must take precautions against it happening to you?
Well, yes, in the sense I vote for rational politicians rather than raving single issue lunatics.
The problem here is you latch on to the most absurd example, where the actual farmers raising cattle are the ones expected to avoid mad cow disease because there is an actual cost to them (slaughtering their entire herd). The analogy here would be businesses having to protect their customers data or suffer consequences, which they generally don't.
Now, if you're a deer hunter the responsibility now returns to you. If you shoot some janky ass deer and eat it you might find your brain full of holes in a decade. Again, the analogy here would be using some sketch ass card reader, or hell, using an ATM in a part of town where you get mugged.
I see your reductio ad absurdum and counter you with its exact inverse:
Because something bad has happened at some point to someone somewhere, you personally must take precautions against it happening to you?
Do you intend to modify your behavior, spending habits, or thought patterns to reduce the risk of catching mad cow disease? Oh, no? So you're saying mad cow disease doesn't exist?
But mad cow disease has a documented casualty count and data breaches do not. So actually, you're being irrational if you care about and take measures to mitigate the one but not the other.
Now that we've established that you are rationally obligated to mitigate the risk of mad cow disease, I have some guaranteed Definitely Not Placebo[^TM]-brand pills to sell you.
---
If you find this counterargument spurious, absurd, or unfair, then I have a proposal for you: let's both agree that reduction to absurdity benefits no one, and try to talk reasonably in the middle ground between extremes.
> you personally must take precautions against it happening to you?
Well, yes, in the sense I vote for rational politicians rather than raving single issue lunatics.
The problem here is you latch on to the most absurd example, where the actual farmers raising cattle are the ones expected to avoid mad cow disease because there is an actual cost to them (slaughtering their entire herd). The analogy here would be businesses having to protect their customers data or suffer consequences, which they generally don't.
Now, if you're a deer hunter the responsibility now returns to you. If you shoot some janky ass deer and eat it you might find your brain full of holes in a decade. Again, the analogy here would be using some sketch ass card reader, or hell, using an ATM in a part of town where you get mugged.
Agreed on all points. I was presenting a deliberately bad argument in order to make the meta-point that arguments like it are unhelpful.