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StatistFallacies/NaturalConsequences

Fallacy:

"If you break laws, you risk going to prison. If you cross the street, you risk getting hit by a car. Welcome to the grown up world." ~ Rick Medlin

Response:

The error here is the conflation of natural consequences with harm done by individuals by choice. If I cross the street, especially without looking for traffic, I may come to harm because someone is unable to avoid hitting me, or hits me accidentally due to his carelessness. This is not due to any conscious action on the part of the driver, it is a matter of physics. If I break an arbitrary law created by the government to punish a victimless "crime," enforcers for the state choose to do harm to me. This latter case is purely a matter of human choice and human action to initiate coercive force. (LT & DBR)

See also: ../YouKnowYou'llBeTaxed