Health-based paternalism applies only to consensual lifestyle targets, never to cultural improvement.

Evidence

It is not that smoking is ‘wrong’, it is that it will lead to our failing to lead long and enjoyable lives. But there are limits to this emphasis on good health: mental health and intellectual development barely feature at all, for instance. What we see instead is a reductive, hedonic model of health which is all about ‘feeling and looking good’. To tell people how to lose weight, or how to decorate their house, is acceptable; but to call for any kind of cultural improvement is to be oppressive and elitist. The alleged elitism and oppression cannot consist in the notion that a third party might know someone’s interest better than they know it themselves, since, presumably smokers are deemed either to be unaware of their interests or incapable of acting in accordance with them. No: the problem is that only certain types of interest are deemed relevant, since they reflect values that are held to be consensual. Losing weight, decorating your house and improving your appearance belong to the ‘consentimental’ regime. — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 150

Categorization

• DEFINE: Coins the term ‘consentimental regime’ for the domain of interests deemed unobjectionable to manage.
• XREF: connects to: Health paternalism applies to bodies but never to minds or culture — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 150

Related

• Health paternalism applies to bodies but never to minds or culture (similarity 0.91)