I think the distinction being missed here is particularly profound, because it is actual elimination of the same distinction that has put us in this place.
You are free (should be, at least) to give your opinion to anyone, at any time, about anything you please.
In this case, some of us have been stating our opinion that business owners should be doing a certain thing we believe to be in our shared interest. Likewise, some have shared their opinion that other customers should not do business with vendors who don't do this thing.
This is no different than a vegan telling businesses that they should not sell animal products, and telling consumers that they should not buy them.
These are both entirely different, though, than either party actively trying to prohibit others for acting counter to their opinion/belief, but that distinction seems to have been missed here, by some.
Consider that in light of why we're even having this discussion:
If someone on the street wanted to tell any of us that they believe
vaping is worse than smoking, or that it contains formaldehyde, or that it'll make your eyeballs fall out, we'd be free to ignore them and walk away. Or, better still, we'd be free to counter their idea with our's and, in due time, through the evolution of thought, progress would be made in our individual, and, eventually, collective understandings.
However, our society has shifted to a place where the proper course of action, in any given situation, is held to be to force your intellectual adversary to conform to your current belief and accept your current understanding.
So, to whit, instead of the FDA opening a dialog and kickstarting the evolution of discourse, they use their position to choose a winner in the debate, relegate their current belief to "fact", and shutter understanding to any further consideration.
They should have, according to the principles on which our nation is founded, started a discussion, searched out and presented facts, and, regardless of how the discourse evolved, left those who chose not to adhere to whatever generally-accepted outcome was arrived at, choose not to adhere to it.
