Within the scope of tobacco and soda pop/soft drinks (since coca-cola isn't the only actor, even if they are a stand-out case, if not THE singular stand-out example) the victims aren't victimized in a visceral sense, in that people have options in front of them, and they make their choices.
It's a really long, slow process of injury, with plenty of time to change course, and no one is intimidated or forcibly coerced to behave as they do. So it comes down to broad conventional, normalized availability and scales of supply that outpaces natural demand, coupled with deceptive propaganda and misinformation. But the victimization is soft, subtle and really only harmful over decades or generationally. Compared to the daily realities faced, throughout the twentieth century, it's silly to bat an eye at these things.
Suffice to say, alcohol is so much worse than either, short-term and long-term. And look at what came of prohibition.
Fossile fuels, on the other hand, and petrochemicals in particular, encompass a misery inducing nightmare so complete, and have enabled pretty much every modern horror experienced, to the point that it begs disbelief. The word "victims" barely scratches the surface, and number "billions" would be shocking if it weren't numbing and obvious at a conceptual level.
It's a really long, slow process of injury, with plenty of time to change course, and no one is intimidated or forcibly coerced to behave as they do. So it comes down to broad conventional, normalized availability and scales of supply that outpaces natural demand, coupled with deceptive propaganda and misinformation. But the victimization is soft, subtle and really only harmful over decades or generationally. Compared to the daily realities faced, throughout the twentieth century, it's silly to bat an eye at these things.
Suffice to say, alcohol is so much worse than either, short-term and long-term. And look at what came of prohibition.
Fossile fuels, on the other hand, and petrochemicals in particular, encompass a misery inducing nightmare so complete, and have enabled pretty much every modern horror experienced, to the point that it begs disbelief. The word "victims" barely scratches the surface, and number "billions" would be shocking if it weren't numbing and obvious at a conceptual level.