One routinely hears today that a person’s criminal actions were unavoidable because he suffered from “road rage” or a drinking problem, problems which in turn are explained by the dismal family life he experienced, after his father abandoned the family--or that a person could not resist the constant advertising of cigarettes, that he became addicted to the product and could not withdraw without overwhelming pain, and so he is not morally responsible for his current ill-health--or that a person could not stop eating Big Macs, even though his weight was approaching 300 pounds, because the hamburgers were too enticing and he is compensating psychologically for a childhood spent in poverty, where there was no money for junk food.