Hello again.
I've got to rant about smoking again. The governor of this state, in his infinate wisdom, has proposed to create a state-wide smoking ban, outlawing smoking tobacco in any public place. He has also decided to increase tobacco taxes by somewhere between 70 cents and $2.20 a pack. I have to say, quite simply, that this pisses me the **** off. The freedoms of smokers are being infringed upon, and nobody (aside from smokers) seems to give a damn.
The habit is, of course, unhealthy, but what makes one unhealthy habit better or worse than another? Sure, there's secondhand smoke, but we're talking about bars here. Restaurants. Places that have smoking and nion-smoking sections. I know of plenty of places that don't allow smoking at all, bars included. And I know of places that do allow it. Why can't we all just go to our respective hang-outs, and leave it at that?Why?
I'll tell you why.
Busybodies. People who thrive on fighting for a cause, regardless of what they are accomplishing. Or maybe they do care what they're accomplishing, but are so caught up in "the cause" that they don't care or realize exactly how it will affect their neighbor. I'm all for peaceful coexistance, but in the face of this adversity, I could give a flying piece of camel **** what these people think. I'm a smoker, not a second-class citizen. I have as much a right to smoke in public as you have a right to drink, or skydive, or drive an SUV, or bitch, moan, and complain to your lawmakers about secondhand smoke.
By the way, if you are a busybody, and you're reading this, I have a message for you. When you bring your protest signs to the various meetings of civic councils, or state legislation assemblies, don't bother putting up your signs about the dangers of cigarettes. If you want to advertise the dangers of secondhand smoke (or SHS, because everything medical these days has to have some handy acronym), that's fine. I mean, you may as well hold a sign that says "The sky is blue", or "Fire is hot", or "I cannot survive in the vacuum of space without a spacesuit." But, if holding signs is your thing, go right ahead. But signs that tell people that smoking cigarettes is bad are just stupid. As a smoker, I see a message very similar to this on every pack that I smoke. And it's from the Surgeon General. A much better spokesperson for anti-smoking than some idiot with a sign. What I'm saying is, we all already know. Your sign is useless to bring to a meeting that consists of consenting adults. Save those signs to bring to D.A.R.E. meetings.
What are we going to do with this country? The laws we pass to protect people from themselves are just rediculous. Maybe it's rediculous that people need protection from themselves, or maybe it's rediculous that some of us feel the need to protect them.
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. "
- C.S. Lewis.
I think I'm going to start my own organization, where only smokers are allowed. I don't have a clever name for it or anything. We will have several smoking oriented community service initiatives, aimed at informing the public of their right to smoke. One such plan would be to have members walk up to non-smokers on the street, who are clearly minding their own business, and inform the non-smoker of the dangers of second-hand smoke. Or maybe that by not smoking, they lose out on the opportunity to experience emphysema. Or something like that, you know, so that the non-smoker can experience the harassment that smokers commonly do.
