Enough Is Enough

Enough is enough!  This afternoon I had the TV on and watched advertisements for herpes medication, some kind of condom and/or cream that heightens orgasms, men singing about erectile dis-function, and a clitoral stimulator; all of this on ‘normal’ TV that children can watch after they get home from school.  But, of course you will never see any kind of ad for any kind of tobacco because that is illegal, ‘attractive to children’, and ‘bad for you’.  Not that I’m against erections, sex, or medicine, but there is a time and place for everything, right?

 

Unfortunately, that is not the worst or most absurd part of my day.  Tonight, the Brooksville City Council (near Tampa, FL) will consider an ordinance which will ban city employees from smoking or having any kind of nicotine in their system – yet, I’m not sure if those nannyists realize that nicotine is found in tomatoes and eggplants too!  Regardless, this kind of anti-smoker and anti-tobacco bigotry is LEGAL! And that is SHAMEFUL!  Undoubtedly, fat and/or other unhealthy people are next on the list for employment discrimination.  And they wont be able to say they didn’t see it coming.  We told you so!  Remember, no one is free while others are oppressed!
 

 

“There is no such thing as a little freedom.  Either you are all free, or you are not free.”

-Walter Cronkite

Sorry Mr. Cronkite, here is the new America….
 

 

 

We Are Better Than "Them" Bigotry

   
“We are better than them” is a notion that anti-smokers and the anti-smoking movement hold close to their hearts and minds.  But they do not have a monopoly on that sentiment, as I just heard a cigar salesman tell me that “we are better than them” when referring to cigarette smokers.
 
We know that cigars and pipe smokers enjoy tobacco very differently from cigarette smokers and the products themselves are very different.  But, dependency and patterns of use does not make anyone better than another.
 
Are you better than me because you work out four days a week and I only work out three?  Are you better because you eat more vegetables?  Are you better because you are thinner?  better looking? have more hair? etc…..  The notion that one person is better than another for the pleasures they choose, their tastes, and/or preferences is absurd, divisive, and it is the reason all smokers are losing their rights.  The anti-smoking/nanny-state/pleasure-police movement capitalizes on the notion that ‘they know better’ and that ‘they are better’.  But, this is a fraud and it is the essence of their bigotry.  The only qualitative measure of a person should derive from how they treat other people.
 
Ultimately, we must all respect each others’ rights and freedoms in order preserve our own.  Tobacco users are not “dirty”, “filthy”, or “disgusting” people any more than non-smokers, fat, or ugly people are.  In fact, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and taste is subjective, so who are we to judge?
 
Tobacconists and tobacco lovers are clearly the besmirched underdog in this society and we are going to have to change the way we view the world in order to make significant progress.  We must change our perspective, become less divisive, build more coalitions, and teach others to respect our freedoms and choices as much as we respect theirs.  If every cigar lover, as 5% of the population, convinced 12 people to respect our freedoms, then we could have a chance at surviving the tyranny of the majority.
   

“We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

    

- Benjamin Franklin