Anybody remember those wonderful public meetings the Health Department had a couple years ago about the proposed smoking bans in the area? Giving the people a chance to speak their piece was so “democratic” of them, don’t you think? I can’t believe that anyone was taken in by all their posturing. Because it matters not what the average citizen thinks their rights are, no matter how well thought out the arguement, because the powers that be will have it their way no matter how hard they try to make it appear as if they care what we think.
I attended the “public meeting” about the smoking ban that was held in Arnoldsburg. After reflecting on everything that was said at that meeting, this was what I found glaringly apparent.
The pro-smoking-ban people basically listed all their opinions on why they think that people should not smoke AT ALL. Fine. I agree.
But the trouble is, this is only a preference. Opinions. That is all. They did not address the real issue, but rather, they diligently avoided it. People DO smoke, and no amount of peoples opinions will change that, no matter what position they hold.
For or against, the greater truth to all of this is that the smoking bans are nothing more than blatant discrimination, against smokers and against restaurant and bar owners. Another misguided attempt to “control the masses”. Period.
Opinion is opinion. I don’t like cigarettes, cheap perfume, air pollution from cars and trucks, greasy food, water pollution from factories and mining, loud and ignorant people, mind pollution from propaganda and brainwashing, and on and on and on…. Shall we ban all those things too?
The smoking bans have decidedly crossed the line into legislating morality. THE EXISTING SMOKING RULES WERE FAIR TO EVERYONE. The new ones are NOT. Period. And as time goes on it will only get worse.
How many hundreds or even thousands of years do you suppose that tobacco use has been an acceptable tradition? These bans are nothing more than “designer” laws, which benefits only a few hard nosed individuals who think everyone elses lives should be run just to please them!
Do you really think that the majority of people want their lives controlled that much by these so-called “leaders”? I’m calling them leaders only because in the end, they always get their way. And they won’t stop just with tobacco, I’m willing to bet money on it.
Sure, cigarette smoke stinks, makes your walls and curtains turn brown, makes your kids cough. I agree that people should be concerned about what they do and how it effects others around them. That is called “caring” and “respect”, and there is precious little enough of those things in this world. But, I DO NOT agree that we need to be treated like small children or slaves who cannot think for themselves. This is not conducive to learning respect. We need more laws like we need more ticks! You CANNOT legislate respect. You can’t BEAT it into people with laws and fines.
From reading the most recent news having to do with the encroaching variety of smoking bans encompassing the world, it would appear as if this is the wave of the future.
Smoking Is Healthier Than Fascism
Soon tobacco will be as illegal as marijuana. Perhaps this is some sort of strange justice, but all it accomplishes is the creation of more and more laws, the need for more and more “rats” to report the broken “laws”, thus keeping even more citizens under ever growing surveillance and persecuting us all for the simplest enjoyments that we do in the privacy of our own homes. How much of this can we keep allowing, and WHAT in the world can be done to STOP the madness?
Calhoun Underground 