A few months back, I told readers of this blog that I’d begin making regular posts and adding a few new features to make the blog a little more interesting. I had intended to do just that. But, I got sidetracked.At the time, I was doing a little research into the antics of the anti-smoker fanatics and their efforts to ban smoking across Canada. What I found was a well organized, well financed worldwide attempt to eradicate smoking by eliminating smokers.
It’s not a conspiracy. It’s an open, well orchestrated war on smokers which relies on misinformation, corrupt science and deceptive statistics to deceive the uninformed, smokers and non-smokers alike; a propaganda campaign worthy of the Der Furher himself.
In a process they openly refer to as de-normalization, anti-smoker organizations irresponsibly promote fear, hatred and intolerance and advocate discrimination against smokers. Many recent initiatives go far beyond any credible claims of protecting anyone’s “right” to clean air or the alleged hazards of secondhand smoke.
Included in these: efforts designed to deny a smoker’s right to hold a job; proposals to deny smokers a right to rental accommodation; initiatives to declare smoking parents child abusers and deny smokers the right to adopt or foster children; efforts to deny smokers appropriate medical treatment; smoking bans that deny business owners of private property rights
These are morally reprehensible acts, not to be tolerated by any “free” society.
Defenders of a free society should strive for compromise achieved through reasoned debate, not the imposition of the “will” of the majority; especially when that will has been suborned by tainted science, dishonest statistics and outright lies. True democracy defends the rights of the minority; it doesn’t deny or trash them “in the public good”.
And, the non-smokers in the house shouldn’t get too complacent or convince themselves that it’s not their fight. It’s no longer about smoking or secondhand smoke. Those who condone, and in a growing number of cases support, the initiatives of tobacco prohibitionists; who condone or support discrimination against smokers in housing, employment and medical treatment should be very cautious.
Anti-smoker, anti-fat, anti-abortion, anti-alcohol; all these obsessions challenge personal liberty and individual rights. Those who support the repression of free choice may wish to re-evaluate their position when it’s their turn to be pilloried for making a particular lifestyle choice.
If anti-smoker fanatics are allowed to continue and intensify their attacks on smokers, there is no telling who the next target will be.
I’ve hated bullies since I was a kid. And, the anti-smoker Nazis are just another incarnation of the bullies we all knew growing up.
I can’t fight back the way I could as a younger man. But, I have a reasonable command of the English language and a computer. Maybe, in some small way, I can help get the truth out.
Like the Nazis in the thirties, no one took the anti-smoker brigade seriously. No one believed their propaganda efforts could fool an entire civilized society. But, they have and, at this point, it will be an uphill battle. I may not make much of a difference, but then, it won’t be the first time I’ve found myself pissing into the wind.
Unfortunately, considerable research and reading is required, which means I won’t be able to continue the fun part of blogging, at least for the time being.
But, for anybody out there still interested in reading what I have to say, drop by my new blog: Stand FAST
