Oregon. Cigarette Tax RejectedI realize this is a small victory. However, it seems to me that the Anti-smokers have gone a bit too far on this issue of smoking. Our taxes have already sky rocketed on tobacco...I remember 1.25 a pack!, they have chased smokers out of restaurants and break rooms, pushed us out into the freezing snow and rain, and now in several states (and soon to be Oregon) the days of sitting at a pub drinkin' beer, smoking and writing furiously about how fucked up this country is will be a thing of the past.
The thing that irks me about the pubs being forced to go non-smoking , besides the negative impact on my identity, is that there are PLENTY of bars in and around town that are already non-fucking-smoking...Why do the non-smokers need all of the pubs in town?
What greedy little bastards they are. They take my money(and try for more), push me out of every business, and look at me with the same disgusted look you make when after a long day of work, finding that your dog was not feeling well and his feces is sprayed across the kitchen floor, on the cupboards and refrigerator, and finally on the chenille rug near the back door he so desperately tried to reach.
You know...I know of a few white people that look at ethnic groups, the homeless, and colored AMERICAN citizens that way.
It's called discrimination.
Taxing, Banning and Profiling of a group of people is bloody wrong. And trying to tell me that it's okay to use the same discriminatory behavior towards smokers is justified because of health issues, that it is a burden on the insurance companies and citizens is a crock of shit. If the burden is so great and tobacco is so evil, then I suggest you go after the companies that produce the product, not those who use the product.
The article above states that the governor and others blame the tobacco companies for buying the election with over 10 million spent on ads. That means they are saying that the Oregonian voters are stupid and easily influenced. Perhaps they are not so dumb and recognize the fascist undertones of behavioral control that the taxing and banning of a special group really is.
7 comments:
Speaking as someone who doesn't and never has smoked, who in fact used to have terrible allergic reactions to cigarette smoke until all my friends who smoke switched to rolling their own (must be some nasty additive that i was so allergic too)...
In previous years, I've sat in many a non-smoking section that was that in name only, the haze wafting in from the next section over. And I just took it, 'cause I could never say "I'm going to spend more money here than your entire smoking section". So I let it be. Not the smartest tactic for a man who had cancer. So I'm really glad to have smoke-free restaurants at this stage in my life.
But I think it's really stupid that they're making the pubs all become non-smoking. When I go to a bar, it's NOT to preserve the integrity and health of my body.
For that matter, I wonder if smoking should be legal (or mandatory?) at bars, major fast-food chains, and churches. Basically anywhere you go and expect to be poisoned anyway. :)
I disagree with your point that saying big tobacco bought the election means the speaker thinks Oregonians are stupid. Advertising (in a general sense) works. That's why companies spend millions on it - because it gets results. I agree that elections can and are bought, but it doesn't mean I think anyone is stupid.
I don't consider myself stupid, yet I know advertising influences me. Look at all the crap I own. It came brightly packaged, or I read a good review, so I bought it. I know don't need three quarters of it, though I only really believe I don't need a third of it.
It's human nature. Sad, and not the shiniest part of our nature, but by definition stupidity is below-average intelligence. Our ability to be swayed by advertising is average to the core.
All that said, it totally fucking sucks that people give you dirty looks and treat you different because you smoke. I wish I was never a part of that, but I know I have been. Maybe not (maybe) to you (maybe), but to a lot of other people over the years. When I do it again, you have my permission to tell me to quit being a jackass and a bigot.
Thank you for your thoughtful response.
I think I do agree with you about the advertising, but I was on a rant last night and trying really hard to not sound like I had completely gone ballistic. I had made my choice before the advertising campaign had begun, and wanted to see the Oregonian Population in a perhaps too charitable of light. Saturation advertising does work. And perhaps I need to post about some thoughts and revelations concerning Media Literacy in another post.
However, my world view at this point is one of that in which giving the benefit of the doubt and expecting the progressive NW to also be progressive in their critically thinking skills, is necessary to creating a reality in which everyone thinks for themselves and the wholistic affects on the society.
Yes this is an Idealist perspective. But damnit, if it weren't for idealists we may still see humanity stuck in a belief system predating the agricultural revolution, if not the dark ages.
I commend and applaud your idealism, and hope it continues through the rest of your days. I often find my own idealist and jaded sides in bloody conflict.
I look forward to hearing your "thoughts and revelations concerning Media Literacy" sometime.
r_b_bergstrom said:
"I look forward to hearing your "thoughts and revelations concerning Media Literacy" sometime."
me too...
Um ya...
they're here...somewhere...
;)
While I applaud rbb's calm response, my sympathy for you is low.
I strongly suspect that the reason you smoke has a lot to do with rebellion: going against common wisdom.
I also suspect you secretly LIKE being shunned for smoking.
Myself, I started smoking when I turned 18 so I could speak with authority when I told people it was a vile and disgusting habit. Turns out that tobacco tastes great when smoked and gives you a pleasant little buzz to boot. And considering my family medical history I'm at pretty low risk for negative side effects. Rebel rebel!
And if you ever lived in any former Confederate state back in the day (I love that phrase) you would have seen smoking as just another activity people do while walking, driving, eating, seeing a movie, at church, or in the grocery store. Rebel rebel!
I've got long hair. Between 1987 and 2000, it was not even so much as trimmed to get rid of split ends.
I'm a vegetarian. I do eat eggs and dairy, but no meat. Not even poultry or fish. Yet my closet contains leather shoes and until recently had a leather jacket.
So I find it very easy to be sympathetic to those who are discriminated against and/or harassed for the personal choices they make.
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