From: [j--w--n] at [netcom.com] (Joe Dawson)
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)


REAL MOTIVES
by Joe Dawson

Politics, as they say, makes strange bedfellows, and anti-smokers
come in a strange mix indeed: politicians, paternalists,
profiteers, puritans, collectivists, conformists, fascists,
bigots, former smokers and even some smokers. If you are in bed
with the anti-smokers, you might want to have a closer look at
those whose agendas you are furthering. A little introspection
wouldn't hurt, either.

Politicians
A statesman is a person with sincerity, conviction, the ability
to determine intelligent solutions to political problems and a
talent for selling those solutions to the public. True statesmen
are extremely rare. Not so rare are would-be statesmen. These are
people with intelligence, conviction and sincerity aplenty, but
who lack the critical talent for selling tough solutions. They
don't last long. A politician, on the other hand, rides the
horse, so to speak, it the direction it happens to be going.
Right or wrong, smart or stupid and regardless of their personal
beliefs, they deliver what the voters want.

Some people call this ideological prostitution, but that may be
an unfair parallel. Politicians are morally neutral. If a sincere
elected official isn't doing what the voters want, they will
simply elect a replacement. The replacement may be another
sincere person whose convictions more closely approximate the
latest of the voters' ever-changing desires, or it may be a
politician. The voters get what they want either way, but as
politicians are flexible, they tend to stay in office longer.
Because of this, the democratic system selects for politicians.
Most of the time, this leaves us muddling along more or less
halfway between excellence and calamity. Occasionally, and
unfortunately, it also allows a particularly vicious circle known
as the witch hunt.

Whether it involves witches, minority groups, drinkers,
communists, oil companies, drug users or smokers, the pattern is
the same. A few hysterics perceive a problem and demand action
from their representatives, who are, by and large, politicians.
The latter respond by holding one-sided hearings. The publicity
from these hearings attracts new adherents to the original cause,
who demand more action. More one-sided hearings are held. Studies
are funded. A few laws are passed. Groups grow, issuing ever
louder calls for action. More hearings. More studies. More laws.
Bigger groups. And so on until there exists a hysteria of
national proportions and the legal landscape, individual rights
and the constitution itself are irrevocably scarred by lunatic
laws.

Paternalists
Paternalism has been around for a long time, so it is not
surprising to find them among the anti-smokers. It is a gender-
neutral, equal opportunity form of tyranny. But it is surprising
that many, if not most, of them today are women. Feminists have
long, and with just cause, railed at a paternalistic system that
decided what was best for them whether they liked it or not. It
seems now that their problem was not paternalism per se; they
just want to be the ones playing daddy. Or God. In their book
"Stupid Ways, Smart Ways, to Think about God", Rabbi Jack
Bemporad and Michael Shevack argue that God gave humanity ''truly
godlike'' qualities, notably free will. God ''can't just swoop
down and make our lives perfect. That would be an insult against
our humanity, our nature. It would violate the very free spirit
he gave us. . . . He must allow man rope, even if he hangs
himself.'' Paternalists are those that redefine God as a
meddlesome patriarch and then, unhappy with His performance,
assume the role themselves.

Profiteers
There's money to be made in anti-smoking - lots of it. Federal
grants for anti-smoking studies, no matter how redundant or
structurally flawed, are almost automatic. And California's
Proposition 99, passed in 1988, is a mother lode. Under its
provisions, there is so much to dole out that practically anyone
with any harebrained scheme can profit, so long as their ideas
can be viewed in some way as furthering the anti-smoking cause.
Thus, camping trips are funded and the hikers are even clothed -
with tee-shirts bearing anti-smoking messages. One group built a
race car with anti-smoking slogans on it and now tour the racing
circuit at smokers' expense. Swimming pools are built for schools
on the condition that smoking be banned throughout the property,
including teachers in their own cars while on the parking lot.
Stanton Glantz, one of the high priests of the movement, sums it
up: "This", he says, "pays my mortgage."

Puritans
The original Puritans fled what they regarded as a corrupt and
sinful England to await in safety the inevitable retribution they
expected to be visited upon it by an angry God. They planned to
maintain a morally pure society with which to reseed the old
world following its destruction. Any moral deviation was swiftly
punished with stocks, scarlet letters, public whippings and
hangings. Old habits die hard, and values are passed from
generation to generation. Thus Puritanism is one of the more
important roots of modern American values, for while the literal
aim of the Puritans has faded with time, its fundamental
attitudes persist. Many Americans feel that our culture and
values are superior to all others, and that it is just a question
of time before everyone else in the world adopts them, whether by
choice or by force. More importantly, they believe in a uniform
behavioral code for all Americans, and that moral deviation
should not be tolerated. We have puritanism to thank for laws
regulating sex, alcohol, drugs, song lyrics, dancing and now
smoking.

Collectivists
Collectivists believe that the whole is greater than the sum of
its parts. In particular, they believe that "society" is an
entity in and of itself, quite apart from the individuals who
comprise it, and that the rights of this "society" invariably
outweigh any the individual might claim. Government is the legal
and political manifestation of society. To collectivists, your
body is government property, and you must be forbidden from doing
anything which may damage it. Your time, likewise, is government
property, and time not spent in the furtherance of "societal"
good is frowned upon. Your income and any savings you may have
accrued are regarded by collectivists as the rightful property of
"society". The infamous "social costs of smoking" studies are
pure collectivist tracts. They include the money smokers spend on
cigarettes, their medical bills, their insurance premiums and
income lost due to illness, whether attributable to smoking or
not. Thought that was your own money? Nope.

Conformists
Conformists are those whose credo is "My country, right or
wrong", their faith in the beneficence of government absolute.
They are the flag wavers. Theirs are the bumperstickers exhorting
"America: Love it or Leave it!" The irony of waving a symbol of
freedom in support of laws that would abridge freedom does not
occur to them, since, by their nature, they do not question. If
the government says a thing, it must be so. These are not evil
people. Their blind faith, however, is hazardous to everyone's
freedom. A society that achieves total conformity is by
definition a society that is oppressed.

Fascists
Fascists are bullies with a vision. Though frequently associated
with nationalists and communists, fascists differ in that they
require neither moral consistency nor philosophical
justification. Historically, and under most systems of
government, even socialism and communism, certain rights derive
from the ownership of property. Whereas under socialism the
government owns the means of production (and the rights thereto),
and under communism the means of production is understood to
include people, fascism is unconcerned with rights or
constitutional niceties. Fascists simply force whomever they need
to do whatever they want. Laws are to fascists what bullets are
to guns.

Bigots
Some people simply aren't happy without someone to hate. Bigots
come in two flavors. One consists of puritans who regard those
not like themselves as moral deviants. The other type is made up
of people of low self-esteem who need someone to look down on in
order to feel superior by comparison. Since it is now illegal to
act out prejudice against blacks, Jews, gays, Hispanics, the
handicapped, foreign nationals and other historical victims,
smokers are now the target of choice.

Former smokers
Former smokers may become anti-smokers for one or both of two
reasons. One is that, in order to quit, some smokers use a form
of self-hypnosis. They program themselves to hate everything
associated with smoking, particularly its smell. They quit by
learning to loathe smoke and, by extension, smokers. They have
traded a habit for a phobia. The other reason commands less
sympathy.  There are those whose beliefs are subject to whim, and
whatever they do, don't do or subscribe to is deemed appropriate
and mandatory for everyone else. They are fascists without
integrity. A lot of Baby Boomers fall into this category. The
generation that once preached free love and demanded "sex, drugs
and rock 'n' roll" is about to turn 50. Their hormones have
subsided, their hearing is impaired and their livers are on the
fritz. Not surprisingly, they now espouse monogamy, temperance
and moderation in all things except the acquisition of real
estate. What is contemptible, however, is that they want to
impose their values on everyone else - by law. When they quit,
everybody quits. They don't want to smell smoke; ergo, it should
be illegal for you to smoke. Separate restaurants? Separate
airplanes? Forget it. They want 'em all. Their parents were right
all along: Baby Boomers are nothing but a bunch of self-indulgent
brats.

Smokers
There are, believe it or not, smokers who are anti-smokers. They
use phrases like "my filthy habit" and "I really ought to quit."
Whether at heart they are puritan, collectivist or conformist,
they are other-directed and dependent upon the judgement of
others. The puritans and collectivists merely feel guilt for
sinning or being poor citizens. But the most heart-wrenching are
the conformists: those who fight our wars, those who support the
troops, those who wave the flag; those who turn out for every
election and never seek to be excused from jury duty. Those, who,
having been told by the government that smokers are evil people
to be hated, are loyal to the end and dutifully despise
themselves.


The dramatis personnae described above, while they share little
else, have found common ground on the issue of smoking. That they
should use corrupt science, ad hominem arguments, lies, smear
campaigns and character assassination is not surprising once you
know who they are. But what is truly sickening is that they have
bullied, intimidated, regulated, insulted, degraded and turned 50
million innocent people into moral lepers, all while claiming the
moral high ground.

Pardon me while I vomit.


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