Inspired By Frustration

"For the Sake of the Chiiil-dren"

In 1973, I dated a divorced father of two small children. He had visitation on weekends and we spent much of our time together enjoying activities that included them. A favorite place was one of the local parks that had playground equipment enclosed within a circle of nearby picnic tables and benches.

One crisp autumn afternoon, as we sat on a bench, drinking coffee and watching the kids play on the swings, their father lit the last cigarette in a pack. He got up to toss the empty pack into a trash receptacle a few feet from the bench and was suddenly accosted by a woman who knocked the cigarette from his hand and ground it out on the cement.

"You shouldn't be smoking where children play", she shouted at him.

He was so startled, he was speechless for a moment as he stared at the woman standing defiantly with hands on hips. "What the hell?", were his first words. "What right do you have to attack me for doing something that's none of your business?"

"You have NO RIGHT to pollute the air my children breathe. If you want to kill your own children in your own home, I guess that's your business. But MY children are MY business and I have every right to attack you for harming them."

Another woman showed up about then and took the first one by the arm, leading her away. She looked over her shoulder and glared at us, then the two women rounded up three or four little ones from the play area and led them, protesting, out of the park.

I think I realized then that the handwriting was on the wall.

Demonizing Smokers

By the time I was in the seventh or eighth grade in the early 1960's, we were shown films during health class about the "horrors" of smoking. I remember them well. And they scared the hell out of me since my mother, widowed when I was nine, smoked. I was sure she was going to die any minute and leave my younger brother and me orphans. I know I pleaded with her to give up the habit. She handled it with her usual grace and calm and she enjoyed her cigarettes for the rest of her long life. I cringe now to realize what a pest I was about the issue.

I'm certain most of my contemporaries made pests of themselves with their own parents as well. Without a doubt, re-educating parents through pressure from their offspring was part of the reason for introducing the horror movies into the school curriculum.

"Anti-tobacco activists" have been around nearly as long as the cultivation of tobacco itself. (The History of Tobacco Regulation covers it all, if you're interested.) But until the latter half of the twentieth century, there was little debate and certainly no real public censure.

The first warning labels, "Cigarette Smoking May be Hazardous to Your Health", appeared on cigarette packaging in 1965. The ban on television and radio advertising began in 1971. Articles about the risks of smoking to health AND appearance appeared in women's magazines and "public service" announcements were seen frequently on television.

But most smokers believed that, as adults consuming a legal product, it was their right to take whatever risk smoking posed if they chose to do so. "My body. My business. Butt out.", was one way of putting it.

Anti-smokers find the key

We all know by now what that key is... fostering an atmosphere where it is perceived that smokers injure those around them, especially their family, infants, and young children. We began hearing about it thirty-odd years ago and now the impact of this propaganda is being felt throughout the world.

The "injuring others" mantra is now used to invalidate any protest based on individual or property rights. As long as the majority - smokers included - are convinced that smoking is a threat dire to innocent children and other non-smokers, the anti-smoking agenda will win every argument.

So Now What?

Finding information that refutes claims about what is now most commonly called ETS (Environmental Tobacco Smoke) was nearly impossible for the ordinary individual prior to the internet. Now there are lots of sources. I will continue to provide links to some of the best throughout my writing as well as in the sidebar of this blog.

I found confirmation of my conviction that the "studies" and "statistics" used in the war against smokers are, at best, misleading; at worst, outright lies. In becoming enlightened, I also became alarmed by the fanaticism, shocked by the agenda and who is behind it and disgusted that civilized, freedom loving people throughout the world are allowing themselves to be steamrolled into compliance.

I also became frustrated by the fact that there seems to be damned little I can do about it. Beyond keeping on top of the latest depressing news, cheering the few small - probably temporary - victories, what can I add that hasn't already been said.

To this point, I find the contingent of activists and people willing to stand up and fight back to be few and far between. With a few notable exceptions, such as Lynda Farley who has taken her show on the road, we don't seem to doing much to get our message across. Yes, I believe the "pen is mightier than the sword", but aren't we all just preaching to the choir so far?

Web sites such as FORCES and The Smoker's Club, Inc. are phenomenal sources of information kept alive by people and groups who are obviously passionate about the issue. I applaud them and I support them.

But, with all due respect...SO WHAT? The power and the money behind anti-tobacco is tremendous. American colonists faced no less an adversary in 1773 when they undertook a protest that ultimately led to the American Revolution. The human spirit and an overwhelming drive to regain our liberty with determinate action is the only remedy to the tyranny facing us now.

So, using my imagination, I am spinning the tale of The Smokers' Rebellion... A work of fiction. For now.