#I'm back
12 messages in this thread
Well, anti-smoking has gotten to be a religious crusade here and is
responsible for everything from all deaths from all causes to flat feet. It IS
a bad and harmful habit that most governments pushed until about 15 years ago,
but the Crusade has given the majority who no longer can beat up on all the
usual minorities a target that can't fight back.
This is not to say that a smoke-free society won't be a healthier one, but
they'll blame smoking on things for a century after the last smoker is interred
in the ground. It's easier than looking at automobile pollution, industrial
pollution, and all the rest of the expensive and complex health hazards in our
society.
On the other hand, if they ultimately attain the "smoke free" status, it is
absolutely inevitable that we'll get the "If we can put a man on the Moon…"
scenario. I'm reminded of the last scene in the original INVASION OF THE BODY
SNATCHERS when Kevin McCarthy stands fruitlessly in speeding traffic screaming
"You're next! You're next!"
Jack,
Whether it's a bad habit or not is not really the point. The point is that
ordinary citizens are not being left to make their own decision.
The crusaders tried it once with Prohibition….
Adrian
Yes, and, as I say, the worst thing about the anti-smoking campaign will be
when they succeed, and at the rate they're going they will. It will be held up
as a model to force people into all sorts of other "desirable" behavioral
models. What's next? Anyone who's overweight? That's coming. The list is
long….
Jack,
And when everybody acts like everyone else, looks like everyone else etc, what
kind of an existence will that be?
Adrian
Incredibly dull. Fortunately, I doubt if there's much chance of that. The
communists couldn't do it in fifty years, so it's unlikely that anybody else
will really manage to do so. There is a point at which it all just falls apart,
and there is never a system that doesn't also breed people who are good at
beating it. Virtually all of my books in fact are about setting up conditions
where it's impossible to beat the system and then showing how to do it. Not
anarchistic, just optimistic.
On the other hand, the capacity of groups and do-gooders and pc types to
attempt Orwellian methods in the name of Truth, Justice, and Freedom is
omnipresent.
The one flaw that's shown up in Orwell, though, is heartening. At the
National Security Agency barely 50 miles from here they can and do intercept
just about every single broadcast of anything by any medium on the face of the
earth and their codebreaking abilities are amazing. The net result? Information
overload. So much comes in that there is no way to make sense of or sort it
out. One programmer I know who worked for them said that the best they can do
when some nasty international incident happens is go back and sort through the
muck and see how it developed! But spotting it in time to do something about
it–forget it. We have all the answers, but the ability to frame the QUESTION
is beyond us!
Jack,
NSA's 50 miles from you…..my next door neighbor. Cable TV is a must here
because the "interference" is too strong to pick up even the strongest local
channels, though no one claims that's the reason….. and I'm going to worry
about smoking….NOT.
Jim
You're next to Ft. Meade, huh? I'm near Camp David but there's a lot less
going through the aether here.
I always wondered what you might wind up going through you if you lived
close to an NSA. And the EPA won't let you lead-line your house any more.
Hmmm….
Lead Lined house…hmmmm, you sure I can't……I'm not paranoid, I just
know they're reading the emissions from my PC as I type this note {grin}. Of
course I could move….I hear there's a great offer on a house….nothing
around for miles…Oh, it's just beneath BWI's takeoff pattern.
Cheers,
Jim
Well, up here in northwest Carroll County the only thing that's the problem
is the pungent smell of fertilizer on the fields in the spring and fall.
Everybody always asks me why I'm living out here in the middle of nowhere, and
I tell 'em, well, virtually no crime (1 murder per year county average, none
unsolved since 1954–the six resident state troopers are the whole police
department), lower property taxes, decent roads and schools, and the fact that
I'm living comfortably in a nice $400,000 house by Montgomery County standards
which I paid $155,000 for.
And the only noise is the occasional helicopter going to or from Camp
David….
Cigarettes and coffee……All this talk is leading me to the best way to
spend a quiet, relaxing weekend……Fresh Coffee, a Cigarette, and a good
book……Well, I'm off to the bookstore. One of the best bookstores I've ever
seen is in Carmel, CA….A combination Coffee shop (smoking allowed!) and
bookstore…….See ya all Monday {g}
Jim
Smoking allowed? In a bookstore? In CARMEL? Will wonders never cease! We
can't even smoke in malls here, let alone stores.
As someone who makes his living writing books, how can I argue with you?
Jack,
I can tell you're an author<g>.
My innocent little one-liners seem to provoke a lot of response<bg>. Don't get
me wrong, I appreciate the replies, but it's probably in my blood that I write
relatively short messages myself.
Best
Adrian