There is no doubt that Tobacco smoking is harmful to your
health. Since the 1950s, there have been conclusive studies that link smoking
to several fatal diseases such as lung cancer, mouth cancer, kidney cancer,
emphysema, cataracts, strokes, and many others. On the television, on print
advertisements, as well as on cigarette packs themselves, there are warnings
about the fatal risk that smokers take when they light up. As true as these
warnings may be, are they really necessary considering all the knowledge our
society has about the risk of these diseases? Only a moron in this day and age
is unaware of the fundamental consequences of cigarette smoking. Furthermore,
why is the attitude towards smokers (at least in North America) so negative? If
someone wants to smoke and endanger their health, it is an individual choice
they have made and one only they must take responsibility for. We have every
right as consumers to choose whether or not to start smoking. Tobacco is not the
only harmful product that is available for purchase by far. Alcohol, foods high
in saturated fats, and even candy are all harmful to the health and some of
which have been shown to foster dependence and addiction in a similar manner as
tobacco. Therefore, it is very hypocritical to insult someone for smoking a
cigarette while you guzzle down a thirty-ounce Coca-cola. There are not nearly
as many warnings and advertisements against alcohol or hamburgers, so it is
unreasonable that there should be so many against tobacco.
Tobacco advertising is one of the most regulated forms of
marketing in North America. In 1988, the Canadian government banned all forms
of tobacco advertisements and ruled that tobacco corporations must place
warning labels on all their products. In 2008, retailers are no longer allowed
to display tobacco products in their stores and must be kept under the counter.
The ability to smoke in restaurants and workplaces is also prohibited in
Canada.
These laws are absolutely ridiculous. They only enforce the
notion that man is not responsible for his own actions and must rely on
government regulations to save him from the danger of his own decisions. The
restaurant smoking ban is particularly unethical. It should be the decision of
the individual business owner regarding whether or not people may smoke inside
his establishment. Those who wish to eat and drink in a smoke-free environment are
free to go elsewhere. Just as the individual should be at liberty to smoke a
cigarette if he/she pleases, bar and tavern owners should be at liberty to choose
whether or not their patrons may smoke in their establishment. Why should the
government tell people how to run their businesses and their lives?
The law prohibiting tobacco companies from advertising is
equally asinine. The government assumes that people who are subjected to any
advertisement are under a helpless spell which forces them to buy whichever
product or service is being advertised. Of course this is not the case. People
must learn to think critically about what they see in the media and on
commercials instead of absorbing all information like mindless consumer
zombies. Rational, self-sufficient men know how to perceive what they are being
advertised and do not need government regulations to shield them from the
dangers of tobacco. Most people are perfectly able to pass judgment on a
commercial without the nanny state having to filter the content of commercials
based on the safety of the product. Anyone who starts smoking for the sole
reason that a print ad in the magazine told them to is likely a highly-suggestible
personal anyways and is likely prone to similar moronic tendencies with or
without government regulations.
Most disturbing however is a recent law that has been
proposed in the Australian state of Tasmania. The article which describes the
bill in detail is posted in a link below. In a nutshell, the bill gradually
seeks to raise the age at which one may purchase tobacco products until
eventually smoking would be banned for everyone outright. The goal of the bill
is to prevent children from starting smoking. Children however, are similarly
capable of making decision for themselves based on their own rational
faculties. Not every child starts smoking. In fact, smoking rates have nearly
halved in the past three decades according to a study done by the World Health
Organisation 2002.
Such displays of complete batshit as the one in Tasmania are
a result of the prevalent socialist and statist philosophies of our culture. No
demographic of individuals, regardless of their size or political influence has
a moral right to vote away the rights of others. If you don’t like smoking,
that’s fine. Don’t smoke. Only a tyrant and a bully would seek to take away
someone else’s right to smoke if they so please.
Obviously these people have not learned from past instances
of prohibition. When something is prohibited for which there is a demand, a
black market will be created. A ban on tobacco outright will not get rid of smoking;
it will just turn smokers into criminals, which further entails an entirely new
set of problems for that society. Just look at alcohol prohibition in the
twenties. It is utterly sad how people refuse to learn from past mistakes.
