Saturday, October 22, 2011

First they came for the smokers ... and I said nothing because I was not a smoker.

I was born in Iran in 1985 when the country was recovering from the effects of the 1979 revolution and the fascist take-over of the Islamic Republic. That, however, is not what I want to write about today. I'm writing about my experiences throughout my life with smoking and anti-smoking, and how closely the anti-smoking lobby, and the social attitudes it has produced, resembles fascism.

My father was a smoker, and my mom was not. In fact, after my parent's divorce, my mom became a complete anti-smoker. One reason was perhaps because she associated smoking with my father, whom she had begun to dislike. I had a different idea of smoking. Most of my father's family smoked, and I had nothing but fond memories from smokers - especially my father. The smell of tobacco on his clothes when he held me, the look of pleasure when he lit up a smoke after a nice meal and the hours of conversation that was spent between adults around the hookah.

(...)

I began writing this by explaining about the place I grew up which was (and to be honest, still is) a blatantly fascist state. From how my own mother's mentality went from someone who disliked smoking to someone who openly admits that when it comes to smoking, she's a fascist. From witnessing the world around me in Canada change, year by year to a more authoritarian place. And all because of what? A selected few who get their jollies by controlling others. Did you know that politicians in both the US Congress and the European Parliament exempted themselves from smoking bans in Washington, D.C. and Brussels?! This means that the lawmakers who passed the laws banning smoking in the US and EU are allowed to smoke while us subhumans can all go eat cake. The hypocrisy, lies and disinformation are so rampant and glaringly obvious but most people simply refuse to acknowledge it, preferring instead to pretend that they are free in a world where they have no real choices. Full story...

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