Anti-smoking propoganda – smokers have no rights

I’d written about people pestering smokers, now its the government doing it. There’s a whole list of “public places” that people can’t smoke in, in Mumbai. Apparently, some people are more equal than others. If you don’t want to inhale smoke, you don’t even need to move away a little anymore. The government takes care of it for you.

I was really surprised to know that you can’t smoke in the premises of the society you live in. Open air really blows all the smoke away, so where is the logic in this? Its not like smokers find vulnerable non-smokers to blow smoke in their faces, you know?

I find this quite disgusting the way some people (read government) think they can decide for an entire population. Has the number of people dying from passive smoke exceeded those dying from diseases spread by mosquitoes and flies and rats? Where are the fines for lack of pest control – not newsworthy enough?

I see India going the phobia way straight into paranoia. Everything that scares you (whether real or imagined) needs to be destroyed. Smoking causes cancer. Awesome. Get rid of smoking, quick! Project every fear of ill health out of your control and get rid of smoking and fantasize that you will now not get any illness.

A few decades ago, it was the Hindu-Muslim riots, where Hindus thought all Muslims were basically killers who would get them one day and vice versa, and went ahead to get rid of them. Look what a beauty that was.

The desi ghee that was once liberally served for promoting good health, is missing from the tables of many families I know – for good health. No one is really bothered to know how that uncle of theirs could drink a glass of it everyday and lived into a bright old age.

People want black and white. If I do this, I will always remain safe. Never mind if it is an illusion. I want it to be true.

So now, it is the turn of smoking. Something that has survived centuries is bad for your health, until the next hype hits – it prevents Alzheimers. Then I guess, health conscious people will begin smoking that one or two cigarettes a day as “medicine”, like many heart patients have their glass of brandy (or whatever).

I’m feeling really disillusioned with this tendency to not just be a part of the herd, but get rid of all the non-herd possibilities.

Can we face it people? We are not immortal, there are no guarantees. We all have one life which each of us would like to live how we want. Can we stop making unnecessary rules without first researching their need, the impact of their lack and their consequences and only make them where we are convinced that their lack is a bad thing and making them will resolve the issue? For example, I wouldn’t be whining so much, if I had data on how harmful my cigarette smoked in open air is to the people living in the house nearby. Don’t give me guesses. Give me data. Tell me how many people in lung cancer wards are there because of the presence of a smoker in their immediate vicinity. Compare that with an estimated number of all passive smokers and give me that dangerous percentage that convinces me I’m killing people.

While you are at it, do put a ban on the religious fires with people sitting right next to them, or you’ll count their victims as passive smokers and ban cigarettes again. Went to a ceremony last week, and my seasoned smoker’s lungs near burned out in the smoke in that hall. I was certain I was going to faint. I actually walked out till the fire business was done. I wasn’t the only one. People were heading out for a breath of fresh air at regular intervals, eyes streaming, make up washing away. So now what? Any one want to take an initiative into measuring the carbon monoxide levels in that ill ventilated hall?

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7 thoughts on “Anti-smoking propoganda – smokers have no rights”

  1. I have faced exactly the opposite.

    As a non smoker on numerous occasions educated people in restaurants are spewing smoke all over when requested to move to another location or finish their smoke outside and get back they look at you as if you are some sort of intolerant asshole who intends to ruin good times.

    I am happy to be among smokers if the wind direction is right. And I dont give a damn if they got lung cancer tomorrow.

  2. Good one Vidyut!
    The anti smoking propaganda over here in Sweden is getting totally ridiculous. When I was pregnant the midwife who was doing my regular check-ups (free government support) was telling me that not only would I have to smoke cigarettes outside the house, but also would I have to change my clothes afterwards in order not to harm my child.
    It’s not only passive smoking, but third hand smoking they are paranoid about, but when it comes to additives in foods, vaccines, cosmetics and so forth, they call you a conspiracy theorist when you have concerns.
    Another thing that’s interesting is, that all statistics about the harmfulness of smoking are based on cigarettes and tobaccos that are laced with chemical additives. There is not one study that has looked into the effect of natural tobacco. Whereas I agree that inhaling hot smoke into your lungs of any kind is potentially harmful, I strongly believe that the major damage of cigarette smoking is done by the chemical additives and not the tobacco itself.

  3. Good one Vidyut!
    The anti smoking propaganda over here in Sweden is getting totally ridiculous. When I was pregnant the midwife who was doing my regular check-ups (free government support) was telling me that not only would I have to smoke cigarettes outside the house, but also would I have to change my clothes afterwards in order not to harm my child.
    It’s not only passive smoking, but third hand smoking they are paranoid about, but when it comes to additives in foods, vaccines, cosmetics and so forth, they call you a conspiracy theorist when you have concerns.
    Another thing that’s interesting is, that all statistics about the harmfulness of smoking are based on cigarettes and tobaccos that are laced with chemical additives. There is not one study that has looked into the effect of natural tobacco. Whereas I agree that inhaling hot smoke into your lungs of any kind is potentially harmful, I strongly believe that the major damage of cigarette smoking is done by the chemical additives and not the tobacco itself.

  4. Yeah, its quite insane in India too. I miss those old days of learning to smoke with the old women in the village, taking a break from cutting grass to sit under an apple tree and smoke cheap “Bhetadi beedis” (Munim beedis – called ‘bhetadi’ because women smoked them so much that I guess they threatened the manhood of any man who wanted to try them). Not a single man I knew smoked those.

    Remember that old master in Jagatsukh? One day we met him at Manojbhai’s tea shop and he was grumbling about the doctor who told him to quit smoking because he had fallen ill with some stomach pain. “Is it possible for me to die of old age?” he was asking anyone who wanted to listen.

  5. Yeah, its quite insane in India too. I miss those old days of learning to smoke with the old women in the village, taking a break from cutting grass to sit under an apple tree and smoke cheap “Bhetadi beedis” (Munim beedis – called ‘bhetadi’ because women smoked them so much that I guess they threatened the manhood of any man who wanted to try them). Not a single man I knew smoked those.

    Remember that old master in Jagatsukh? One day we met him at Manojbhai’s tea shop and he was grumbling about the doctor who told him to quit smoking because he had fallen ill with some stomach pain. “Is it possible for me to die of old age?” he was asking anyone who wanted to listen.

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