Posted on 05/21/2004 8:50:48 AM PDT by SheLion
Tyranny of the majority: Smoking ban is just plain wrong
Posted on Thu, May. 20, 2004
MATTHEW J. GOLLINGER
As smoking bans have made their way into law across the country, one adage has repeatedly come to mind: "What's right isn't always popular, and what's popular isn't always right."
The St. Paul City Council is threatening to enact a smoking ban. The stink of smoke in clothing, the haze obscuring the stage and sore throats induced by second-hand smoke would be worries of the past. The majority recognizes that these benefits would improve their bar/restaurant experience and pledges their support to the ban.
These benefits can explain the popularity of the proposal, yet they do not justify it. The proposed ban recklessly ignores the ability of the free market to meet public demand. Moreover, free society demands that the majority refrain from such selfish imposition.
Smoking bans make sense in the context of hospitals and airplanes, which are areas of public necessity. Restaurants and bars, however, are recreational venues, where no one is forced to be. The proposed ban is grossly overbroad regulation, marginally increasing the convenience and comfort of the nonsmoking majority by drastically reducing the rights and privileges of the smoking minority. While the clothing of nonsmokers will be good for an extra wearing between washes, smokers will be shooed outside like dogs in the dead of winter.
This is pure selfishness by those favoring the ban. Currently, smokers and nonsmokers are able to enjoy a drink/meal in their venue of choice, nearly all of which have nonsmoking sections. Furthermore, nonsmokers are free to patronize restaurants that have voluntarily banned smoking. If people truly cared about the ban, such establishments would be inundated by those seeking smoke-free hospitality. Extensive advertising would appear to attract all of those nonsmoking dollars to smoke-free joints. The sponsors of the ban seek to take away our ability to "vote with our feet/pocketbook" by eliminating our ability to choose.
The smoking ban grows out of an ever-expanding brand of idiocy; that one has a fundamental right to be free from inconvenience and offense. This insanity is patently un-American. When we venture into the public, whether it be a sidewalk, park, bar or restaurant, we subject ourselves to experiencing the whole of our society. Frequently, our society is not a perfect reflection of who we are, and it offends us. One might be offended at the sight of a homosexual couple kissing, the hearing of a racial epithet or the stench of someone who chooses not to shower.
Tough luck.
While we could outlaw physical contact by members of the same gender, institute speech codes and make showering mandatory, we do not and should not. We do not prohibit these activities because our selfish need for convenience and personal comfort must not interfere with the basic freedoms we enjoy as a society.
The most compelling argument in favor of the ban is that hospitality employees are subjected to a dangerous work environment, polluted by carcinogens. Let me be clear on this point: I do not care. Neither should you.
I have worked as a bartender for the past four years. Though I do not consider myself a smoker, I have inhaled more than my fair share of second-hand smoke. Might this exposure cause long-term adverse health effects? Yes. However, I have grown up in a time when even people living under rocks are well aware that smoking is bad for you. Nevertheless, I chose to work as a bartender and accepted the negative aspects of the job along with the positive ones. As an adult in a free society, I weighed the relevant pros and cons and made the choice to serve drinks. Nobody forced me to get behind that bar, and I certainly don't need the City Council's protection. The implicit condescension and elitism of the sponsors of the smoking ban should infuriate all employees of the hospitality industry.
I like to think that we live in a relatively enlightened community that respects the rights of those who are outnumbered. However, as the smoking ban gains momentum, I am starting to believe that those who support the ban do not care whether such a ban is right, so long as it is popular.
Gollinger is an attorney and part-time bartender.
TwinCities.com
I am very interested in seeing your friend's comments. Truly, I am.
I have read all of the studies I am aware of regarding SHS and using true epidemiology guidelines none of them show statiscally significant anything.
One thing I will ask of you is to not mix up the issues - you are either discussing smokers and their smoking or you are discussing non-smokers exposed to the smoke of others. To put the 2 issues into the conversation is mixing appls and oranges.
i APPRECIATE your tone and perspective. I'm willing to dig through umpteen emails and find it. But possibly not tonight. If I forget, please remind me.
Blessings,
THANKS for your kind words. It's wonderful when lurkers speak up.
I don't mind extending compassion and some measure of respect for most anyone.
Most of us have been clueless at some time or other in our lives and many of us for years or decades. Most of us have been losers in one or more areas of our life for extended periods.
I can understand your attitude and perspective. But I doubt it will have much impact on any smokers that you know.
Many times, if these sorts of characters choose to be fiesty and ornery with little logic or consideration and all manner of diatribes, then I'm quite happy/willing to throw it back at them as good as they dish it out. But if someone is willing to be civil and have a genuine dialogue, I'm happy to do my best to comply.
Dialogue rarely hurts when it's earnestly entered into with anything close to fairmindedness.
I seriously doubt it.
I'm not looking for it tonight, take your time.
I'm in the middle of another project and then my head is going to make it's date with my pillow. I've got gardening work to do in the morning and meetings all afternoon so if you respond and I don't reply right away, please understand I will be away from this machine most of the day on Tuesday.
Have a pleasant night.
You haven't put anything on your about page, newbie.....how can we know what you're about if we can't even tell where you are from????
BYE BYE troll
larry - you are so flipping lame it isn't even funny............
I GREATLY appreciate your kind words and vote of confidence. It get's lonely and tiresome being the point person in such brick brack exchanges! LOL. I just hate the impression to get across that the side of sanity and healthiness is silent or full of wimps.
I'll long remember your encouragement. AT the moment, I think I've ran out of things to add.
God's best to you and yours.
Thanks. I have a full day tomorrow, too. Lunch with pastor and another man or two and the driving mother's cousin to Durango for an eye appointment.
In due course.
Thanks,
No problem.
Just a bit of advice - the newbie is an anti-smoker troll that has been kicked off of FR more than once since the first of the year. I'm familiar with his writing style and you will notice he honed right in on my "young daughter".
He is no friend of a Christian such as yourself - he has previously (on another message board) advocated throwing a woman off a bridge if she were the grandmother of his children because she is a smoker, the use of bricks and/or small caliber handguns on the part of the body of men below their belts because they work or worked for a tobacco company, and that abortion would be better for a child of a smoker.
I have a feeling the Viking Kitties will be soon visiting.
Thanks for your kind words.
I trust, pray, hope and anticipate that the blessings of The Lord will chase after me because His Word says so.
Yes, smokers can be illogical and shrill. So can some of us on the other side of the fence. But all are made in God's image and deserve some measure of respect. imho.
Your strong feelings are understandable.
Sometimes, theirs are, too.
I'd rather convince them on the merits of the evidence, however. Some will not be, no matter the evidence. Their choice.
Thanks much for your kind words and vote of confidence. I just truly have nothing significant to add to the discussion at the present.
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