Today I’m mad as hell over the fact that the anti-smokers had their way with smokers, business owners and those who value personal rights in Ohio. I’m feeling very uneasy that the majority of voters have empowered lawmakers to introduce legislation banning smoking from public places, thereby altering the way a restaurant/bar owner runs their business. And let’s talk about that legistlation for a minute. How exactly will it be enforced? Well, I can’t tell you because they can’t tell you. It was announced that they will have a policy in place in six months (so smoke up in public places while you can) with a rumored first offense punishment of a letter reminding you smoking in public places in Ohio is illegal. But what is a public place in Ohio? How will this be determined? For example, if I’m playing golf on a public course and decide to enjoy a cigar, am I at risk for breaking the law? Am I putting myself in danger of receiving a letter? Maybe I’m misunderstanding the letter concept. Maybe it’s similar to the scarlet letter, only this one will be a black ‘S’ for smoker.
But maybe more annoying than Ohio voters taking away my rights is the fact that banning smoking is now the cool thing to do. A recent article in PRWeek (“Film Mogul Alters Script on Smoking”, Hamilton Nolan, October 30 issue) reported that Harvey Weinstein is so distraught over the deaths his second hand smoke caused over the years that he is going to start placing anti-smoking ads in the previews for DVDs that feature smoking. (Example: Pulp Fiction would have an anti-smoking ad, supposedly counteracting the ‘cool’ factor they receive thanks to Ms. Mia Wallace smoking Red Apple cigarettes.)
Does this mean that Mr. Weinstein will also place anti-violence ads, anti-gun ads, anti-drug ads and anti-drinking ads on his DVDs too? I guess these acts, portrayed in several of his studio’s films aren’t as bad as the absolute horrors of smoking. Hey, here’s a thought; maybe we could turn to the government to dictate the content of these films so we don’t have to worry about leaving this huge responsibility to careless movie producers who insist on filling our movies and minds with smoking, drinking and violence. One needs to look no further than the success we’ve seen by the goverment pulling smoking ads from TV to find merit for empowering our elected officials to determine what is harmful for us to see in our media outlets. We know one state that would get behind this movement, right Buckeye state?
What are you mad as hell about? Let us know.
