They don't like it up 'em!
Saturday, May 3, 2008 Last week I did a series of interviews on Irish radio, two of them alongside Prof Luke Clancy, chairman of ASH Ireland. We were discussing the news that the smoking rate has gone up from 27 to 29% in Ireland since 2002, despite the public smoking ban.
I can't let the final interview pass without mentioning how thoroughly depressed Clancy seemed. He sounded like a man about to self-combust as his dream of a smoker-free Ireland was shown up for what it is - a total fantasy.
I've met Prof Clancy on several occasions and I rather like him. He seemed more "normal" than many anti-smokers, and he was always polite and courteous. Listening to him this week, however, he sounded how I imagine a member of the Temperance Society would have sounded in the 1920s - well-meaning but deluded and out of touch with reality.
Not only is he convinced that EVERY smoker is hopelessly addicted to nicotine, he cannot tolerate ANY view other than his own. As a result, he spent much of the interview on Thursday castigating the presenter (and the radio station) for allowing me to speak at all!
The tipping point was my refusal to accept his claim - largely accepted in Ireland - that passive smoking is a serial killer. This heresy was too much for him.
All very entertaining. As Corporal Jones would say, "They don't like it up 'em!"
Reader Comments (15)
I'm always amazed, Simon, by the generosity which you display towards the 'Antis'.In my view people who won't tolerate views other than their own and who take exception to such views being given an airing are simply arrogant bigots.
I'd love to have heard this interview and I'm glad that you got the chance to take him on re passive smoking. Slowly, slowly, the truth is being heard,
I'd like to think that Prof Clancy and his ilk, in the light of the increase in smoking rates, would re-think their views about smoking and the effectiveness of harsh restrictions but, if they believe that all smokers are hoplessly addicted (how bl**dy patronising), then they'll continue their sanctimonious mission to save us. There is, of course, also the small matter of vested interest which happily coincides with their altruism.
When it comes to the anti smoking lobby, my disposition is not at all generous and, on reading of Prof Clancy's despondency, I'm afraid that I succumbed to the joy of schadenfreude. It is but little in comparison to the misery that his efforts have brought to millions.
I wrote an article once which mentioned similarities I had noticed between the passionate anti smoker and the fundamentalist Christian. I was speaking from experience, having spent several years as a born again Pentecostalist, including nine months as a full time musical evangelist. It is amazing when you have a belief, a faith, a commitment, that you do not recognise your fanaticism which is unable to accept fact which is staring you in the face. One could show the ASHite and other cronies hard evidence and just plain common sense, but it is a wasted effort it would seem, just like trying to show the born again Pentecostalist that much of what they say is gibberish - woops, sorry, speaking in tongues.
I've had a similar experience myself, timbone, until I realised the born agains were in danger of destroying themselves and those around them. I did see some pitiful results.
Similarly, in my travels I once met and became friendly with a woman who admitted she had been in the Hitler Youth. She said all the young people were in it and fervently admired Hitler as their Saviour who, if they gave their lives to him, would lead the beloved Fatherland to a glorious future.
Beware the zealots!
http://www.numberwatch.co.uk/zealots.htm
I'm sorry to say I missed Simon's interview on irish radio but I'm glad that Simon shook that pathetic deluded fanatic Clancy out of his smug state as regards passive smoking, they always bring him out of the woodwork to shout down every pro smoker on the media as the spokesperson for ireland. The population of ireland have been brainwashed about passive smoking, even smokers believe it now, thanks to Clancy and his ilk. He must be shivering in his breeches right now and getting worried about his job after the increase of those nasty smokers. He will probably start lobbying again for another increase in the price of fags to give meaning to his life the sad bastard.
I have just pedalled my old bike through our pleasant town on a warm May evening and I am angry. A lovely old pub in the centre is closed, apparently deserted and its menu board blank. Through the window of a historic neighbouring hostelry, where 1939-45 war pilots drank and left pictures of themselves and their planes as souvenirs, I could see a huge TV screen. I don’t know whether anyone was watching it.At this pub, where people even recently were accustomed to meet and chat in the cosy interior, three forlorn customers drank and smoked on the doorstep. There was a similar scene at another town centre pub, while on a fairly commodious patio opposite, some customers of another pub congregated. Further afield a café bar was empty, deserted and probably abandoned and two other hostelries were plastered with notices offering special deal meals or karaoke, while the lights were non-existent or dim within. There was little sign of activity.
I conversed in my mind with an imaginary advocate of the anti-smoking persecution and said to him: ‘Would you have made (when he was alive) my 88 year old grandfather, veteran of one war and survivor of another, stand outside his local to have one of his tipped Woodbines?’
I fear the answer may have been yes. And I would have been told it was for my grandfather’s good.
"Tell a lie often enough, loud enough, and long enough, and people will believe you." This is a quote attributed to Adolph Hitler, who, funnily enough, can also claim the invention of "Das Passive Rauchen", yes, passive smoking, reinvented by ASH in 1975 I believe. "Tell a lie often enough, loud enough, and long enough, and people will believe you."
In relation to my last comment, I thought I would mention this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1j3DMjnVv8
For your interest and the antis' pain, an international treaty has just been signed in Holland featuring 10 different countries: England, Scotland, Wales, America, Canada, Holland, Italy, Germany and Denmark and with Hungary as a participant. The Treaty named The "Aldebaran Treaty" launches ICAP (The International Coalition Against Prohibition).
See for example:
http://forces.org/News_Portal/news_viewer.php?id=1087
http://www.forces.org/Forces_Articles/article_viewer.php?id=591
http://pro-choicesmokingdoctor.blogspot.com/
Subsequent to this event, the organisers are being bombarded with notices of interest.
Now Clancy and co have got problems!
This is excellent news, Blad and thank you for the effort and time given by everyone involved.
Tim at the risk of sounding pedantic, it was Josef Goebbels who is attributed to the saying. He visited America and was struck by the effectiveness of American advertising and their slogans. The full phrase is:
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
Having re-read it seems so apt for the smoking ban and for persecuting any minority, no matter how substantial.
Congratulations Blad and everyone who travelled there are their own expense. This is a remarkable achievement, created by one small idea and the sustained effort that followed. Now there are representatives within tem different countries working together from a central point.
Meanwhile, back at home....A group of us have been working together to try to amalgamate smoking evidence into one single document. This should be of use to the international group. It's aim is to dispel the claim that smoking is harmful and prove that it has beneficial properties.
Our base argument is that pharmaceutical companies are aware of these beneficial properties, Many drugs are based on substances found only in nicotine. Smokers are the natural enemies of pharmaceutical companies. Smokers do not need their drugs and seldom suffer the illnesses that these drugs are prescribed for.
We are not there yet! All contributions gratefully received. Also editing help to produce the final concise user-friendly document.
http://www.freedom2choose.info/
Go to - Forum - Lounge Bar - The Benefits of Smoking.
Once more, Blad. Huge congratulations!
haha thanks Dave. Actually, I spent about twenty minutes on google, where the phrase in various forms was attributed to both Goebbels and Hitler. In one case, a Goebbels version was referred to as a misquote, so I opted for Adolph, guessing that he may have used it first. Tell you what, they were both as bad as one another, so lets opt for both of them, as they both would have said it was theirs anyway.
Simon said:-
"he sounded how I imagine a member of the Temperance Society would have sounded in the 1920s - well-meaning but deluded and out of touch with reality."
This is why we need one concise document/statement to hammer the point home.
Regarding my typo-filled comment above, one could argue that too much has been written already. The evidence that smoking is not as bad as Big Pharma et al say, would fill a football field. However, one is never given time, when dealing one-on-one with the brainwashed public, to state a football field full. Nor do we always have facts and figures at our finger tips.
So we are trying to shift the emphasis from defense to offence. State the positives rather than argue against the negatives. Big Pharma is very aware of the health giving properties of nicotine - their prescribed drugs are full of it. The smoker is the enemy of Big Pharma. Smokers do not need these drugs.
I attended the monthly hotel bar jolly-up of my local UKIP branch last night. As I stood up with half-pint in hand to go outside for a "spot of health-giving nicotine". I received the usual good natured leg pulling from the non-smokers there. They dislike the smoking ban because they dislike civil liberties being interfered with. However, when I stated that smoking does NOT kill, I was advised by one that this was too extreme a statement. Instead, I should say that I reserve the right to freedom of choice as whether I want to kill myself or not. I said that I CANNOT say that - it would infer that I accept the myth that smoking kills. I listed the benefits. I listed the nicotine based drugs used to treat these conditions in non smokers.
I left a lively debate behind me and returned to the news that they were, "Beginning to see what I mean."
Well done Margot on your enlightenment of the brainwashed. Thats great news about the Aldebaran Treaty tho notice that Ireland isnt on the list of countries that joined, just shows you how up the rear end of the eu we are but at least its one up the oxter for Clancy and his cohorts who incidentally are now urging for an extra 3euro per packet on the price of fags since the increase of smokers, which if all was known would probably be much higher than the stated 2% as a lot of people are not acquiring their cigs throught the usual retail channels.