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Tobacco Nazis – It Can Happen Here!

By Theresa Fritz Camoriano

Last week’s hearing on the proposed smoking ban was a real eye opener for me.  (See accompanying article by Terry Gray and his web site for details of the testimony.)  It quickly became clear that the people favoring the smoking ban do not care that they will put some good, hard-working people out of business or that they are destroying people’s property rights.  These folks are crusaders, determined to save the world in theory, and they don’t care what real, flesh and blood people they mow down in the process!  (It is also interesting to note how many of these crusaders are receiving funding from tobacco settlement money or anti-smoking organizations, but that’s another story.)

The Tobacco Nazis talk about protecting the public from second-hand smoke, but the proposed smoking ban would have just the opposite effect.  As a non-smoker who avoids smoke whenever I can, I would much rather have smokers puffing away in a smoke-filled room in a private bar, which I can easily avoid, than out on the public sidewalk, where I have to pass in order to get where I need to go.  But none of this matters to the Tobacco Nazis, because they don’t really care about the health of people like me.  Their argument of caring about the “victims” of second-hand smoke is just a scam.  Their real goal is to attack tobacco and smokers. 

These Nico-Nazis are using health merely as an excuse to control people’s lives.  The beauty of this approach is that there is no end to it.  Once tobacco is eradicated from restaurants and bars, it is only a matter of time before the Nico-Nazis attack people who smoke in their own cars or homes. "New York lawmakers are considering extending the state smoking ban to private automobiles."  - CNSNews.com, 9/23/03   But the health excuse will take these control freaks far beyond controlling the use of tobacco.  For example, a recent study claims that “sprawl” causes obesity, giving the health Nazis ammunition for their campaign to control our housing choices.  You don’t want to live in “walkable” housing where you are crammed together like sardines and piled on top of your neighbors?  Too bad!  It’s best for your health!  (And they will conveniently ignore the fact that sprawl really does not cause obesity and the fact that people crammed close together are much more likely to get communicable diseases that cause death.) 

Once “public health” becomes an excuse for trampling private property rights, the only question will be who gets to massage the statistics, set the priorities, and choose the next victim.  I am currently reading a book that purports to teach a healthy way to lose weight.  (My husband says I would probably have better luck if I just carried all those diet books around instead of trying to read them and follow what they say!)  This book was written by a Frenchman, and he has an interesting perspective on our health habits in the U.S.  For example, he writes about “a huge anti-cholesterol campaign…which now shows up in behaviour close to hysteria or paranoia such as only the Americans could provoke.”  He also says, “If by chance you should be walking the streets of New York well before the first light of day, from five in the morning onwards, you will not fail to notice the American joggers, sweating blood and water dressed in their appropriate little outfits.  In spite of the extreme pollution level which their stimulated lungs are happily taking advantage of, these early bird sportsmen and women are sacrifices to a ritual which is henceforth written into the manual of the perfect American citizen.” In another of his books, he says, “I believe that sugar has harmed humans as much as excessive use of alcohol and tobacco combined.”   So the health issues that get so many Americans’ underwear tied up in knots have a very different effect on this fellow, who is considered an expert in much of Europe.  Which expert’s point of view will be used when the government makes more health decisions for us and imposes them by force?

These health-Nazi crusaders seem to think that, if they just put enough restrictions on our lives, we all will live forever.  (With so many restrictions, who would want to live forever?)  I remember thinking how ironic it was when Robert Rodale, editor of “Prevention” magazine and official health nut, was hit and killed by a car as he was trying to cross the street.  Healthy living certainly didn’t extend his lifespan.  Dr. Atkins, whose diet was ridiculed for years but is now being promoted by many doctors, recently died after slipping and falling on an icy sidewalk.  Perhaps someone should remind the health Nazis that life itself is fatal, and we will all die eventually, no matter how many restrictions they put on us!

Since I am sure the “Obese Police” will follow closely on the heels of the “Nico-Nazis”, and I have not yet found a successful way to unload my excess weight, I am wondering what torture will be in store for me when they take over.  Which diet plan that already hasn’t worked for me will I be forced to follow?  Will I be forced to go biking on narrow roads and risk life and limb like some of the health nuts?  Will I be forced to jog along city streets, breathing toxic diesel fumes like some of the health nuts?  Will I have to weigh in when I go to the restaurant and then be limited in my food choices?  Will I be forced to follow the formerly dumb but now brilliant Atkins diet, or will the health Nazis force me to subscribe to some other program that “everyone” knows is healthy?

Even if you do not smoke and are not obese, I’m sure you engage in some habit that somebody considers unhealthy that will give them an excuse to control you once they finish with me.  Do you ever drive a car?  Have sex?  Step into a bathtub?  You can be sure that, after the Nico-Nazis morph into the Obese Police, they will then morph into something else and will come up with something about you and your habits that is objectionable and needs to be corrected by force of law – for your own good, of course.  When that happens, don’t expect me to defend you.  By that time, I’ll be long gone – waddling my way toward some place where they still have enough of a sense of humor to laugh about health nuts!

When they came to arrest the Jews, I did not say anything, because I was not Jewish.

When they came to arrest the communists, I did not say anything, because I was not a communist.

When they came to arrest the homosexuals, I did not say anything, because I was not homosexual.

When they came to arrest me, nobody was left to speak for me.
Martin Niemöller

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