The Godber Blueprint, formulated in the 70s to pull a confidence trick which would go on to fool much of the world that they are in mortal danger from a minor risk, has shown the way for the righteous.
Instead of encouraging the public into making choices that are approved, the tobacco control template sought to use divide people into distinct camps in opposition to one another, thereby using a bullying mentality to drive through an agenda of eugenics.
Since even governments could be forced to bow to their selfish demands using such an approach, anti-smoking organisations have gleefully passed on their wisdom to others, documenting the precise steps necessary [pdf] to subjugate, and eventually extinguish, free will.
As a direct result, we have seen the emergence of passive drinking and, more recently, passive obesity, so why not passive living? If you don't live as you are instructed, that is. Yep, the template is being used yet again, this time to make everyone in the world a victim of everyone else.
The ban on smoking in public buildings draws another interesting line in the debate on the proper balance between "freedoms from" and "freedoms to". This is on the basis that one person's freedom to smoke in a public building denies another person's freedom to breathe smoke-free air. The greenhouse gas emissions currently contributing to climatic instability could be seen as an issue of "uber passive smoking", especially for those who like their climates to be friendly and convivial for human society.What tobacco control have given to the world is an environment where everyone's personal choices are the business of everyone else. And their tactics, refined over decades, are being used on a daily basis to strip away every element of individual self-determination.
If you've ever heard anyone (I've heard plenty) stating that they are libertarian but quite like the smoking ban, they are short-sighted, shallow and dangerously irresponsible.
If the Tories, should they be elected, truly believe in personal responsibility and civil liberties, their first action post-election should be to amend smokefree legislation, or even repeal it, to send the righteous into a tailspin. To prove that they can't always get their own way, and to firmly emphasize that, in a civilised community, personal choice is valued over and above dictatorial dogma and ideology.
And to send a message that the era of divide and conquer strategies, used spitefully against the public, must come to an end.
Hey, one can but dream. It is Easter, after all.
