Tuesday 3 February 2015

Bristol's 'Voluntary Ban' On The Weak And Vulnerable

"The greatest problem in the world today is intolerance. Everyone is so intolerant of each other" - Princess Diana
It's all go at Puddlecote Inc with finance being arranged for a possible premises move and an opportunity of new business which could see us open a third branch in late summer or autumn. This has been made easier thanks to plummeting oil prices contributing to our being quite cash rich at the moment, which is nice. 

Of course, this means I'm incredibly busy so articles here may be sparse for a while. It's a shame as I have a couple of great pieces in mind (about EU-funded bodies bypassing government to promote e-cig bans and a certain state-funded tobacco control industry fake charity's clumsy attempt at blackmail) but they'll have to wait. 

I did note Bristol's "voluntary smoking ban" announced for two public squares yesterday, though, and had the same thoughts on it as Snowdon.
You (Smokefree South West) go ahead and have your pretend ban, the people of Bristol can pretend to obey it, and we'll pretend you're not a parasitic, hateful, puritanical, freedom-hating arm of the government.
Quite.

Because this comment - echoed by Smokefree South West's hater-in-Chief Fiona Andrews on BBC 5 Live yesterday morning - highlights the nasty nature of these people very well.
“We hope that it ... gives people confidence to ask others to stop if they are smoking.”
As I've always said, smoking bans pander to the most ignorant, anti-social and intolerant in society. The ones who want smoking banned everywhere including places they would never dream of going to; the ones who couldn't really give a platypus fart about the welfare of bar staff, but just like that they can sneer at a group of people they consider 'inferior'; those so crashingly stupid that they can't imagine that technology is available which would adequately solve their personal problem with a whiff of smoke; and the ones who squeal at any mention of an amendment because they know very well that pubs which allowed smoking would be immensely popular. In short, the ones who proudly shout "me. Me! ME!".

And here is Smokefree South West desperately hoping that their 'voluntary ban' - for which there is no valid reason except spite - will empower this type of rancid, self-centred, anti-social tosspot to approach strangers and nag them. 

Or, some of them, at least. Because you know very well how this will work. If you're built like a brick outhouse and ignore the ban, you'll be subjected to a pathetic fake cough in passing and a deliberate avoidance of eye contact just in case you decide to ask what their problem is. Whereas if you're visibly poor, shabbily dressed, a woman - preferably vulnerable and/or pregnant - or an eight stone weakling, your experience of the ban will be a strident hectoring from someone with a superiority complex who would have multiple orgasms if they could make you cry. 

Considering how 'public health' like to talk about protecting the weak and vulnerable, it's ironic that it is the weak and vulnerable who are going to be most bullied by Smokefree South West "giving confidence" to the interfering arseholes in Bristol society. 

Of course, if I'm wrong and one of these judgemental self-installed tobacco policemen decides to impose themselves on someone who can give as good as they get, Bristol's 'ban' invites plenty of scope for violence. Good old tobacco control, eh? Still fostering discord where once there was tolerance and harmony. But what does that matter? Fiona and her pals have to continue to justify getting paid from our taxes somehow.

I've never been to Bristol, never really attracted me. But I quite fancy going there for a smoke at some point in the future now.



27 comments:

Lysistrata Eleftheria said...

"I've never been to Bristol, never really attracted me. But I quite fancy
going there for a smoke at some point in the future now."

Hmmm. Maybe a smoke-in? Another Stoney Stratford? I may join you. Anyone else up for this? Bristol is rather nice in the Spring.


Lys x

Vinny Gracchus said...

This excuse for "bullying" needs to be soundly rejected. The tobacco control cult is so enthralled with their power that they now advocate vigilante-style enforcement. The power of the mob to control undesirables. A time-tested fascist mechanism for social control. First they fabricated fear through manipulating and suppressing data to get indoor smoking bans, now they seek outdoor bans based on equally weak evidence of health risk.

john gibson said...

I've never been to Bristol, never really attracted me. But I quite fancy going there for a smoke at some point in the future now.
I would be up for it.
John Gibson

John Watson said...

You may consider March 25th, National Smoking Day! Unlike Dick I have been to Bristol albeit many years ago and thoroughly enjoyed my stay there., I am shocked that the people of Bristol would even consider such a ban voluntary or not! Sadly that was a different time before positive discrimination became the norm.

RdM said...

The power of the mob to control undesirables.

I fancy they might be elevated with an acronym, like, oh,
State Tobacco Authority Social Informants... ring a bell?

But the voluntary is only intended to demonstrate non-compliance, IMO, and fuel demands for bylaws with financial and legal consequences... you watch;- they'll be demanding bylaws soon!

Already being attempted elsewhere... leaps to bylaw pressure by anti-smoking cabal/cartel when or even before "voluntary" fails...

So yes, all this must, needs to be, soundly rejected... spoken out against...but how to do that?

That might involve writing to MP's, writing comments on blogs, letters to editors, making these views public... and more public...

Somehow, the communication lines need opening even more...

So I'm thankful for DP & other bloggers, but we need to do even more, I think. Politicians will take notice when there is a volume.

Maybe.

Got to write... anyway.

I've hardly started yet.

RdM

Dick_Puddlecote said...

It's definitely a thought. ;)

TomO said...

Ahh... SFSW - what a bunch of charmers.


Let us not forget these parasites are using NHS money to promulgate unsubstantiated falsehoods and ensconced in pleasant offices in an up-market part of town - as far away as possible from actual "patients" (it being NHS funded).


Meanwhile your average Joe is regularly accosted in supermarket foyers across the region by tin rattlers for the wholly voluntary funded helicopter ambulance


An act of defiance is one thing I suppose.... what will really hurt them is if the connection between their dishonest (fraudulent) claims is combined with a "Paramedics NOT Posters" or "Helicopters NOT Hectoring" campaign and the highlighting of their more unashamedly invented output.... - and yes their budget

truckerlyn said...

Outdoor health risk from smoking? What about all the traffic fumes? They are hugely more toxic than any whiff of tobacco smoke! Even filling your car with diesel and to a slightly lesser degree, petrol will mean you are inhaling far more harmful fumes than you will from any whiff of tobacco smoke. Of course, it is not the policy of our 2.5 main political parties to point out these things as they would not be welcome by the majority of the population as most of us need our vehicles to get around.


It is a huge misjudgment, however, of those political parties to associate themselves with this fraudulent scaremongering, never mind actually hanging onto the coat tails of such fraudulent perpetrators!


If there is any real justice in this world then the election in May will hopefully scare the pants of those in politics who have held too much power for far too long and have completely lost sight of those of us who fund the majority of their whims and fancies!

Norbert Zillatron said...

They don't need profane stuff like "valid reason" or "real science". They got The Cause!
Just like islamist terrorists pretend to do it all in the name of the islam,
the healthist terrorists pretend to do it all in the name of Health.
Not much difference. Except that islamists expect their virgins, while healthists count their filthy lucre.

What the.... said...

Some say that antismoking should be countered with “free choice” arguments or exposing scientific fraud. These are important. However,
the approach that will have people questioning antismoking rhetoric is the
accurate depiction of antismokers as neurotic bigots.

There’s a 400 year history of antismoking. It’s a very sick history. There has been a litany of highly inflammatory claims made over all of those years, at least 99% of which were baseless, i.e., lies.

Antismokers are misocapnists/capnophobes. They believe that all places, indoor and out, must cater solely to their emotional mess, through force of law if necessary. They have manufactured tobacco smoke into a “magic
mist”, probably originating in another galaxy, imbued with all manner of “destructive potential” limited only by antismokers’ self-terrifying imaginings. Let antismokers loose and their claims become progressively more absurd and hysterical and their demands progressively more draconian and inhumane.

There’s more than ample evidence over centuries that the rabid antismoking mentality is a significant mental disorder. Only more dangerous is the physicalist framework – medically-monopolized Public Health, that obviously has no regard for mental, social, or even physical health, that
has lent “authority” to these antismoking nut cases.

Misocapnists are way, way, WAY worse than germaphobes.

What the.... said...

...

Some say that antismoking should be countered with “free choice” arguments or exposing scientific fraud. These are important. However, the approach that will have people questioning antismoking rhetoric is the accurate depiction of antismokers as neurotic bigots.

There’s a 400 year history of antismoking. It’s a very sick history. There has been a litany of highly inflammatory claims made over all of those years, at least 99% of which were baseless, i.e., lies.

Antismokers are misocapnists/capnophobes. They believe that all places, indoor and out, must cater solely to their emotional mess, through force of law if necessary. They have manufactured tobacco smoke into a “magic mist”, probably originating in another galaxy, imbued with all manner of “destructive potential” limited only by antismokers’ self-terrifying imaginings. Let antismokers loose and their claims become progressively more absurd and hysterical and their demands progressively more draconian and inhumane.

There’s more than ample evidence over centuries that the rabid antismoking mentality is a significant mental disorder. Only more dangerous is the physicalist framework – medically-monopolized Public Health, that obviously has no regard for mental, social, or even physical health, that has lent “authority” to these antismoking nut cases.

Misocapnists are way, way, WAY worse than germaphobes.

What the.... said...

Here’s the antismoking neurotic bigot, Fiona Android, representing the neurotic, bigoted antismoking organization, Smokefree South West. Their interest is in promoting more antismoking irrational belief and bigotry. They are well paid to do so and are never held to account for any of the detrimental
consequences of their conduct.

JonathanBagley said...

“We hope that it ... gives people confidence to ask others to stop if they are smoking.”

It's a voluntary ban, so presumably the smokers have not volunteered. There's nothing more to be said. You wouldn't go up to someone and ask them to wear a poppy?

emma2000 said...

I am female 5' 1" and about 112lbs and heaven help anyone approaching me! Only happened once and she fled when I told her the fat she was carrying would kill her before my smoke. Was at my local hospital yesterday and people were smoking outside as usual, including a few nurses hiding round a corner.

What the... said...

This is the sign that gives license to bullies.

What the.... said...

The sign could do with some decoration and accurate appraisal, e.g.,

Bucko The Moose said...

Count me in!

What the.... said...

....

What the.... said...

...,

What the.... said...

,,..

nisakiman said...

Unfortunately comments and letters attempting to make your views public, unless they further the anti-smoking agenda tend to be 'moderated' out of existence. It's only on blogs like this that we can actually express ourselves freely. I would imagine that most regular commenters here, and on other like-minded blogs, have submitted comments to the comments sections in the MSM on the subject of smoking bans only to see them disappear shortly thereafter.

I've lost count of the number of times my comments have been deleted; not because they broke any of the house rules, but because they called into question the veracity of the subject matter of the article. And when you control the press, you control the people.

Geoff Cliff said...

As I understand it Smoke Free South Wests's "voluntary" ban on smoking is an invitation not to smoke. Now to me, an invitation is no more than that, it has no liability to conform. If I wish to decline an invitation, say to a party, I expect that I might just possibly upset the one extending the invitation, and perhaps they might never speak to me again. Please let this be the case with SFSW, for they are no friends of mine - or anyone else not signed up to their cause!

Norbert Zillatron said...

"control the press, you control the people."

Before the internet and the social media, the mass media were the only way to reach an unlimited number of people and virtually the only easily available source of information. Getting access to some scientific publication could be quite time consuming. Even getting to know about its existance wasn't easy for ordinary people outside scientific circles.

Today all the information is at least available. And everybody may contribute. But it takes personal initiative to actively look for it and seperate the wheat from the chaff.



Still, the first source of information are the mass media. People usually will educate themselves only when they are personally affected or--like me--get curious when some media try to feed them obvious bollocks.



Until I started to inform myself about vaping, I still had some naive confidence in the "experts" that told us about the dangers of smoking and SHS. Silly me ...

Michael J. McFadden said...

The "voluntary" ban is a very clever move designed to give them a legislated smoking ban easily despite almost any likely response. Consider the two most likely results they are imagining:


1) Most smokers are intimidated into not smoking there, either due to embarrassment, peer pressure, or simply thinking the signs mean it's already a law.


or


2) There will be at least a few incidents of violence or verbal violence as Antis deliberately try to irritate smokers with their style of "request."


In either case, the Antis "win" a full ban easily a year down the line. If all they get is (1) they're still able to say "Well, we might as well make it legal since most obviously agree and there are just a few malcontents who need to be brought into line with civilized norms that have been accepted." If they ALSO get (2) then they can push even harder, saying that the lack of a law is what's causing the violence.


If we had a few good activists in the area willing to do some regular paper-hanging, the signs could be countered with various pieces of humor/cartoons/information hung up by or on the official signs: Even something as simple as:


NOTE: This Sign Is NOT A Law. It is a simple social engineering effort designed to control your behavior even if a law cannot be passed. If you are a good, freedom-loving citizen, even if you are normally a nonsmoker, you SHOULD make a point of smoking or at least carrying a lit cigarette while you are in this area to show your support for freedom!


Even just the first sentence or two there would make the point.


- MJM

Vinny Gracchus said...

Absolutely, the ban is more than a ban. It is a tool for shaping and manipulating behavior and belief. It is a form of brainwashing seeking compliance.

Michael J. McFadden said...

Exactly. They played the same game in Philly for a year before banning smoking on mass transit platforms (we're talking some point in the late 1980s) I'd almost never smoked on those platforms, but as soon as I saw the "For the health and consideration of other passengers SEPTA asks..." signs I made it a point to offer encouragement to other smokers to assert their rights by setting an example. Unfortunately, few followed suit and sure enough, since so few were smoking there it was quite easy to push through a ban a year or two down the line -- a ban that had earlier been dismissed as too difficult to enforce.


- MJM

Vinny Gracchus said...

RdM, I agree they are nurturing a cadre of antismoker STASI... Outdoor bans are all the rage , today I saw they are going to do a comprehensive outdoor ban in all New South Wales, Australia. We need to get the word out quickly. All of your suggestions plus more!