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RE: [ProgSoc] Have you registered to vote yet?



Perhaps we should do the fashionable thing and add "smoking" and "poor
political candidates" to the list of woes that "Sudanese gangs" are
apparently responsible for. Its gotta be true, Today Tonight told me so...

Sudanese is so the new black.

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-progsoc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:owner-progsoc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Ryan Heise
Sent: Tuesday, 9 October 2007 12:49 PM
To: John Elliot
Cc: ProgSoc List
Subject: Re: [ProgSoc] Have you registered to vote yet?

John Elliot wrote:

> Hey... I was just thinking.
> 
> I think what would be really great for the smoking community, is if we 
> could take social hate and persecution off ourselves, and dump it on 
> some other, hopefully even smaller and even more morally bankrupt 
> (according to God) subculture.

I'm sorry that you feel social hate and persecution for being a smoker.
Perhaps my message of "I hate smoke" and "I don't like inconsiderate
people" was weakened by views presented by others of the kind "I dislike
smokers", which is a very different view altogether and one that I
cannot agree to. There are, after all, considerate smokers who will ask
you "Do you mind if I smoke?" before they light up in your vacinity, and
I tend to like considerate people independently of their personal
choices.

The point that I want to make is that smoke affects different people in
different ways, and it is a mistake to form judgements about the
rightness or wrongness of smoking at, say, the entrance to buildings,
based only on how you understand smoke to affect your own body. There
are those of us who suffer badly from smoke (persistent headaches), yet
there are others who are totally oblivious to this phenomenon. Perhaps
it is because they themselves naturally have more resistant bodies, or
maybe it is because they were raised in an environment where their
parents smoked and so they became conditioned to the smoke at an early
age.

> The programme will have a life of its own after a while, because all 
> those smoking homophobes will think it's hilarious. What better way to 
> cover up those grotesque ads on your cigarette packet, than with a new 
> message?

When I read about your reaction to this campaign the first time, I was
quite surprised that you saw no value in it.

According to the ABS, smoking is far more common in populations with low
socio-economic status: those with low income, low education, those who
turn to crime because they have less money, those who turn to violence
because they themselves were not given a good education, and generally
those people who are less likely to know or care how to raise children
in a way that is most beneficial to that child's health and future,
e.g. it is a problem that many such parents will smoke while pregnant
and while their children are very young, which poses a significant risk
to the child. There is a neverending spiral - these children may grow up
to be like their parents.

Shouldn't the Government care to break this spiral? If the Government
won't, who else will? If showing those people the horrible reality of
the effects of smoking (and to an extent, drinking) is not the solution,
then can you think of a better solution?

I personally do not think such advertisements are directed at people
such as yourself, although if you are at all intelligent, you should be
able to accept the truth for what it is and not get so worked up over
it. But don't you see benefit of these advertisements reaching those
families who fall into the category above? Or, do you simply not care
about those families? Do you think it is wrong that anyone should care
about those families? I think that because of the spiral that they are
stuck in, it is not realistic that they will get themselves out of it
and it is our obligation to help our neighbour, or support the
government to do it. But if you disagree, what is your alternative
proposition?

-- 
Ryan Heise
http://www.ryanheise.com/

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