• Hi Guest - Come check out all of the new CP Merch Shop! Now you can support CigarPass buy purchasing hats, apparel, and more...
    Click here to visit! here...

I simply cannot wrap my head around anti-tobacco zealots

M

morcerf

New Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2009
Messages
133
http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2009/07/wendell-berrys-pipe-dreams.html

This is a blog I like to read & the author always struck me as someone who is open minded & believes in liberty. He seems to believe in intelligence & reason over fear & paranoia.

However, something in a recent post regarding Wendell Berry made me raise an eyebrow.

An excerpt:
Mr. Berry's farm grows corn (that evil weed) and other grains, as well as tobacco (cough, cough).

In fact, tobacco has been the touchstone of the Berry household -- the cash crop that made everything else work, not only on his farm, but in his larger farming community which he now so eloquently bemoans the decline of.

Why did Berry and his neighbors grow tobacco? Simple: You could make a lot of money by plowing just a few acres of poor soil.

Never mind that tobacco bled the land white.

Never mind that tobacco killed 400,000 to 500,000 Americans a year -- more Americans than alcohol, AIDS, car accidents, illegal drugs, murders, and suicides combined.

Where has Berry said he regrets his family's 50-year complicity in the poisoning of the American people and land with tobacco?
Click to expand...

I asked for more information regarding his opinions of tobacco & his response was thus:

Pretty simple.

There is a proper human consumption of food.

There is no proper human consumption of tobacco.

To make an analogy: I am a supporter of the Second Amendment because there is a proper use for both long guns and hand guns.

I am opposed to an *unrestricted* Second Amendment, as there is no proper civilian use for carrying a bazooka through a civilian airport.

Nicotine follows the same legal and logic structure -- a principle Congress recently affirmed.

Nicotine is an insecticide, and it should be regulated as such.

Since we do not allow the licensing of insecticides in food or pills or ready-made one-shot home-hypodermic sets, we should not allow the delivery of insecticides in cigerettes.

Cigarettes, cigars, etc. are simple nicotine delivery systems, no different than a syringe is for heroin.

If you want to go out and buy nicotine insecticide and drink it, shoot it up, or huff it, you are free to do so, same as paint thinner, gasoline, glue, or a good all-purpose rodenticide. All of these products have legal uses, and they are not banned as a condequence. That said, the sale of these products IS banned under the FDA and is *regulated* as a poison or carcinogen under the EPA.

That is what is going to happen to tobacco, and it's about time.

As for farmers who grow tobacco, they are people who are making a CHOICE to profit from human addiction, misery and death. Their actions, in that sense, are no different than those of a drug dealer who sells crack, or a car manufacturer that green-lights the production of a car with faulty brakes. There is no moral ambiguity here.
Click to expand...

Am I missing something?

Edited to add:
I am new to cigars, but even prior to claiming this as a hobby, I saw no reason whatsoever for the vilification of tobacco.
 
Tobacco? The hell with that. What's his freakin' problem with corn. I like corn.

Doc.
 
Devil Doc said:
Tobacco? The hell with that. What's his freakin' problem with corn. I like corn.

Doc.
Click to expand...
I was wondering about that myself.
Corn (the evil weed) does not make much sense.

Corn has feed people for centuries and tobacco has been smoked for almost as long.
 
I believe his reference to corn was sarcasm, given the entirety of his post. (link above if interested in full context)
 
Very little point in arguing with this person. They have their extreme viewpoint and there's nothing you can say to sway their staunch position. For all he may talk about civil liberties and such, he's obviously picking-and-choosing whatever agrees with his own personal agenda.

I wouldn't say much to him, aside from smoking my cigars is my choice and I respect his choice of not smoking, and that due to the SCHIP, somebody needs to smoke for the kids! They need healthcare for crissakes!
 
I didn't read the context, but lots of people don't think that corn is a good crop. Personally I love it. There are those out there who argue that it depleats the soil in such a way that it will, over time, be unable to grow anything. Rotating crops has slowed the process, but not stopped it.

I also know people who have a problem with the corn industry as a whole... Subsidizing people for not growing it, not growing corn for human consumption, ethanol...

My take is, no matter what it is, some people will have a problem with it. Let people make their decisions and live with the consequences of their actions.

It isn't the tobacco grower's fault I smoke cigars. I choose to do it, knowing full well the risks. There is plenty of "blame" to share (growers, rollers, distributers, buyers, and the list goes on).
 
It's amazing that we need to government to control even more of what we do.

They just announced our new benefits for work for 2010. There is now a rider that every employee will be charged $12.50 for being a smoker unless you go out and sign a waiver saying you don't smoke. To top it off, if you marked on your life insurance you do smoke, you will need to get something notarized to provide to the company to show them you no longer smoke.

I work for a health insurance company and they recently made all of our offices a smoke free campus'. The reason being they want to make the workplace healthier....however every day in the cafeteria they sell on average 35 pounds of bacon and they usually have something fried for lunch. Sounds to me like my company is more interested in money then our health.
 
Gawl said:
I work for a health insurance company and they recently made all of our offices a smoke free campus'. The reason being they want to make the workplace healthier....however every day in the cafeteria they sell on average 35 pounds of bacon and they usually have something fried for lunch. Sounds to me like my company is more interested in money then our health.
Click to expand...

Pretty ironic, isn't it?
 
Just another over zealous know-it-all painting issues with a broad stroke...when it serves his or her purpose or agenda.

This comment says it all as whether we should take him seriously...

"Cigarettes, cigars, etc. are simple nicotine delivery systems, no different than a syringe is for heroin."

Then corn and barley are a "delivery system" for alcohol, fried foods are "delivery systems" for plaque in our arteries, and coffee beans are a "delivery system" for caffeine. All of these in large quantities are harmful for your health.


Very broad stroke. Pay him no mind.
 
Gawl said:
I work for a health insurance company and they recently made all of our offices a smoke free campus'. The reason being they want to make the workplace healthier....however every day in the cafeteria they sell on average 35 pounds of bacon and they usually have something fried for lunch. Sounds to me like my company is more interested in money then our health.
Click to expand...

Just think of the old conspiracy theorists adage, "Follow the money." Without getting political, that's what all this anti-tobacco stuff is. A way for companies to absolve themselves of having to spend money in healthcare. It's just being marketed (and extremely well at that) as a crusade to "save lives". BS. I'm free to eat two double bacon cheeseburgers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But apparently one cigar is gonna kill me and everyone within a 5 mile radius of me. It's ludicrous.
 
Yup its all about wellness programs with healthcare. Studies show that the healthier people are the less cost there is on healthcare. That's the main thing my company is pushing to all the employers out there and they all seem to be jumping on.
 
HA! You know I though "the evil weed" was referring to Marijuana! Maybe it is... :whistling:
 
ironpeddler said:
Pay him no mind.
Click to expand...
You are a better man than I. I sent a response yesterday respectfully refuting his viewpoints, but as of today, he has neither posted my comment nor replied. In all fairness, it was a bit off topic.
 
You can wrap their heads around blunt objects instead. That should do the trick.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top