Smoking is important?

Recently, I was a bit taken aback when someone commented to me that smoking seemed really important to me. The comment was from someone who would much rather pretend that smoking doesn't exist, or at least wouldn't invade her life. Later, it occurred to me that it's actually an interesting question; smoking is important to me. It wasn't always. Most of my adult life, smoking was of little significance... just one of life's little personal habits, like eating, drinking, driving, etc. What has changed is that smoking has been made important by others, those who propel, profit from, and buy into the unending anti-smoking campaign.

When smoking was a minor expense, and I could do it almost anywhere, it wasn't "important"... no more than one small and routine part of daily life. Now that I have to always be aware of where I cannot smoke, and the price of cigarette taxes has pushed me into making my own, it has become more important. Being confronted with continual lies and deception about smoking, smokers, and the supposed damage we're doing to all parts of society also makes the issue of smoking more important.

I've watched, and smoked, as many of the people around me have become less healthy and robust over time, fraught with allergies and overweight. I've watched, and smoked, as the War against Smoking has turned many people into judgmental, self-righteous, politically correct and outspoken bigots of personal behavior. It has made it acceptable to discriminate against others in ways that would never be acceptable if applied to any other human behavior. "No Negroes allowed" became "No Smoking allowed". Poll taxes went away and exorbitant cigarette taxes came into play. The discrimination and persecution allowed against smoking is morphing into other areas as well, like anything remotely associated with "the environment".

The success of the War against Smoking has taught us all that, unless we wish to be harassed and shunned, we had better conform to societal standards, and power-seeking governments are all too glad to enforce, and tax, to those standards. Millions of small businesses are now even more under the thumb of government, required to conform in new ways. Private clubs must comply, even when their management and members don't want to. Anti-smokers were not satisfied with having the choice of going to non-smoking or smoking-allowed businesses... they wanted to force their preference on everyone... and they largely have.

Yes, smoking has become important to me, out of necessity. I must admit to some little pride in refusing to just cave in to the pressures of a completely unscientific campaign of fear and deception. The War against Smoking has cost all of us a lot in lost freedom and is serving as a model for fanatics to inflict their ideas in many other areas.

Still, I find it quite ironic that those who rattle on about smoking being unhealthy, and of public smoking being a gross violation of "public health" often have personal habits that I know to be far unhealthier than smoking. American's obsession with eating has long baffled me. It has become, like not smoking, an ingrained obsession, to the point where not conversing about what you ate or where you ate it, or who you ate it with just leaves me out of a lot of conversations. I've taken to watching the Food Channel so that I at least know some of the terminology that others are obsessing about.

Eating is a necessity, but most Americans eat far more than they need, and they spend an exorbitant amount of time and money doing it. Cooking for an hour to eat for half an hour and to then spend another half an hour cleaning up has never made sense to me, and doing it several times a day makes it seem even sillier. Cooking shows abound, cooking books proliferate, and people pass recipes and restaurant tips continually. There is even competition, often quite serious, among eaters... who has been to the newest restaurant, who has tried the latest food fad... who has had food from countries most people couldn't locate on a globe or otherwise give a whit about. Everyone seems to have a favorite food they just "can't live without". It really goes on and on.

I know... you're responding that you enjoy it, and it's an activity that people gather to enjoy together.

Guess what... the same is true of smoking. Smokers enjoy smoking. They get pleasure from it, and smokers do still gather to enjoy it together, when they have a chance. It's a mild habit compared to the food obsession most Americans have.