Smoked-Out…..

This is probably a week late, but what-the-hey…..

I’m sure that most, if not all, of my UK readers know of the public smoking ban, due to take effect within the next year or two.

Now I could go into a tirade about the evils and tyranny of Nanny State Government; instead I’ll just link ye to comments I made in a previous post thread… I could also go off on the “health experts” for their incredibly patronising and naive attitude concerning the populace….

But instead I’ll talk about the ones who gave them the power to push this one through – the “owners” of “private property”.

Amongst all the well-meaning yet flawed arguments I’ve heard in favour of this ban, the worst one crossing my path has to be the “it protects the pub owners/workers” argument. Now if that isn’t the sorriest defence for this totalitarian travesty, someone please fill me in on what is! Yes, pubs tend to get somewhat smoky throughout the course of a shift, but it’s not like anyone working there would be oblivious to it. One would have to be exceptionally naive not to know that the climate of the typical UK pub entails a congregation of ciggy clouds! If passive smoking harbours such significance for the poor afflicted bar staff, shouldn’t they “protect” themselves by seeking out alternative employment?

As for the owners…..I can only shake my head at them! Doesn’t the position of pub owner imply that you indeed own your public house? Doesn’t the act of ownership entail that you make the rules as to how what you own is used? Is this the case or am I indeed jacked into an alternate reality simulation where the rules and meanings of ownership have been altered? If so tell me – I crave the enlightenment! if this is such a big problem for the owners can they not see fit to banish smoking from their pubs without having to get politicos in on the act?

Or do we indeed live in a fascist state where property belongs to the proprietor in name only?

The fact that this law rides roughshod over the wishes of pro-smoking proprietors would certainly suggest we’re headed in that direction….

Do publicans not want to manage the use of what is theirs? Are those who would pull pints behind the bar the same lazy fucks who want the government to “protect” them from eating too much junk food? I mean, geez, I can be a lazy, self-indulgent bum at times, but I’m not about to get down on my knees and fellate the House of Commons into doing for me that which I can’t be arsed to do for myself….

Whilst the pro and anti-smoking lobbies fight for their mouthful of the government glans, the concept of ownness and ownership find themselves suffocated under a nimbus of nicotine. Quite tragicomic, don’t you agree?

~MRDA~