[ Post a Response | The Sublime Desire of Cigarette Smoking ]
Posted by nobody on December 6, 2006, 6:05 am, in reply to "A Powerful Addiction to Cash / "South Park Self Portrait"" When I wrote that I thought the tobacco industry would ultimately lose the long-term chess game in which it is engaged, I did not mean to imply I believed any government would impose a Prohibition-style absolute ban on the production of all tobacco products, since I agree that public policymakers realize that would result in a catastrophic loss of all tobacco tax revenue and a huge black market, complete with "smokeeasys." (I have long maintained that politicians are as addicted to tobacco tax revenues as any smoker is to nicotine.) And although I also agree with you that as long as cigarettes are available, a significant percentage of the population will continue to want to smoke and that smoking will continue to be a social presence for many generations to come, I do not think a return to the halcyon days of the late 1950s and early 1960s, when nearly half of all American adults were smokers and tobacco industry revenues were at an inflation- and population-adjusted all-time high, is in the cards. Social mores, upon which you primarily focus in your argument, are, of course, only one of the factors in the equation. For example, although there have been a few recent exceptions to the general rule, politicians (and the general public, through voter-sponsored referenda) continue to increase tobacco taxes on a yearly basis, regardless of the consequences in terms of killing the golden goose and putting low-income smokers in a very precarious position. And the seemingly endless litigation continues in this country, thanks to the trial lawyers of America, who are just as ruthless and avaricious as any tobacco executive. Also, more and more private employers are simply refusing to hire smokers, while the courts (and so-called civil liberties groups like the ACLU) simply look the other way. For these reasons and others, I think smokers and smoking will continue to be marginalized for many years to come -- at least until medical science finds a cure for smoking-related diseases or the industry somehow manages to produce a "safe cigarette" people actually enjoy smoking. (In saying this, I acknowledge the power of the forbidden fruit hypothesis. One of my favorite illustrations of this came in one of the futuristic "Planet of the Apes" movies, in which a female smoker, after having an ape light her cigarette, remarks: "You know, now that I know they won't kill me, I don't really enjoy them anymore.") In short, I think this thread demonstrates that reasonably civil and informed people can disagree without being disagreeable. Since my interpretation was evidently partially faulty, I regret failing to correctly divine the full meaning and significance of this week's forum image header. I hope you enjoy what is left of this chilly, late fall evening.
Hello, Vesperae. 
Sorry about that; I simply did not know about the events you described. Still, I very much enjoyed and appreciated it -- perhaps even more now that you have shed further light on the subject.
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