More Politics!

Now Playing - A Million Days by Bad Religion


Well, I thought I got this all out of my system yesterday, but thinking about it, Ive got a little bit more political ranting to go. On the docket today... cigarettes. Now, before I launch into my rant, I'd like to explain that firstly, I am a non-smoker, but as you'll find out not one of those militant non-smokers who are, frankly, assholes. People have no right to force their ideaology on others, and let's face it, if releasing dangerous chemicals into the atmosphere was a bad idea, we'd never have invented the fossil-fuel burning car, or have things like steel and plastic for that matter, the two most popular substances on this planet that aren't a derivative of wood.

My bone of contention actually isn't with the clean-air initiatives that have been launched in seemingly every major mertopolis, but rather the odd ban on cigarette advertising. To borrow a line from Geore Carlin "Let's face it, kids don't smoke because a camel in sunglasses tells them to, they do it for the same reason adults do." Sadly, because of this ban, the arts around the country are what suffers.

The Benson & Hedges Symphony of Fire, gone for good and replaced by frankly, nothing more than a cheap light show. The Toronto Symphony Orchestra just built a new centre for the arts in downtown Toronto... with money it saved from being sponsored by Du Maurier for so many years, along with a government grant, of course. The Du Maurier Open up at York University became the Rogers AT&T Cup... now not only is that a worse name, but only a fool would think that the world class tennis players that descend on York every year smoke cigarettes, now some may, but they are the exception that proves the rule.

Nopw, the solution is simple... let cigarette companies sponsor events. Firstly, it savs the government money that it can then use to fund more of those 'stupid' commercials. It's not being a hypocrite if you use their own money against them. Another, more important thing, is the simple fact that smaller events may not even exist at all without this kind of sponsorship. All you're doing by not allowing them to sponsor events is letting them keep their money... if cigarettes are so bad, wh not take money from the companies that make them. With the amount of information available, nobody is taking up smoking thinking they're chock full of vitamins A, B, C, and D.

Well, I think I've finally run out of steam, please leave your comments, I'd love to know what people who read my ideas actually think.

Now Playing - Another Drinkin' Song by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones