Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Are cigars evil?
I don't think so myself, but . . .
But I also know times have changed and what is "moral" and "immoral" is also changing. I suppose that without a solid villain to keep us focused — terrorism lacks the clarity of communism and Nazism and it's hard to rally people against an enemy when he's hiding in a cave — we're forced to demonize something. Since anti-alcohol efforts fizzled out in the 1930's, it's tobacco's turn at bat.
That is why children go into indignant rages when they catch their dad firing up an occasional stogie, because smoking is, apparently, the greatest evil of our times (except for marijuana smoking, which, ironically, some anti-tobacco folks want made legal, partly because it's something they'd do occasionally).
But I also know times have changed and what is "moral" and "immoral" is also changing. I suppose that without a solid villain to keep us focused — terrorism lacks the clarity of communism and Nazism and it's hard to rally people against an enemy when he's hiding in a cave — we're forced to demonize something. Since anti-alcohol efforts fizzled out in the 1930's, it's tobacco's turn at bat.
That is why children go into indignant rages when they catch their dad firing up an occasional stogie, because smoking is, apparently, the greatest evil of our times (except for marijuana smoking, which, ironically, some anti-tobacco folks want made legal, partly because it's something they'd do occasionally).
