How do smokers deserve respect?

I am trying not to blog too much, having just published Changing vaper-hate to love thinking it might be far too long for most people to read. I talk about respect for smokers. What do I actually mean?

I have just made a comment on the website of Social Change UK and I know it will never be published. This series of adverts promoting not smoking and not vaping, is a perfect example of the serious indictment we should hold up against anti tobacco.

          
            

No one is society should hold back any individual simply because they smoke or vape. And to brainwash 11 to 13 year olds that this is what happens, is scandalous. Even in the current anti smoking fervoured world, our lily livered Prime Minister (and other current politicians) WAS a smoker when he came to office. By all accounts he does not smoke any more. (I bet he vapes! and I bet the rest of them do too)

And, of course, not being able to fulfill your dreams because you are a smoker, is a situation anti tobacco have engineered themselves. It is how society now works. That is absolutely immoral and profoundly disgusting to me. We are, at last, not bashing race or gender orientation, we allow same sex marriage, house husbands, porn, movie and gaming violence; we encourage multiculturalism and  freedom of religion and all sorts of "rights". We call ourselves a free society. But smokers (and vapers) have no "rights".

Smoking has never held people back - until now.

Gallery of famous smokers.  

Another Gallery of famous smokers 

Following anti tobacco's example we can now say anything we like about smokers - doesn't matter how disrespectful - in fact the more disrespect, the better. And smokers can be discriminated against in any way with SOCIETAL APPROVAL!



Smokers are said to have 'Bad breath, stained teeth, clothes stink, bad skin, always broke. Conclusion = smoker' Link to Simon Clarke's post here or how about this disrespectful comment 'Greedy, lazy, sweaty, smelly clothes, greasy skin, often depressed. Conclusion: Obese person'  Isn't that insulting to all obese people?

Or what is now a politically incorrect, disrespectful description of a 'Greedy, lazy, sweaty, smelly clothes, greasy skin, often depressed. Conclusion: Black person' No one would DARE say such a thing.

I refuse to talk about smokers, or smoking in disrespectful ways. The smokers I know do not have bad breath, stained teeth, stinky clothes, bad skin, or are always broke. I was not like that when I smoked either - and I smoked for 50 years! What a disrespectful description of any group of people to be sure.

I refuse to say XXX million smokers will be "saved" by changing to vaping. No one can say that - not even anti smoking "scientists" - ESPECIALLY anti smoking "scientists". They do not speak the truth. They are not even truthful about the harm of Second Hand Smoke - or what is an age related death compared to a smoking related death. Smoking is now put out as such a shameful habit, I bet there are millions more smokers than ever own up - closet smokers.

But to get back to the 11 to 13 year olds, I'd like them to respect smoker's right to smoke and vaper's right to vape. And have the manners not to bad mouth them.

I would like them to respect ALL people and if any of them DO smoke or vape, they need to have respect for THEMSELVES despite it too.