According to anti-smoker zealots, smokers are brainless addicts, slaves of the nicotine released by burning the tobacco on which they are so dependent. And, according to some, they are depraved, uncaring individuals, unconcerned about the health and safety of those around them.Hasn't the anti-smoker cult told the public repeatedly that tobacco kills people?
Even Health Canada claims that tobacco use kills over 37,000 Canadians, each and every year. But, by extension, that means that those who choose to smoke are committing suicide. Or, at the very least, since only 50% of them are believed to die of “smoking related illness”, they’re playing a very dangerous game of Russian roulette.
But, even worse, according to the anti-smoker cult, smokers are killing innocent parties in their unrepentant march to self destruction. Health Canada claims that 831 non-smoking Canadians are killed, each and every year, by exposure to secondhand smoke.
That’s strong language, because that means smokers aren’t simply inconsiderate louts subjecting protesting non-smokers to the foul stench of tobacco smoke. That means the cost to non-smokers is far greater than the price of a few bottles of shampoo to get cigarette smoke out of their hair after being assaulted (with secondhand smoke) by a vile, aggressive smoker.
That means smokers are murderers! At the very least, they’re guilty of manslaughter. There’s no way to come to any other conclusion.
If you use a gun to kill someone, it’s not the gun that goes on trial; it’s the individual who pulled the trigger who is responsible. The same is true if you use a knife. The individual wielding the knife will face a jury of his/her peers and, if found guilty, be punished. Does it really matter what weapon is used in the commission of a crime when people are killed?
In 2002, there were 462 murders committed in Canada, 137 of which involved firearms. Most of the suspects in those crimes were caught and tried. Those convicted are now behind bars.
But of the 831 people Health Canada and other health scare professionals claim were killed by secondhand smoke, not a single perpetrator has been apprehended, much less incarcerated.
How is that possible?
Even if the deaths were accidental, there is usually an investigation by some legitimate authority to determine cause; to determine whether or not negligence was involved; to hold those responsible accountable.
Where are the police? What have they been doing? Did they investigate a single one of these 831 deaths? And if not, why not?
The reality is that, to investigate a death, the police need a body; a victim. It doesn’t really matter if the death resulted from murder, manslaughter, suicide or by accidental means; they need a body to begin an investigation.
And, no one has ever provided the police, or any other authority, with a victim.
Every one of those 462 murder victims was identified. Every one of the 9,050 fatalities resulting from accidents that same year have been identified and investigated by the appropriate authorities. Every one of the 3,650 suicide victims was identified and their deaths investigated.
Yet not a single individual, allegedly killed by secondhand smoke, has ever been identified. Not a single death has been investigated. Not a single death, intentional or otherwise, has even been reported to police.
And if there’s no body, no victim, how can Health Canada, or any other responsible government agency, legitimately claim that 831 people were killed by secondhand smoke. And why would they make such an outrageous claim?
They do it to de-normalize, demean and denigrate those who choose to smoke. They do it to defend and even encourage blatant discrimination against smokers. They do it to transfer their fear and hatred of smokers to the public.
In no other context would the allegations made by Health Canada and others in the anti-smoker brigade be acceptable. The “information” provided on their web site is intentionally designed to induce fear of secondhand smoke and foster hatred of those who choose to use a perfectly legal product. In another time and place, it would be called propaganda
The simple truth is that the alleged deaths exist only on paper; a statistical figment of the imagination. And, despite the fact that they have been unable to produce a body, despite the fact that they can provide no evidence of a crime, they continue to encourage hatred of smokers with inflammatory language, distorted, dishonest statistics and outright lies. And, they do it largely unopposed by the public, politicians or the press.
Hate speech, of the kind used by anti-smoker fanatics, against any other group in society would be denounced in the media and condemned by the public. Making false allegations is, in and of itself, a crime. Continual offenses would be prosecuted in the courts.
But, I guess smokers are different.
2 comments:
As a professional crime writer, I can't resist asking the obvious: Why would police investigate an alleged second-hand smoke death, since it's not a crime?
Rob, that’s the whole point. The anti-smoker crowd insists that a smoker’s SHS kills, as surely as if they had used a gun. It’s empty headed rhetoric not supported by the science, and it’s deliberately inflammatory and misleading. If it were, in fact, a crime, the police would investigate.
Post a Comment