Defending Ourselves Against The Little Pleasures
by digby
Dennis Praeger has written one of typically whiny columns about "the left" ruining all his fun with their political correctness. He says that with the exception of sex and drugs, we are robbing Real Americans of the "little pleasures" in life like making fun of people with disabilities and taking away "virtually all kids games that can make a kid feel at all bad or get hurt; wood-burning fireplaces; cars; most jokes or any flirting in the workplace; incandescent light bulbs; cool homes in summer; and more." Whatever. If he thinks those things are more fun than sex and drugs, well, he's got some strange fetishes --- and he's welcome to them.
But this one bears looking at more closely:
One of life's great little pleasures is tobacco. Just watch old war reportage to see the serenity and joy a cigarette brought to a wounded soldier. Though I do not smoke cigarettes, I have been smoking cigars and pipes since I was in college (my father still smokes cigars daily at age 91), and it would be difficult to overstate how much I enjoy both.
No one opposes educating the public about the dangers of cigarette smoking. Cigarette smoking shortens the lives of up to a third of smokers, often in terrible ways, and that is what public health organizations should be saying. But the battle against smoking and tobacco has become a religious crusade for anti-smoking zealots, who are almost invariably on the Left. If the Left hated Hugo Chavez or Fidel Castro as much as it hates "Big Tobacco," the world would be a better place.
But because the Left hates the fact that people smoke (tobacco, not marijuana, which the Left defends) it uses totalitarian (I use that term with no exaggeration) tactics to eliminate it. Just as the Soviets removed Trotsky from old photos, anti-smoking zealots have forced the removal of cigarettes from old photos -- from photos of FDR, from the famous Beatles photo -- and from movies whenever possible. Torture and murder are ubiquitous in films, but smoking is all but banned -- even cigars are now banned from James Bond films.
Smoking has been banned in entire cities, outdoors as well as in. In Pasadena, Calif., one cannot even smoke in a cigar store. That the Left has contempt for Prohibition reveals a lack of self-awareness that is quite remarkable.
I think it's about what you want to prohibit and why. Why someone would think that limiting someone's right to smoke is more totalitarian than forcing someone to undergo childbirth against her will, but I guess your mileage may vary.
I didn't know about the Soviet-style removal of all signs of smoking from photographs and movies, but somebody forgot to check HBO --- I just saw a couple of episodes of The Pacific last night and it depicts the soldiers smoking obsessively --- and talking about smoking constantly. This seemed to me to be very accurate, since smoking is one of the most addictive drugs known to man. I know this because I used to smoke and quitting was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. And I'll be living with the greater risk of developing cancer from that addiction for the rest of my life. Maybe Prager thinks that's a pleasure, but I find it a curse.
I am ambivalent about anti-smoking ordinances that are purely punitive. Telling people they can't smoke outdoors where they cannot affect anyone else's right to smoke clean air seems a bit much. But I have to admit that quitting the final time was made much easier by the fact that I wasn't confronted with smoking everywhere I went. And the relief of being in a confined space like a nightclub or bar without people smoking all around has been huge --- those cues were very hard for me to resist. Even last night watching those soldiers smoke like chimneys for a couple of hours made me yearn for a cigarette and I haven't smoked in many years now. I don't wish to see history whitewashed, but I do know that there is a powerful psychological effect to seeing people smoke. It's worth at least acknowledging that it might have an effect on kids, who should not be cavalierly sacrificed on the alter of a libertarian choice that kills you.
That being said, it seems to me that what Praeger really takes pleasure in is destruction and cruelty to others and he resents having those pleasures proscribed. And when he's just destroying himself, I agree with him. He should be perfectly free to enjoy killing himself with tobacco when he's by himself or other smokers -- or enjoy watching cruel video games, for instance. And he can, as far as I know, still use incandescent light bulbs, drive gas guzzlers and air-condition his house, although he may have to suffer the disapprobation of people who think he's being a selfish pig (or pay a premium to buy these things.)
That's life. There's no right to social acceptance for being a jerk and the market will always make the selfish jerk pay more for things that are scarce or only he wants. And people have always had the right to ask that society be just a little bit less sensitive to those who take pleasure in humiliating others rather than telling the humiliated that they need to "toughen up" and learn to take it (even if they haven't always used it.)
Thankfully we have, as a society, drawn the line at forcing people to endure harassment by predators in the workplace or making people breathe noxious fumes just because Dennis Praeger takes pleasure in these things. And we try to protect kids from all kinds of things because they didn't ask to be born of the pricks who spawned them. They deserve a little extra help since they can't do it for themselves.
You see, "the Left" isn't trying to take away "the Right's" sadistic and selfish pleasure because they resent them having any enjoyment in life. There's no moral case involved except to the extent it harms children, who don't have agency. And we secularists (religious believers and non-believers alike) are known for our indifference to social dictates designed to help anyone get to heaven. The fact is that nobody cares what these people do to themselves. "The Left" is trying to change society's acceptance of Praeger's "pleasures" that hurt other people or the planet we are all forced to share. It's an act of self-defense.
h/t to bb