Location: The World
Topic: Privacy Rights, Anti, Antz
Watch: In Defense of Stanton Glantz, The ANTZ, and Electronic Cigarettes
Watach more videos from Fr. Jack KearneyThe Church of Anti Nicotine and Tobacco
October 25, 2014
Father Jack, you are spot on in your assessment. Zealotry is not limited to mere questions of God, but everyday matters.
Those in the field of Public Health, where tobacco is concerned, act with a dogmatic fervor, admit no apostates to their echo chamber of worship. Most importantly they *never* deviate from their primary purpose: to eradicate tobacco from the whole of society.
To them tobacco is a disease, an epidemic, a sin of biblical proportions. Their mission parallels that of all major religions, to convert sinners to salvation and demonize those who reject them. In that mission there is no restraint of reason, the end justifies the means. They have declared Jihad against tobacco. In such a Holy war there are no limits, God judges them only on their adherence to the primary purpose and whatever efforts to move toward it is a “jewel in their crown”.
In a society where we are a super-minority and the ANTZ can claim a majority simply because 80% of the population is non-tobacco users there is little hope for rational discussion. We know that the public that votes does not understand science, and they could care less about facts. In the first world societies it is feelings over substance. That is why we are losing. We have facts nobody cares about and an appearance of evil that makes it easy to be denigrated before the greater population. As the attention span of the hoi palloi is only held briefly by things that matter to them our only hope is to “go emotional”. We must counter their religious movement on fronts we are usually unaccustomed to working on:
1. We must show the public that their religion is now killing Grandma. That they are the same folk who would deny seatbelts and air-bags to drivers, bicycle helmets to kids, etc.
2. We must show that there is none without sin in their religion. Tobacco is the Great Satan, but the archangels of evil, sugar, fat, farming, and any other product of human activity are fair game. There is no area of public life immune to their dogmatic pursuits.
3. We must show that, like all fundamentalist religious zealots, they are waging a physical war against their brand of sinners. They are no different from the Nazi purification, radical Islamic Jihad, Jim Jones style cults, and the inquisition Torquemada. One is either with them, or against them. There are no shades of gray, no exceptions to their beliefs.
4. We must show that they are the type of believer that believes hard, kills and doesn’t ask questions. They come at issues sideways, using whatever means necessary to coerce faith and, ultimately, cooperation with their mission.
How we can accomplish this mission:
1. We demonstrate their hypocrisy at every turn. Principally how their actions are creating a sub-class of our population that includes people known and loved; That their policies are exactly the same as denying seat-belts and airbags to drivers or bicycle helmets to kids. That they will distort truth to serve their purpose regardless of the lives it costs.
2. We use their track record, which is no longer speculation but historic to demonstrate that we have moved down the slippery slope to eliminating freedom of choice; that their sole purpose is to eliminate not only tobacco, but every single soul on the planet that uses tobacco. That this is only the beginning, any human endeavor that does not fit their world view is fair game to them.
3. We show that their existence depends on money garnered from the public purse and that they have stopped at nothing to maintain, even grow, the portion of public riches for their dubious causes.
4. We demonstrate that they ignore evidence, use secret meetings, shadow organizations to shape public policy. That they believe they and they alone, can make people better with or without the consent of the people.
When we frame our cause in these terms we can win in the court of public opinion. We are at war, not simply against the ANTZ but against the belief that Government, rather than the people, is the sole arbiter of choice. Winning this battle is a beginning, a small skirmish with larger consequences.
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