Hitler's Butt Ban
Victoria Hardy
August 29, 2008
I´m trying to live a healthier life these days, although there are certainly mixed messages out there about what constitutes healthful living. Over the last years I´ve began to remove chemicals, or at least as many as I am able, from my system. I quit all prescriptions, rarely take any over the counter medications and avoid doctors. I´ve had all my silver amalgam fillings removed and stopped using fluoridated toothpaste. I rarely drink soda and I have given up all forms of chemical laced artificial sweeteners. I get my water at a spring, my meat, eggs and butter at an independent farm, make a special trip to the closest organic store for produce and eat very little processed foods. And I may use a cell phone 3 or 4 times a year, but with all those changes, I still smoke.
Some have said that it is ridiculous to change so many things, yet continue to smoke, but I don´t know that that is truth. I know it is "common" and accepted knowledge that smoking kills, but I also know there are a lot of accepted truths out there that aren´t really true, so it leaves one to wonder. Our government spends an awful lot of money to discourage smoking and smoking bans have gotten so invasive that now even some renters are not allowed to smoke in their homes. Both my curse and my blessing in this life is that I like things to make sense and it´s hard for me to see sense in a society that seeks to ban cigarette smoking, yet approves of aspartame, fluoride, mercury and overwhelming amounts of pharmaceuticals. It´s hard for me to understand how my little cigarette in an outdoor café will cause more damage to those around me than the exhaust from hundreds of cars and trucks passing by on the street. Or how a cigarette can cause more damage to those around me than the smoke stacks spewing God knows what into the air or the air "fresheners" and perfumes being pumped into shopping facilities or the chemicals in foods or the impurities in water.
But smokers have become the new leper and it is a hate that is shared by many, an approved hate. And interestingly enough, the Nazi Party imposed the most successful modern day smoking ban when Hitler (an ex-smoker) decided smokers did not fit into his ideal of the Master Race. The Nazis were also the first to really delve into the connection between cancer and smoking, but were their discoveries complete truth or were they just another tool in a long line of propaganda? The first American smoking ban can be attributed to the era of puritanical rule in Massachusetts in 1632, you know, the same state where hanging witches became hip for a time.
Of course, I am aware of the reactions this article with bring about, the dangers of smoking and second hand smoke are pushed heavily by all media and we accept it without question. It is said that there are 400,000 premature deaths caused by smoking in the United States per year, but did you know that if a smoker dies at 92, it is still considered premature because he smoked? In an analysis of ages of those 400,000 deaths computed by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) SAMMEC (Smoking Attributable Mortality, Morbidity and Economic Costs) program shows some interesting numbers. Smoking "victims" lived longer than non-smokers, by about 2 years - 71.9 vs. 70. Over 70,000, 17% died "prematurely" at ages greater than 85. Only 1900, or 0.5% of smoking "victims" died at ages less than 35, while 143,000, or 8% of non-smokers died at ages less than 35, mostly due to auto accidents and drug abuse.
Some have said that it is ridiculous to change so many things, yet continue to smoke, but I don´t know that that is truth. I know it is "common" and accepted knowledge that smoking kills, but I also know there are a lot of accepted truths out there that aren´t really true, so it leaves one to wonder. Our government spends an awful lot of money to discourage smoking and smoking bans have gotten so invasive that now even some renters are not allowed to smoke in their homes. Both my curse and my blessing in this life is that I like things to make sense and it´s hard for me to see sense in a society that seeks to ban cigarette smoking, yet approves of aspartame, fluoride, mercury and overwhelming amounts of pharmaceuticals. It´s hard for me to understand how my little cigarette in an outdoor café will cause more damage to those around me than the exhaust from hundreds of cars and trucks passing by on the street. Or how a cigarette can cause more damage to those around me than the smoke stacks spewing God knows what into the air or the air "fresheners" and perfumes being pumped into shopping facilities or the chemicals in foods or the impurities in water.
But smokers have become the new leper and it is a hate that is shared by many, an approved hate. And interestingly enough, the Nazi Party imposed the most successful modern day smoking ban when Hitler (an ex-smoker) decided smokers did not fit into his ideal of the Master Race. The Nazis were also the first to really delve into the connection between cancer and smoking, but were their discoveries complete truth or were they just another tool in a long line of propaganda? The first American smoking ban can be attributed to the era of puritanical rule in Massachusetts in 1632, you know, the same state where hanging witches became hip for a time.
Of course, I am aware of the reactions this article with bring about, the dangers of smoking and second hand smoke are pushed heavily by all media and we accept it without question. It is said that there are 400,000 premature deaths caused by smoking in the United States per year, but did you know that if a smoker dies at 92, it is still considered premature because he smoked? In an analysis of ages of those 400,000 deaths computed by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) SAMMEC (Smoking Attributable Mortality, Morbidity and Economic Costs) program shows some interesting numbers. Smoking "victims" lived longer than non-smokers, by about 2 years - 71.9 vs. 70. Over 70,000, 17% died "prematurely" at ages greater than 85. Only 1900, or 0.5% of smoking "victims" died at ages less than 35, while 143,000, or 8% of non-smokers died at ages less than 35, mostly due to auto accidents and drug abuse.
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