Two years after the state-wide smoking ban Georgians seem to have “accepted” prohibition as “normal”, the press no longer talks about it, as no smoking is the new “standard” of perversion. Is it really?
This article from historian correspondent Jeremy Richards tells us differently. Restaurants are shut down, out of business or “under new management”. Bingo halls are devastatingly empty. Two years later, smokers still stay home. Conversely, adults only establishments (yes, we have to “protect” the children from the sight of smokers and not to expose them to the fraudulent dangers of passive smoke!), still allowed by a relatively mild ban (don’t you feel grateful?…), are thriving and loaded with people who enjoy the good smoking life. Richards wonders on whether the milder ban is the cause of no reaction by smokers, and why smoking locales do not proliferate. Well, if they would, the ban would become total: always remember that – according to the healthist ideology – liberty, business, employment and truth are all secondary, collateral damages to the holy cause of the fraudulent “public health” ideology.
Be that as it may, this tells us – once again – that smoking IS the popular choice and it IS normality. Smoking bans are the abnormality – and no matter how long the health bastards hold on to political power and prohibition, the moment they will lose that power society will default to smoking, its natural state. Here is Richards’ piece.
On the second anniversary
Here in Georgia we are approaching the two-year anniversary of the statewide smoking ban. July 1 marks the anniversary.
How are things going in Georgia? Well, the ban is virtually never mentioned. It seems, at least on the surface, that Georgians have accepted the ban as normal. The news media is silent, and I do not hear people even mentioning the ban in conversations.
However, as an anti-ban activist who knows what to look for I know that much is not roses regarding the smoking ban. I can provide examples from personal observations. I see the Huddle House here in Barnesville with its parking lot that is virtually empty most of the time. Recently, the parking lot was repaved to make it look better, and a message got posted on the sign out front that stated that the restaurant had a new manager. Now, folks, when a restaurant has nothing better to brag about than having a new manager one has to wonder. On the other hand, a small chain restaurant here in Barnesville, Milano’s, does allow smoking in its bar and is a rather popular smoking hangout during lunchtime. Over in the nearby town of Thomaston a couple of bars appear to have shifted more toward selling food during the daytime in order to cash in on a smoking crowd, whereas the Huddle House in Thomaston is closed down.
Last summer the bowling alley in Jackson, near Barnesville, was so desparate for league players that it advertised by sending professors at my college an e-mail. In Gilmer County, the county I grew up in, I am aware of at least three restaurants that are closed now, and the buildings sit empty month after month after month. It is particularly interesting that one of the restaurants that closed had a smoking patio.
As for the local pool hall that had been a pool hall for half a century, it converted into being a more "respectable" family restaurant. It is so lame that it now closes down at 5:00 in the evenings. As for smoking establishments in Gilmer County I know of maybe three, and two of them are open only on weekends.
Ignorance is not bliss on the smoke ban issue. I believe that there is great potential to make hefty profits in the Georgia restaurant industry by running adult-only smoking establishments, which are allowed under the law. Yet few restaurant owners are willing to take the plunge. In some parts of the state it is difficult to find adult-only establishments.
On a positive note–though counties and cities can pass stronger local bans, few have do so recently.
In addition, I do not get the sense that the state legislature is in a mood to strengthen the Georgia ban either. That is good news for establishments that have chosen to cater to a smoking clientele.
On a down note–the ban is still on the books. Some businesses are still hurting. I have NO desireto see the ban strengthened in this state. However, the ban here is SO weak that it seems to have stifled any would-be opposition. This leads me to conclude that, unless the legislature strengthens the ban or unless many more municipalities pass bans, the battle against the Georgia smoking ban will, in a sense, be fought in far off blanket ban states and countries.
Perhaps places like Hawaii, Colorado, Ohio, and/or the United Kingdom. If resistance grows and is successful in such places then maybe some of that success will trickle down to my home state.
Jeremy Richards, Ph.D.
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