Moving the debate forward
Gauloise Gary writes: Despite the anti smoking posts, can I sound a more constructive note? Can I be the only one who has found a reluctance in the mediato engage in debate on the forthcoming English smoking ban?
Of three letters addressed to politicians, all found their way to the NHS customer relations team (who propogate propaganda) and none received an intelligent reply. Of three letters to the media, the Guardian failed to publish; BBC Ceefax did, but they altered the punctuation and spoiled the sense; and the Independent on Sunday ....well, they used a 'bite-sized' paragraph which merely paraphrased what I said (albeit quite intelligently ).
I think we should all start a massive letter writing campaign. Yet maybe this is wasteful. Should we be moving the debate forwards to actually dealing with the future? Whilst the opposition thinks the game is over, it is up to all tobacco users to devise a strategy beyond that of going outside on the pavement.
Some kind of networking? Some sort of outdoor venue? Any ideas out there? We are gonna drown unless there's a medium to swim in ... where's my glass of water?
posted by Simon Clark @ 10:04
6 comments
6 Comments:
Hi Gauloise Gary - my husband and myself are currently working towards moving to Spain. We may not make it before the ban comes in 2007, but we hopefully won't be far off.
Even though Spain brought a ban in this year, they are already having to back paddle and make concessions and that is despite the fact that their ban is voluntary!
Office buildings have been allowed to reinstate smoking rooms/areas and bars and clubs can choose to be smoking or non smoking. If they are over 100 sq feet in size then they have to have a separate area for smoking. Just the sort of common sense approach we needed here really. Hence our decision to move to a country that has sane, common sense ideas about smoking and not mass hysteria.
See you there if you decide to join the masses that are looking to move abroad.
Gary, there's plenty going on at The Big Debate: www.thebigdebate.org. Come and join us!
Hello Gary, I think most of of feal the same about some of the media, but there have been some great articles just lately that have not just rolled over and believed all the anti propaganda out there. More so now than before the proposed ban. There is a relentless drive by some great people smokers and non-smokers alike to get our voices heard. Lots of sites, including this great one. But we need to act quickly let as many people know, so like Ali says www.thebigdebate.org is the place to go for a start.
Hi Gary.
We all agree the media have not been on our side before, but in my experience the British media have always been the ones to build up the 'story', so that they can then take the credit for knocking it down again. They need their subjects to be as big as possible to make the fall so much the greater, that way they sell more copy.
We have now come to the crest of the smoking campaign and will now see more anti ban press than before, I have noted in the last few days, articles, especially in the Scottish press doing just that.
While I don't hold out much hope of pro-smoking articles, I can see that there will be more anti ban and pro-compromise stories in the press. Now is our best chance of being heard, the antis were the repressed minority, now were the underdogs, we must be sure to bark the loudest.
Yours.
Pete.
Thanks for your responses. I'm new to the internet and new to this website, so after some exploration of this forum's history, I'm becoming more enlightened. ( Hmmm...the activity around 15th. February seemed pretty 'busy'- glaucon is a powerful writer, and I felt quite sorry for some of the 'antis' after that !! )
Anyway, Lyn, maybe has THE right answer to all of this. Ali, I checked the site out - will be able to contribute and it seems pretty positive. Both Vincent and Pete make an interesting point...must say, I hadn't thought of the media thing as quite so dynamic... but of course it is, yeah... what comes around etc. Pete is getting at something that I tried to write to the IoS about - that is, the tables have turned. Non-smoking will cease to be a niche market, and its no use any pub or hotel going on about it anymore. The critical custom will become the smokers and they will have the power to keep a place going, but only if it provides the 'goods' - ie a decent smoking patio.
Thanks again for your comments, and I will continue my writing with more positivity.
I actually managed to get a letter printed in the Observer about the smoking ban. They have also had several articles which seem to be on the anti-propaganda side - dare I call them a smoker-friendly pulication?
I have also had a letter in my local paper re propaganda about anti-smoking. The trick is to write something that stands out from the rest. They get a lot of letters every day and unless one leaps out at them they don't print it. Plus keep to the facts and don't use too many unnecessary words to get your point over. Good luck and keep on writing.
The main scary-cats are the tabloids. They will go with any general anti-smoking message as it sells papers. They are more than willing to give column inches to smokers who have been bullied into the victim mode similar to the those who parade their weeping children onto primetime TV to twang our consciences.
I can't see a way forward yet without some official studies getting air-time and column inches. ASH and co are even rubbishing Forest by saying they are funded by tobacco companies. I hope they are as they are the only group in this whole country who give smokers a voice.
The public need to be told about the involvement of government and big pharmaceuticals in the so-called "charities" peddling the drivel that we have had to listen to. The whole "smoke screen" (forgive the pun) needs to be cleared and the true facts published. Only then will be get a fair chance. Plus, does anyone know how they prove somebody died because they smoked and would not have died if they hadn't?
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