Wrote Murray N. Rothbard: "Quick: which is America's Most Persecuted Minority? No, you're wrong. (And it's not Big Business either: one of Ayn Rand's more ludicrous pronouncements.)
"All right, consider this: Which group has been increasingly illegalized, shamed and denigrated first by the Establishment, and then, following its lead, by society at large? Which group, far from coming out of the 'closet,' has been literally forced back into the closet after centuries of walking proudly in the public square? And which group has tragically internalized the value-system of its oppressors, so that they are deeply ashamed and guilty about practicing their rites and customs? Which group is so brow-beaten that it never thinks of defending itself, any attempt at which is publicly condemned and ridiculed? Which group is considered such sinners that the use of doctored statistics against them is considered legitimate means in a worthy cause?
"I refer, of course, to that once proud race, tobacco-smokers, a group once revered and envied, but now there are none so poor as to do them reverence."
And now we find that the war on smokers has had yet another bad effect: it's made Americans much fatter, bringing on the so-called obesity epidemic. (Link via Arts & Letters Daily)
I know I should take up smoking (more than the occasional Cuban cigar), out of solidarity with the oppressed and to lose a few pounds. Plus it's cool, as Hollywood knows, no matter what the puritans chant. Terrible that I just can't seem to do it. Meanwhile, however, I remember the good old days.
