29 January 2008

Hypocrisy, Part II

"What interests me is that a lot of people who frown on cigars and go ballistic if anyone lights up a cigarette near them have no problem smoking pot themselves or being around others who do. Will this lead them to:

"1. Now react violently to the threat of second-hand pot smoke the way they do
cigarette smoke? . . . "
Jeff Soyer points out that the people who would enjoy regulating EVERY LAST THING you do have a new weapon in their rhetoric. And those who enjoy some "herb" from time to time (Notice, I do not partake) now would find themselves between the proverbial rock and a hard place.

Personally, I don't really care whether pot is a cancer risk. The potential hypocrisy of it all is what intrigues me.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm trying to see the point, I really am. I even went to the Alphecca site and read the original.

Whether it's pot or cigarette smoke, and whether you agree with this assessment or not, how is it hypocrisy for one to desire to be free of UNWANTED second-hand smoke of any kind.

In the pre-smoking ban days, I might go to a drinking establishment by choice, and certainly made no second-hand smoke complaints. However, I was certainly glad the fellow in the next cubicle at work couldn't light up, as I had no (realistic) ability to escape that.

If I choose to smoke pot with a bunch of my friends, or even have friends over who smoke and I don't, it's still a choice. Pot and cigarettes should be legal, and I should be free of second-hand smoke in environments where I have little to no choice to escape it.

I don't think that makes me a hypocrite, but maybe I'm wrong. I thought I was wrong one other time, but I was mistaken. :)

Brent Greer said...

A-
I am TOTALLY with you on the benefits of not smelling like an ashtray every time you leave an establishment where adult pop is served. But I have no problem with people smoking if that's what they want to do. So I guess I'm torn on that issue.

I voted against both of the smoking issues on the Ohio ballot about a year ago. Both I felt were infringements on personal choices. In the firearms debate I see hypocrisy from the gun banners virtually every day. So reading about it in the pro-toke community gave me a chuckle. Which is why I posted it.

Similarly, awhile back I posted a piece on vending machines where you can buy pot in California. I noted it would be nice to buy ammunition the same way. But even today I chuckle that how people 30 years ago who would not give up their fingerprints to "The Man," (i.e. government), now have no problem swiping their magnetic card and pressing their thumb on a print reader on the vending machine in order to get their baggie of herb. Again, the hypocrisy that 30 years breeds.

Regardless, thanks for writing!