Promises, promises
Friday, November 1, 2013 at 8:45 The Dundee Courier yesterday invited Forest to respond to the following initiative:
Smokers are being encouraged to stub it out at home as the Smoke Free Homes initiative launches across Tayside.
The scheme asks smokers to acknowledge the affect their habit has on others and encourages them to sign up to make their home smoke free ...
The Tayside Smoke Free Homes scheme encourages people to sign up to either a GOLD or SILVER promise to help keep their home smoke free.
The GOLD promise means you agree to no smoking in the house, while signing up to the SILVER status promises that smoking will be confined to one room in the house and never in front of children.
My response:
"This is so patronising. No-one should be told how to behave in their own homes.
"Most smokers are considerate to those around them, especially children. They don't need to sign pledges to change their behaviour.
"Adults resent being lectured or treated like children and this scheme does both.
"If campaigners don't want people to smoke at home they should support separate, well-ventilated smoking rooms in pubs and clubs.
"Tobacco is a legal product and consumers must be allowed to smoke somewhere without this constant harassment."
I'm not sure if a report will appear. I got the feeling that, like me, the paper thought the whole thing was a bit ridiculous.
We'll see.
Update: A report did appear - Smokers encouraged to stub out at home - but without a quote from Forest. And me a Dundee United supporter too!
Reader Comments (8)
Well said, Simon. I feel sure you're right in how the paper felt but the media is letting us down by just repeating and supporting this tripe parrot fashion without any measure of scrutiny.
They could, of course, be just humouring us. I've had similar cynicism shown from radio and TV reporters in the past to some new piece of anti-smoker lunacy - and yet they they still report smoking as if it's worse than a nuclear disaster.
Let's have someone define "the affect their habit has on others " and provide the evidence. Then ask how these measures might affect smokers or are smokers simply unworthy of consideration?
Did anyone hear the Jeremy Vine show (with Vanessa Feltz sitting in for Jeremy) today? There was a piece on smoking because Simon Cowell was seen smoking in a car with his pregnant girlfriend!
I was fuming that only one very minor pro smoker text/email was read whilst a number of antis spoke on the phone, including, of course, Debrah Arnott.
Unfortunately, as I was driving on a motorway at the time I was unable to call or text/email, but was hoping that someone with some good solid arguments for smokers would get through. Sadly not, even if they did try.
It is all the same and good ol Debs was in full flow about how smoking, even SHS, could severely damage a unborn child to the point where they could be in an incubator, fighting for their lives! Apparently, too, now the number of children with asthma has dramatically reduced, since the smoking ban, of course, as most people have to smoke outside now!
I cannot believe how gullible so many people have become!
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/angus-the-mearns/smokers-encouraged-to-stub-out-at-home-1.147291
I feel sick at the way they are using children to guilt trip their parents. This is child abuse!
Totally patronising message attempting to target adult smokers in a very child like way.
Gold star for that! Clearly there are a pathetic bunch of people behind this campaign.
What is disgraceful is the way these people assume the right to utilise other people's children to try and implement thier pet policy.
Schools are for learning, not for indoctrinisation. How dare they. I hope the parents get stuck into the school head for allowing this to happen,
" I hope the parents get stuck into the school head for allowing this to happen"
Sadly, John, it is highly unlikely this will happen as most of the parents have been brainwashed into believing that smoking and smokers are completely lethal and the slightest whiff of tobacco smoke could render their child unconscious, or worse, dead! That is how dangerous this propaganda is.
There is some small hope that sometime soon, I hope, these gullible people will start to realise just how they have been used as the same cons are used on drink, certain foods and other things that these people enjoy and know have caused them no harm over the years, or their parents, grandparents, siblings, etc. So, just maybe, they will wake up to the fact that they have been conned, big time, on other things too.
We can but hope!
OMG Gold and Silver stars!
And what are we supposed to do with these stars?
Stick them on your front door or wear them on your lapel?
If this isnt the first step of encroachment into the home by Big Brother that we all predicted at the start of the smoking ban its definitely the next step.
Isnt it great to be living in the Eurozone nowadays where open borders brings exciting new cultures of thinking that aims to practice new laws, restrictions and bans so that we all do the same things at the same time and everyone is exactly the same.
Heil Hitler.