talkmagic.co.uk

I assume that "u" is ghetto shorthand for the pronoun "you"?

magicofthemind wrote:

SamGurney wrote:

magicofthemind wrote:I'd channel my thoughts in a different direction if I were you.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12193602

Barry

Wow. Smoking is dangerous. Well, you learn something new every day.

It's also on the way out, at least in Europe.

Relentless vitriol occasionally has its charms. Occasionally.

There's a respected Drugs historian, I can't remember his name, who predicts that- if governments keep with their historical tradition on drugs- tobacco will eventually, in the very distant future, become illegal. His criteria for this prediction are that smokers first become reduced to lower socioeconomic sectors of the populaton- and then, in keeping with the conventions of history, the drug will become popularly direputable amongst the 'ruling (or middle) classes' to warrant being legislated against.

Of course this trend was much more accepted in pre-20th century periods where noticable 'ruling classes' exist, whereupon it slowly grew out of fashion after the liberalising effects of some epochal wars. However, the argument exists that this trend continues to some extent, or at least a trend unfairly unfavourable to the feared ''lower classes''. It is well known and accepted, for example, that drug use is the same in magnitude accross all socio-economic statuses and 'classes', however, it is much more common for less affluent drug-users to be prosecuted. Certainly over the pond in the states, the unwritten law is that 'If you're rich, white and middle class and take drugs then the law will politley over-look it. If you're poor and black then expect to be arrested'. The legal system knows this all too well and there are many honourable advocates fighting for greater equality in this respect.

Perhaps in line with more recent political trend, the historian's prediction seems more likley to occur first in America (although I don't know whether smoking is on a decline there, but it seems like a reasonable assumption) and then for Britain to kindly follow trend, just as it did with cannabis legislation. This all seems very distant in the future however, if we are to consider it as plausible.

I think it sounds certainly possible. But if we are looking to distant history as a guide, let's strongly hope that Britain doesn't do what it did to China in the opiates-war to solve its deficit. At times I wonder how Nick Griffin has a supposed degree in history and is still a nationalist. Freudian repression of such memories and extreme sexual feelings of inadequacy are my strong bet.

Food for thought, food for thought.

Au revoir,
xx