You sir are writing something that is understood by less than 1% of India's population, I would request you to get up from your fat posterior and go out on to the hot sweltering streets of our country.
Ask 5 random people about who Fidel Castro is, who Che G...is or who Winston C... is...all you will get is a blank stare or they would say ask that pan wala down the road he knows everybody.
So to say smoking represents art or that your heros need to smoke to be heros is doing yourself and your nation a disservice.
We as a country never really attained freedom in the real sense of the world. And verious facets of this have been written in many books. In our country, the Govt "rules" and not "serves". Ayn Rand has said that whenever we do something which "some" people say or like, it takes away the rights of other people. The only role of a proper Govt is the national security, and the POLICE. Everything else must be dealt with by the private means. India has a long way to go before the people really rule the country. We live in the stone age - and we lack even basic facilities like proper security for the people. In fact, it is the POLICE which rapes and kills the most people. Let the Govt concentrate of providing proper education to the people to increase awareness, and understand that its role is to serve the people and not to rule them. Untill that time comes, we will always remain a third rate power, not deserving to be taken seriously. I love my country, but I believe in freedom of the people, freedom of expression, freedom to do what I want without hurting anybody else. Govt has no business in my life or in my bedroom for that matter. It is disgusting.
The issue as many other critics of this article havent realized is not whether smoking is good or bad, but does the state have the right to tell you what you are supposed to talk, see and listen to?
I am a smoker. If the government passes a law saying smoking is illegal and ban the substance, I can accept it. But the government does not and should not have the right to impose what is fundamentally mine! My freedom to speak, see and listen to whatever I choose to, in my territory.
How different is this ban, from any fundamentalist islamic rule, that everyone around is commenting upon?
All you critics, should go watch The people vs Larry Flint.
Herez how i see it. Y is it ok for filth to exist, but not ok for sumone to call it by name? Closing our eyes to sumthin duznt make it nonexistant anymore than it makes u blind. This, primarily is the problem with our society n way of thinking. We go into our shells of idealism, and choose to not blive that sumthin thts repugnant can also b the truth.
So much for philosophy,coming to the topic at hand.Yes, ppl smoke. Yes, its bad. So, y is it not ok for sumthing to b bad? N who decides wot is bad?
Ther has been this popular line which says, people see things on the screen n try to emulate the heros n try smoking. So who does that make moronic,the people, or the column?
A sensible option is to issue an "A" rating to movies with scenes which r thot of as having an undesirable effect on the audiences. Idealists can then go ahead n monitor which movies to let their children see n which not to.
Well Said... It might appear a bit biased to some - not to me :)........ I am delighted abt ur voice not just because am a fellow-smoker but because i feel its justified & needs to be answered !! Who knows..We might have a day when we have a rating that translates to the no. of BLURs in a movie ;)
There are 2 opposing considerations to be taken into account here. and there is a middle ground.
Problem 1 : Viewing of cigarette smoking in movies and TV as being stylish leads the young to smoking cigarettes. This is a fact and we need a solution for it.
Problem 2 : Banning of smoking on-screen suppresses freedom of expression and art. This is dangereous as these things start with the cigarette and end up controlling everything you do. It can lead to problems in the long run which can stifle democracy.
If we observe the problems, clearly the issue is one of protecting the young from bad influences at an age when they are not wise enough to make an informed choice. if you want to censor the content then censor only what is targetted for the children. the content for adults should never be censored. make sure only movies with the U certificate do not show cigarette smoking.
Again as i said why can't some amount of wisdom be used in these matters???
I am a regular reader of the articles on rediff.com, but i have to say that this article is by far head and shoulders above most of what i have read recently. The writer's style is magnificent, and the message has been brought forward in a powerful forceful way, without being overbearing and patronising. I smoke, and i enjoy every drag of every cigarette. I agree with every word of the article, and would in fact go a step further to say that maybe we need a rational body to regulate the government and its whims and fancies. Because that's not what we want our lives to be - products of other people's whims and fancies! It's an insult to the intelligence of a self-respecting human being to be told that he/she is not smart enough to make the "right" choices, and needs the state to do that for him/her!
