Coming Soon - The Marlboro Baby?

The United States Government has decided that roles such as the Marlboro Man or Joe Camel must now be portrayed by various sick or dead people, and that cigarette manufacturers must display the new leading men, women, and cadavers on each and every package of cigarettes. To audition, the dying or deceased must have smoking related illnesses or must have died from them. According to Federal health officials it is hoped that the new packages will shock people into quitting the habit or not starting in the first place. You can read about it here:

http://www.fda.gov/TobaccoProducts/Labeling/CigaretteProductWarningLabels/default.htm

Oh the hypocrisy! Can you figure out where I am going to go with this one?

Several attempts have been made to require abortionists to provide information to those seeking abortions so that they are allowed to make a fully informed choice. Such information should, pro-life advocates assert, contain ultrasound images of the soon-to-be-aborted, and graphic images of aborted fetuses so that women will know that what they are about to destroy isn’t just a mass of cells as is commonly, not to mention falsely, claimed by abortion workers and supporters. In other words, pro-life advocates want women to make an informed choice. But as is usually the case with liberal causes, informed consent doesn't sit well with liberals and their favorite Marxist politicians. Graphic images of the aborted are deemed by them to be “extreme,” "fanatical," “cruel,” or just plain “disgusting.” The real reason is of course that if most women, especially young women, actually knew what they were about to do, they might just decide to choose life for their unborn children, and that wouldn’t sit too well with the abortion mills and their fanatic partners at NOW and NARAL.

Maybe what smokers need is a Joe (Camel) vs. Wade type of battle. They could argue things like, “It’s my body and I can do whatever I like with it.” Perhaps we need to designate a 100 foot area surrounding every tobacco shop so that the anti-(smoker's) choice groups will have to wave their signs from a safe distance. Matt Lauer can interview executives from R.J. Reynolds so that they can describe how they are harassed and live in fear. Phil Donahue can invite a smoker to smoke a cigarette on live T.V., and describe how it feels to do so from behind a curtain.

Yes, I know it’s absurd. But when you think about it, isn’t the double standard just as absurd? And if we don’t stand up for ourselves who knows? Perhaps they’ll soon be banning Happy Meals!