Okay, in the interests of simple Christian charity, let me say that the vast majority of people are not stupid. We may do stupid things, but we're not stupid.
I will assume the person in this story is not stupid. Fanatic maybe, but not stupid. Lacking in common sense, certainly, but not stupid.
I should probably re-title the blog entry, but I won't.
So here's the story out of Chicago:
Chicago's smoking ban has forced the cast of ``Jersey Boys'' to snuff out their cigarettes.
Smoking was the norm in the 1950s and 60s when the play about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons takes place. But that doesn't matter when it comes to smoking in Chicago theaters. Authorities say an irate theatergoer lodged a complaint.
Just as irate is Alderman Bernard Stone. The former part-time actor told the Chicago Sun-Times smoking must be allowed if the play is going to be true to its time.
The Public Health Department has primary responsibility for enforcing Chicago's smoking ban. But spokesman Tim Hadac says the crackdown on Jersey Boys didn't originate there. He says someone likely flagged down a police officer during a production.
Got that? Someone was so incensed by the actors, PERFORMING THEIR ROLES IN THE PLAY, having the temerity to light up and smoke, that they filed a complaint which led to a ban on SOMETHING THAT IS PART OF THE PLAY.
Frankly if I were the playwright I would sue the city of Chicago for interfering with my freedom of expression.
We can present a painting of Harold Washington in drag; a "sculpture/painting" of the Virgin Mary smeared with elephant feces and surrounded by porn cut from magazines; piles of dirty, smelly underwear artfully strung about a gallery or pink latex wrapped around everything in sight on a California hillside. That's all art. But we dare not allow actors in performance in a theater to light up and smoke, even though they are doing what the script demands.
I can imagine how this person would have had a stroke if they'd seen me lighting up and puffing on a cig when I was in DIARY OF ANNE FRANK at QCT. Heck, I lit up TWICE!!!
I wonder if they wig out when they see a classic movie where people are smoking? I remember a science fiction story where the two protagonists were famous for having come up with an algorithim that could be applied to old movies and would edit out such horrible sins as smoking. Don't remember anything else about the story, just that.
And I laughed that such things would never ever happen. Looks like I'm stupid too.
I believed the Illinois State Police way back in 1983 or so when they said "we've instituted a seatbelt law but we'll never pull you over or ticket you just for not wearing one" too.
Yup. Me and the anti-smoking twit in Chicago...
Stupid people.
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2 comments:
as a non-smoking advocate of smokers and property owners rights , we have taken that one giant step onto a very slippery slope and given a push by lawmakers.
I see in Iowa where a judge turned down a request for an injunction by bar owners while their lawsuit on the smoking ban there proceeds, citing the "public health benefits" outweighing the business peoples' rights to allow smoking in the business they own (and the judge apparently does not patronize).
I don't smoke, I hate cigarette smoke...but MY solution is DON'T GO PLACE WHERE PEOPLE ARE SMOKING!
Once again, the age-old concept of MYOB is tossed out the window in favor of "we know better than you do whats good for you!"
Thank you, Comrade Lenin (or whomever).
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