get ‘em while they last (originally posted on okcupid)

So, apparently…(i just heard about this at the local tobacco shop) Clove cigarettes are going to be banned on september 22nd by the FDA. Fucking retarded, protectionism bullshit. Apparently they “appeal” to kids. You know what appeals to kids? Candy from strangers. Money. Violence. Sex. Pop tarts. alcohol. drugs.

You know what causes it? Being human. Yes, as much as having a dick leads to sexual thoughts, being a human goddamned being is what leads to people having vices. No amount of banning, censorship, or any other device meant to protect people from themselves is going to stop people, ultimately, from doing things that are harmful to themselves or to others.

Strictly speaking, sex of course isn’t necessarily harmful; and to clarify, when I say kids, I mean teenagers, like old enough to drive teenagers. Just want to throw that out there, since I mentioned sex up there. Anyone not a teenager should still be watching  cartoons. I still watch cartoons and I’m 36. But I digress.

I am fucking…TIRED…of government trying to remove the need for any sense of personal responsibility from this country. Instead of making parents do their fucking jobs, and actually parent their children, what they do instead is pass laws that are meant to protect people from things.

You know what i’d really like to see? A ban on chemical emissions from factories, a ban on waste from factories going into rivers, etc. I’d rather see some sixteen year old with a clove in their mouth than suffering from deformities because some company had it’s dick so far up in the government’s ass that the government gave it a blind eye when they dumped toxic waste in the ground…toxic waste that ultimately led to an increased birth deformity rate and cancer rate for the people in the surrounding areas. That’s why I’m unimpressed by government action when it comes to bans like these, because so much other shit that happens is ignored. Shit that is immediately harmful and bad for us.

I’m kind of pissed about this, obviously. It’s not even that I disagree with the ban per se. I would love to see a near total ban on cigarettes, but bans are usually unenforcable in the long run…Ask any pot head as he’s rolling a joint, and he’ll tell you that bans are not enforcable. People find a way to enjoy things that are bad for them, because they want to enjoy them. Prohibition of any kind, therefore, is just generally unenforcable and therefore a waste of effort.

Which brings me to another point: Speed limits. I go the speed limit, and I’m kind of pissed that it’s generally unenforced. Now, I have nothing against people that speed. It’s the people that drive like they’re fucking han solo, changing lanes constantly and dodging in and between cars like they’re evil knievel that pisses me off. I thought the whole point of having traffic laws was to keep people safe, but what’s the fucking point if there’s not enough traffic cops to enforce them?

I am drifting at this point. My point..there is one here, you know…is that government likes to attack the latest trendy public enemy. Years ago, it was huffing spray paint. Then it was crack cocaine.

Would be nice if they’d put the same effort into things like, oh say, breast cancer or HIV or pollution. But that would require actual effort and money being put into research…money that is desperately needed to build tactical fighters to protect us from roadside bombs.

:l

So here’s the real point. There’s a lot of things out there that the government should be focusing on, that they’ve ignored for years…and they’re not. You know what I think is a goddamned crime? Children dying because insurance companies won’t pay for the treatments. I think that’s a lot worse than someone smoking clove cigarettes. Women being killed by stalkers (my rant about the name change on here from stalkers to visitors notwithstanding, this is a terrible and real thing that happens to people) that they’ve tried to seek protection from over and over and over again, to no avail, because of a legal system that has yet to adapt to a need for quick reaction from law enforcement.

Fuck the clove cigarette ban.