Gleeful delusions of perception
In the grand scheme of things much is said about how giant monolithic entities control and distort everything even when those entities have absolutely nothing to do with the subject. If that is the case, why then do many “public health” faux charities insist on blaming “Big Tobacco” for every fopar they have ever made?
Three completely different media outlets, with three very similar and completely inaccurate headlines. So what exactly has these media buffoons so worked up? Well of course it is the defeat of SB140 where Senator Mark Leno “disassociated” himself from the Bill all because the committee voted to amend the definition of electronic cigarettes to not being tobacco products. Such a shame.
Of course, the media outlets that expressed their disappointment at this turn of events.
But with e-cigarettes on the rise, a new conversation has begun. And tobacco companies are on the move again to limit marketing on these products in order to maximize profits.
Hasn’t anybody bothered to actually investigate how many of the ’electronic cigarettes’ on the market are owned by “Big Tobacco”? I’ll give you a hint, the total number of “Big Tobacco” e-cigarettes is still in the single digits.
“The chairman and his committee are doing the full bidding of the tobacco industry — and that’s frightening,” said Senator Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who noted that at least eight other states have already defined e-cigarettes to be tobacco products.
What is frightening is the sheer arrogance and incompetence of this particular Senator who, by the way has never had any of his Bills pass. Consider for a moment that this fool still believes that the device you are holding in your hands as you read this is made by one of the giant monoliths in the tobacco industry.
I find it more than a little odd that the fake charities are rushing to Senator Leno’s side and blaming “Big Tobacco” or “Tobacco Money” for the failure of the Bill, yet not one of them stopped to consider who actually turned up to challenge the Bill itself when it was heard in committee.
Shall we do a quick roll call of the supposed “Tobacco Industry”?
- Smoke Free Alternative Trade Association (SFATA)
- American Vaping Association (AVA)
- Small business owners and employees (far too many to list!)
Tell me please, which one of these is the dreaded “tobacco industry”? Oh that’s right, none of them.
He goes on to say, “For over 50 years, Big Tobacco has been searching for a ‘safe’ delivery system for their toxic and addictive nicotine. E-cigarettes are their new holy grail, and they’re using these supposedly safe devices to addict another generation to their product.”
Sadly, yet again Mark Leno doesn’t have a clue what he is saying here. The devices we use were invented in 2003 by Hon Lik, and yes whilst the company Hon Lik founded has indeed been bought by a tobacco company, his invention sparked a whole new industry of its own. But it doesn’t stop there.
Since 2013, tobacco companies contributed $173,100 to members of the Assembly’s 21-member Governmental Organization committee, which recently gutted legislation that sought to limit the marketing and use of electronic cigarettes by defining them as tobacco products.
It is almost as if they are accusing the committee members of being shills for the tobacco industry isn’t it? Wait, don’t they already say we are shills? Come on folks, we don’t get paid for anything we do to challenge ridiculous legislation. Not to mention the simple fact that if committee members were receiving ’tobacco money’ wouldn’t their votes be, oh I don’t know, a bit more consistent?
Let us also consider the number of switch votes (from yes to no) that didn’t receive ‘gifts’ as well as those who switched in the opposite direction (and did receive gifts) along with the Party allegiance…
Yet absolutely nothing is said about the “gifts” from “Big Pharma” to the Bills author and his sponsors, oh no. Deary me, “Big Pharma” are the angels here aren’t they?
Yet these organisations who are so gleeful in their delusions that vaping is owned solely by “Big Tobacco” cannot, or more to the point do not want to see that their own paymasters are the ones that create all this insanity. But of course it’s far easier to say that we are all “Big Tobacco” then it is to admit that they might have backed the wrong horse.