Segacs's World I Know

It’s National Non-Smoking Week this week, and across Canada, longtime smokers are trying to kick the habit… including two of my coworkers. Can you say stressful?

Still, I say kudos to those who manage to quit, and good luck to those who are trying. I’ve never had an ounce of willpower in my life so I guess it’s a good thing I never started smoking… mind you, giving up chocolate hasn’t proven quite so simple.

In the meantime, ever reinventing the notions of stupidity, the Ontario Lung Association is trying to get all movies with smoking in them rated “R”:

The Lung Association in Ontario is lobbying for all films that show smoking to be given a restricted rating, preventing anyone under 18 from seeing those movies.

[ . . . ]

“This would be an incentive for [filmmakers] to remove the product entirely,” said Susan Berek of the Ontario Tobacco Free Network.

Alan Goluboff, head of the Directors Guild of Canada, scoffed at the idea. He warns such a law would kill Canadian filmmaking. “The whole concept is absolutely ridiculous… placing that kind of creative restriction on the whims of an artist is dangerous.”

Sure, and while we’re at it, why don’t we institute laws preventing anyone under 18 from ever going outside, because they might see someone smoking in the street.

There’s protective and there’s just plain ridiculous. Clearly, this falls into the latter category. Maybe the message to the Lung Association need to be to “just butt out” of the movie business.

Related posts:

1. Butt out… eventually
2. No smoking at home
3. Double cohort
4. Doctors returning to Canada… but not to Quebec
5. Will Canada’s smoking section be forced to butt out?

1 Comment to “Just butt out!”