I appreciated Gail's comments (last name? neighborhood?) about the smoking ban issue. I am also conflicted about the notion of a smoking ban, because i cannot imagine Gandolf or the hobbits without pipe and pipeweed.
I also hope to inject a little humour to defray the tension -- at least it does for me. Discussion in democracy can be painful. Most 'muricans would rather just shrug off the responsibility to engage in such discussion. democracy is just too hard. Citizenship is seen as a drag by most folks. I find citizenship to be intimidating and enlivening. To the point: a smoking ban is seen by many as "tyranny in Minneapolis." That lovely old dinosaur (CS Lewis referred to himself as a dinosaur, I call him lovely) and Inkling CS Lewis has been trotted dutifully out into this fray posthumously. Lewis and fellow inkling JRR Tolkien loved pub, pipe, port and tea. all of these things were brought into their comfortable existance coutesy of the genocidal tyranny of the British Empire. There are plenty of good reads available to help one understand just how much blood was shed to put sugar in the tea of our dear icons of English literature and religion. Go to the WHO website to read the articles there about poverty and tobacco. BBC news reports that Norway has joined Ireland in nationwide smoking bans for bars and restaraunts -- nationwide tyranny, what? People of CS Lewis' generation entered into smoking with more naivete than we do. Furthermore, the tyranny which provided "good" English dons the foundation of a very comfortable life is also nearly universal in human history. Of course, a young upstart nation revolted against the waning British empire some time back, and proceeded to conduct a campaign of terror and genocide which stained the ground under the streets of Minneapolis red with blood. Names like "Hiawatha Avenue" and "Minnehaha Parkway" are strange monumants to real tyranny: oil-soaked asphalt over bloodstained ground. Our comfortable existence in Minneapolis is founded upon the continuing extension of "Manifest Destiny" around the world. Our parochial hubris is like that of CS Lewis -- very much a man of his patriarchical time. We see our relative wealth as normal and as a result of hard work and good clean (Christian?) living. Nothing could be further from the truth. One difference between CS Lewis (and his Inkling companions) is that we live in a nation that supposedly stands not for "Empire" but for the overthrow of tyranny and the democratization of life for everyone. The violence at the heart of our American Empire -- and of Minneapolis -- is all about depleted uranium and weapons of mass destruction, and is all about taking what makes us comfortable regardless of our impact on the planet or other people Our religious leaders and political leaders have a vested interest in disguising this reality from us. Wealth, power, and prestige depend upon keeping us multiply addicted and seeing how many created cravings we can scramble to fill. Good "producer-consumers" are rotten citizens. We are too afraid of losing our jobs, our money, and our security -- all of which tie us to tyranny like golden chains. We are too busy glutting on the world's resources to consider our impact on even our own children. That seems more like tyranny to me than a smoking ban. The American Jesus has many forms. I've seen Him driving around Minneapolis in a Hummer, chomping cigars, listening to Rush Limbaugh and enjoying the "pranks" of our Imperial troops at Abu Ghraib. Rape and torture are not only fun for this Jesus, but they are also needed to maintain the "full spectrum dominance" we enjoy here in America. Tyranny in Minneapolis? We may see it more directly and more clearly, but it will not be in the form of any smoking ban. It is coming in the form of more budget cuts in education and social services, and in the growing gap between rich and poor. It is coming as we put our children deep into debt for an infrastructure of violence -- more roads and less transit in an age of diminishing energy recources and increasing demand. It is coming to Minneapolis as our politicians put our children into debt for stadiums for millionaire and billionaire sports clubs while the urban landscape devolves into increasingly enclosed campuses for the rich and neglected wastelands for the poor. Welcome to the New World Order, Minneapolis. The smoking ban is not about tyranny. Smoking, on the other hand, has been intimately bound with tyranny in many ways. --pedaling off tfrom Kingfield to meet the Divine in Minneapolis, and earn a living, too....Gary Hoover REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
