Really, how effective are we??

Most of what we do does not persuade anyone to be outraged.

Let's narrow our focus and say that all pro-smoking groups are going to start concentrating on smokers only and use the current methods;i.e., web sites and letters to the newspapers, etc.

Newspapers are a waste of time. Most smokers do not read most of the newspaper and newspapers reach a very small audience.

As far as websites are concerned; most smokers use their computers for email to friends, reading movie gossip, or playing games. For news and education, they watch tv, they do not surf the web looking for us(they do not know we exist).

Please consider these numbers.

If there were 100 prosmoker sites and each was regularly visited and posted-on by 1,000 smokers, that is 100,000 interested smokers.

There are about 50,000,000 smokers in this country.

The 100,000 is about 1/5th of 1% of the smokers.

This means that 99.8% of the smokers in this country either do not know that we exist or at best only dimly aware of us!!!

I respectfully submit that;getting organized to be better at what we now do is of limited usefullness.

How much time does any of us spend, on the street or in public places, actually trying to tell that 99.8%, in person, about the "TRUTH" about what the antis say and the media presents???

Unfortunately; other than hauling my soapbox to the local tavern, I have no real idea how to do that.

Gary K.

One way to attract the interest of smokers would be to get the manufacturers to insert a card with web site addresses on it into every pack. That would imply a tobacco manufacturer support issue but we are accused of that any time we open our mouths. But it would reach the market.

How about asking the small tobacco shops to hand out a flier to people when they come in to buy smokes? I'm not talking about the CVS/Walgreens kind of places but where I live, I generally buy my smokes from a small tobacco shop (independent retailer).

Gary - maybe some of those local tavern oweners might let you leave fliers at the end of the bar for customers to grab?

Like I said - this is just the thought off the top of my head.....

I think the web is very important, I don't get my news from reading the local 'rag' or just watching the talking heads on the networks. I check many newspaper sites from around the world on topics I am interested in....when I need to know something I go right to the internet....when I needed to know about smoking bans, I went to the internet and found smokinglobby first - and went from there...

The internet sites are important, but to me, as I said on Forces yesterday, I wish all these forums were open to non-member viewers [like here]
people surf and wipe-out into a site on searching - no one will fall into the closed sites and see what is being discussed - and fall back into the sheep slumber of citizenry.

As to public personal contacts, I speak a lot to people I see, give them website addresses, but most all don't go further [they don't 'see' it yet - the problem - and it's not just about smoking]
I like the idea of leaflets at smoke-shops - I will get off my arse and do that....I also have made business cards with website info and given to people [staples has business card stock]But I need to do more of that too...

It is frustrating but we can't give up...we must keep being the 4th branch of government - the watchdogs - the Paul Revere's of the world.

This isn't just about smoking - never was.

I don't want to sound like a party pooper, but it's a lost cause. Your average smoker is as brainwashed as the rest of them.

I was at a party Saturday night. The hosts, both smokers to some extent, had a table set up in their garage for the smokers. These are some of the comments I heard when I was out there:

"I don't smoke in my house either."

"Neither do I. I think it smells."

"I don't think anybody smokes in their house anymore."

"This garage is getting smoky. Can somebody open a door?" This was a 3 car garage with 9 or 10 foot walls plus the open rafter area. IOW, a lot of air space. I heard that several times during the night and saw a door open several times. The most I saw smoking at one time was 5.

These people ranged in age from mid 40's to mid 50's. They grew up when people still smoked in houses and I'll bet they smoked in their 1st apartment and beyond. They've been brainwashed into doing it and accepting it as normal.

quote:

I don't want to sound like a party pooper, but it's a lost cause. Your average smoker is as brainwashed as the rest of them.

How about, 99.8% are as brainwashed as the rest of them!!

That said; there is a certain charm in tilting at windmills, and being an eccentric "OLD FART" is rather enjoyable.

My only regret is that I do not have the money to do it properly!!

Is there any way to attach a file to a post here?

I have taken some of the info from "THE TRUTH" stuff and made put it into a piece that would take only 8 sheets of paper(15 pages,print both sides) and would work nicely as a hand-out showing that:

"Using government data and data from ‘The American Cancer Society’, ‘The American Heart Association’, ‘The American Lung Association’ and other sources we find that smoking (and therefore exposure to SHS) could not be the major cause of lung cancer, heart disease, asthma, emphysema, and that nicotine is not addictive."

Gary K.

Gary,
I can't help you on the attachment question. I don't have a clue.

If I can add one more party pooper item, I was flipping through the channels this weekend and caught "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Somebody" (Don't remember/know his real name).

Brigette Nilsen (sp?) was one of the guests and she was talking about how big an alcoholic she was prior to rehab. Then she said how long she's remained sober since rehab. The audience applauded.

She then stated that she had also quit smoking. I'm not kidding, but the applause was at least twice as loud for quitting smoking as it was for quitting drinking.

quote:

Brigette Nilsen (sp?) was one of the guests and she was talking about how big an alcoholic she was prior to rehab. Then she said how long she's remained sober since rehab. The audience applauded.

She then stated that she had also quit smoking. I'm not kidding, but the applause was at least twice as loud for quitting smoking as it was for quitting drinking.

Excellent example of how political correctness causes moral confusion.

You know what's really scary?

Someone could probably go on TV and say that they left Al Quaeda, and then say that, by the way, they also quit smoking. The reactions would probably be similar.

Well, I still smoke in MY house. And anyone who comes to visit me knows it. Sure, I run air filters and light candles, but if they don't want to visit me, they don't have to.

So far it's still PRIVATE property.

Hey Varla will you please post a list of publicly accessible pro-smoking sites, besides speakeasy and smokersclub and smokinglobby and forces that I can put into a printable flyer and give to my local smoke shop? Or at least refer me to a place that has something like that I can download? Oops, maybe smokersclub already has something like that?

Thanks in advance...

quote:

Originally posted by WinstonSmith:
Someone could probably go on TV and say that they left Al Quaeda, and then say that, by the way, they also quit smoking. The reactions would probably be similar.

I think you just gave Obama a way to save himself from the minister mess. Every time a reporter asks him a question about this he could respond, "Did you know I quit smoking?"

quote:

Originally posted by smallbird:
Hey Varla will you please post a list of publicly accessible pro-smoking sites, besides speakeasy and smokersclub and smokinglobby and forces that I can put into a printable flyer and give to my local smoke shop? Or at least refer me to a place that has something like that I can download? Oops, maybe smokersclub already has something like that?

Thanks in advance...

Hi Smallbird -

You've named all the ones that I am know that would be the best places to start! They all have excellent information - especially FORCES and THE SMOKERS CLUB. Although, for some reason, I couldn't find . You might find some of it might be too long - but I guess you can edit it down.

A few others you might also check out the following:

New York City CLASH:
http://www.nycclash.com/

F.U.C.U. - The Free Union of Cigarette Users: http://www.fuofcu.com/drup/

The NY Coalition of Social Smokers:
http://www.socialsmokers.org/

There's also the American Smokers Party (run by our own GKayser!) - mostly specific to the Illinois area but the information is excellent:
http://www.americansmokersparty-illinois.org/

If you go here (this is through FORCES), it's a list of links. Some of the groups listed have broken links:
http://www.forces.org/static_page/links.php

Many of the sites have useful information that relates to a specific region, as I mentioned above. I'd say FORCES is one of the BEST place for anyone to start! You might suggest to those who are sincere about protecting smokers rights, to definitely join FORCES.

I hope this was useful to you...if I think of some other stuff later (which I most likely will), I'll forward it to you.
Thanks,

Thanks. I'll check these out!

That is cheap alright....A Cheap Plug
And a lousy segue...

I have avoided direct smoking issues on my blog because I don't see sites that are totally pro-smoking growing that fast.

There has to be some way to get more people involved.

I did look at forces and I am a member on the lobby and smoker's club. It appeared that forces wants dues or something do I haven't joined yet.

I still feel strongly that it is too late to do much in a world/society that is working toward some sort of moderated fascist government.

Hey asmoker! Forces doesn't want dues, as such. We need you to register for the "tavern". There is a confirmation process, but then you would be able to see all the rest of the posts that are restricted from non-members. I think you would appreciate what is being posted there.

Sorry to the rest of you, I haven't been here in a week. Very busy time for me...

smallbird, cpa

Thanks a lot for letting me know. I looked around and found it more difficult to join than most. It seemed like they wanted a promise of time or money, neither of which I have much of this time of year.

It was a bad mistake on my part to post that way and I really do appreciate you straightening it out. I will be more careful in the future.

Cougar, you remind me of Marlin Perkins. He hosted the "Mutual Of Omaha Wild Kingdom" show back in the sixties. He would show an animal getting attcked during a segment and then lead into commerical like this...

<i>Lions often attack hyeanas for fun. The Hyeana needs protection just as you do with MUTUAL OF OMAHA INSURANCE and then the show would cut to commerical. Too funny and too obvious.</i>

quote:

Originally posted by greasywrench:
Cougar, you remind me of Marlin Perkins.....

ROFLMAO

quote:

Originally posted by squeezer:

quote:

Originally posted by greasywrench:
Cougar, you remind me of Marlin Perkins.....

ROFLMAO

Ditto that...LMAO