Big Brother is anti-smoking.

by Aelel on October 23, 2006

Okay… I’m not a smoker, and I really don’t like being around someone who is smoking and blowing it in my face. I appreciate that California doesn’t allow smoking in restaurants and 99% of bars and clubs. It saves me the trouble of having to immediately shower and wash my hair when I get home so I don’t wake up sick and snuffly. I also appreciate smokers who smoke at least 50 feet away from a doorway and make sure they’re downwind from the door. I like a smoke-free existence, but I’m not going to say someone can’t smoke if they want to. Last time I checked, this was a relatively free country.

But more and more recently, I’ve seen a disturbing trend of Americans “reporting” on other Americans. (Be patient. I’ll get to the smoking part.) Wyldkard was kind enough to point out the HJ tendencies of the Boy Scouts. Getting a badge for ratting other people out… where the hell are we living? Nazi Germany? Russia? What I think is even more unsettling than the Boy Scouts is the fact that an entire city has turned to policy that is CLEARLY encouraging Americans to turn on each other.

Omaha has lost its marbles. The city has banned smoking in public places. Okay… not so bad, even though I think it’s a little extreme. I don’t want to choke on cigarette smoke, but I also think that someone smoking outdoors is just fine. What I think it supremely ridiculous is the fact that city officials are actually ENCOURAGING residents to DIAL 911 if they see someone smoking in a no-smoking area. 911! An EMERGENCY SERVICE! Since when is someone smoking in a no-smoking area an emergency? Sure, they say that the calls will be given low priority, but still… I see many problems with this, but I’ll really only focus on two.

First of all, I will regress back to my earlier point. We are encouraging Americans to spy on each other, report each other, and turn each other in. What’s more, we want them to feel GOOD about this. Please, please tell me someone else sees where this trend has led other countries. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be vigilant, but there’s a HUGE difference between turning in someone who is organizing a terrorist event and someone who is smoking 25 feet outside the smoking area.

Secondly, telling people to call 911 is a gross misuse of emergency services. Granted, this is Omaha, so there probably isn’t a whole lot to do if you’re in law enforcement, but there surely must be enough real crime and emergencies to get through the night without face-planting on your switchboard. Police have spent years establishing 911 as an emergency service only, which means you don’t call it when you’ve witnessed someone jay walking, you don’t call it when you see a cat running around without a collar, and you don’t call it when you see someone smoking where they’re not supposed to. This new policy has the potential to tie up 911 lines, taking focus away from more pertinent calls.

I’m going to add a third, because I just can’t help it. What kind of idiot would call 911 to report something so trivial to begin with? Will there be hordes of old people with walkers stalking smokers, just hoping to catch them so they can call 911 and have something to talk about later over their denture-soaking solution at the local retirement/nursing home? Will little uniformed kids all of a sudden be awarded a patch for the number of smokers they turn in?

Beware America! Big Brother is closing in on you, and you’re propping the door open for him.

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