anti smoke people have gone too far.

[Northernlion]

Originally Posted by Surt

You know, the Nazi’s were the first large-scale antismoking organization? Imagine living in the 1930’s and having the media pumped full of antismoking propaganda. Boy, sure glad we don’t have to deal with that kind of stuff anymore.

Did you know the Hitler-Jugend was the first large-scale boys and girls club?

[Snevik]

the e.t. guns/walkie talkies incident>flintstones not allowed to smoke

[Surt]

Originally Posted by Northernlion

Did you know the Hitler-Jugend was the first large-scale boys and girls club?

You know Pope Benedict was part of the Hitler Youth? I mean all you gotta do is connect the dots, Antismoking, Nazi Youth Groups, Catholicism, its all there man. Thank Jesus the havn't gotten a hold of the Sankara Stones yet.....

[Kwench(e)r]

One of the problems I have with this is something like what ladylove said, about its someone's artwork, and their censoring it. Censorship is a big deal these days, and its happening right before our eyes and most of the time, we don't even realize it. What if Michelangelo had painted the Sistine Chapel and someone was smoking? Would it be blacked out?

But the main problem I have with this is not even about the cartoons. Its not about them editting the smoking parts out. My problem with this is the idea of what is going to happen next. Are we going to make people who smoke wear a black box over their head on the street so that kids can't see them smoke? How far is this going to go?

I worry about this because I grew up and watched my mom smoke, and I watched Bugs Bunny smoke and I watched my uncles and my cousins and a lot of people around me smoke, and I will never touch the stuff. That's because I grew up in a home where my parents told me that smoking was bad. I knew that from the moment I saw my mom light a cigarette up. They made sure I knew it. Some things just stick in your head, and its the parents jobs to put it there.

And trust me, if a kid was going to imitate a cartoon character, they would not imitate smoking. Cartoon characters do so much cool stuff! Go strap yourself to a rocket, Jimmy, and see how far it takes you.

[Big Isy]

I think the problem lies in whether the majority of parents find the content 'harmful' or whether its just a small percentage of them. I think the majority are fine with it and feel theres no real harm.

They should just get rid of cigarettes. If they don't exist the kids won't smoke them. Or maybe, if the kids don't exist the cigarettes won't get smoked?

[Dr.Snow]

Originally Posted by Dr.Snow

If kids are going to do everything they see a cat do, we should probably cut off their tongues.

That way they don't lick insecticide off their leg or something.

Originally Posted by Tango

They should just get rid of cigarettes. If they don't exist the kids won't smoke them. Or maybe, if the kids don't exist the cigarettes won't get smoked?

Demonstrating absurdity by being absurd.

Anyways, to defend some of my points earlier: When I talked about other people telling other people how to live their lives, I wasn't just talking about myself. I was also referring to the people that make a living by creating or supplying things that are over-censored or over-controlled. Children should not have access to pornography, violent films and games, tobacco, alcohol, and many more things that I don't have time to list. However, just because they shouldn't have access to those things doesn't mean those things should be outlawed or kept out of sight.

As Ladylove pointed out, it's best that children are exposed to the world in a safe setting, as opposed to throw into a brand new world they've never even seen when they leave the safety of their parent's home.

Friends of mine that were sheltered by their parents all their lives have been some of the worst failures their first year of college. Guys that were never around alcohol, never allowed to go to parties, would arrive at college and have a new found freedom to experience things they've never seen before. They started drinking and partying, letting school take a backseat and many of them wind up failing out of school. I've also seen girls that weren't really free to date or from prudish families were never exposed to sexuality until they got to college and didn't know how to handle themselves once they had a sexual experience. Most ending up to be complete and utter sluts, it's really pretty sad.

On the other hand, friends who came from familys that were open and talked about things at least knew about sex, drugs, and alcohol. Their parents exposed them to the dangers and were able to categorize them as dangers and help their child understand that. Some of them still decided to engage in some of those behaviors, but they don't get carried away with it. They don't get carried away because they were introduced to these things in a safe and controlled environment, not once they're adults and free of supervision.