Banning smoking in Lebanon will not work
On the face of it banning smoking in public places is a step in the right direction, after all non-smokers have as much right to not inhale second hand smoke as smokers have the right to smoke if they wish. But, in a country like Lebanon taking away people’s right to light up with their morning coffee or in pubs and nightclubs, is only going to drive them over the edge.
People already hate government, and I do not mean ‘the government’, I mean any government, the concept of being governed. ‘How dare they think they can tell me what I can or cannot do as if I am a child,’ is what many say, that and ‘they can’t stop the armed family wings and the tyre burnings but they have the audacity to give me a fine for smoking!’ These are but a few of the many reactions to this new law, a law that would be welcome in any other country but over here.
Let us ask ourselves why people smoke. In war time and in prison cigarettes are currency, so too in the trenches of life in Lebanon, they are a psychological crutch. The Lebanese are not out of war yet. The shooting may have been stopped by Taif two decades ago, but the real civil war continues in many different sometimes imperceptible ways. Like a dormant volcano the specter of civil war appears in tiny little eruptions every now and then, in the language people use to describe ‘the others,’ in the wounds that have never been allowed to heal. So, taking away the people’s comfortable, affordable, reliable crutch, just so we may be counted among the evolved nations of this Earth, is like taking away the lion’s dinner, dangerous and ill advised.
Then there is the way laws are structured in Lebanon. We are quick to ban, abolish, and forbid, but forget to think of the consequences that will follow. We forget to take into account the damage some laws will have. Tourism in Lebanon depends on Shisha as much as The Netherlands depends on cannabis, which is to say, officially no politician will touch this statistic (if it exists) with a ten foot barge pole. But, the grievances of Shisha joints is real, it’s a sector whose entire winter season has been wrecked, just after their summer season was ruined by fleeing Arab tourists. They are understandably angry. In summer, people can smoke shisha on the terrace, but in winter that is not an option.
I am all for designating ‘smokers’ joints’ for adults above 18, and for issuing special licenses for pubs and night clubs to allow people to smoke. If you are a consenting adult you have the right to choose, to go in and subject yourself to second hand smoke or not. I am sure some night establishments and purveyors of alcoholic beverages would want to remain smoke free, others may wish to be a smoker’s haven, they too should have the right to choose.
What the State is trying to do is to change a deeply ingrained cultural and social behavior, it is initiating its own cultural revolution and it is dragging the rest of us by our nostrils kicking and screaming. It will not work. In fact, it must not work, for freedom’s sake, for the sake of individual freedom of choice, a freedom which we as a society hold dear, this must not be allowed to stand. The law must be repealed just as the prohibition of alcohol in the US was repealed after causing more harm than good.
The harm has already been done. Smoking was fast becoming so un-cool especially among the young and educated, now smoking is daring, it breaks the rules, its what all rebellious teens will want to do, not because of peer pressure, but because its something forbidden, which makes it all that mush sweeter.
Those who really benefit from this law are the politicians who pushed for it. For them they get to appear like caring legislators, acting in support of civil society and people’s health. Just like they came out that Sunday in Ashrafieh when vehicles were banned for a day, to show how much they care, much like kissing babies, it’s a publicity stunt designed to garner votes in the next election, nothing more. Show me one MP who dares to stop one project, one ugly concrete tower from coming up in a quaint, traditional neighborhood, they will not do it because someone is prepared to pay a lot of money to make it happen. As for the mess this law creates among many in a vital economic sector like tourism, they do not seem too concerned with that.
People already hate government, and I do not mean ‘the government’, I mean any government, the concept of being governed. ‘How dare they think they can tell me what I can or cannot do as if I am a child,’ is what many say, that and ‘they can’t stop the armed family wings and the tyre burnings but they have the audacity to give me a fine for smoking!’ These are but a few of the many reactions to this new law, a law that would be welcome in any other country but over here.
Let us ask ourselves why people smoke. In war time and in prison cigarettes are currency, so too in the trenches of life in Lebanon, they are a psychological crutch. The Lebanese are not out of war yet. The shooting may have been stopped by Taif two decades ago, but the real civil war continues in many different sometimes imperceptible ways. Like a dormant volcano the specter of civil war appears in tiny little eruptions every now and then, in the language people use to describe ‘the others,’ in the wounds that have never been allowed to heal. So, taking away the people’s comfortable, affordable, reliable crutch, just so we may be counted among the evolved nations of this Earth, is like taking away the lion’s dinner, dangerous and ill advised.
Then there is the way laws are structured in Lebanon. We are quick to ban, abolish, and forbid, but forget to think of the consequences that will follow. We forget to take into account the damage some laws will have. Tourism in Lebanon depends on Shisha as much as The Netherlands depends on cannabis, which is to say, officially no politician will touch this statistic (if it exists) with a ten foot barge pole. But, the grievances of Shisha joints is real, it’s a sector whose entire winter season has been wrecked, just after their summer season was ruined by fleeing Arab tourists. They are understandably angry. In summer, people can smoke shisha on the terrace, but in winter that is not an option.
I am all for designating ‘smokers’ joints’ for adults above 18, and for issuing special licenses for pubs and night clubs to allow people to smoke. If you are a consenting adult you have the right to choose, to go in and subject yourself to second hand smoke or not. I am sure some night establishments and purveyors of alcoholic beverages would want to remain smoke free, others may wish to be a smoker’s haven, they too should have the right to choose.
What the State is trying to do is to change a deeply ingrained cultural and social behavior, it is initiating its own cultural revolution and it is dragging the rest of us by our nostrils kicking and screaming. It will not work. In fact, it must not work, for freedom’s sake, for the sake of individual freedom of choice, a freedom which we as a society hold dear, this must not be allowed to stand. The law must be repealed just as the prohibition of alcohol in the US was repealed after causing more harm than good.
The harm has already been done. Smoking was fast becoming so un-cool especially among the young and educated, now smoking is daring, it breaks the rules, its what all rebellious teens will want to do, not because of peer pressure, but because its something forbidden, which makes it all that mush sweeter.
Those who really benefit from this law are the politicians who pushed for it. For them they get to appear like caring legislators, acting in support of civil society and people’s health. Just like they came out that Sunday in Ashrafieh when vehicles were banned for a day, to show how much they care, much like kissing babies, it’s a publicity stunt designed to garner votes in the next election, nothing more. Show me one MP who dares to stop one project, one ugly concrete tower from coming up in a quaint, traditional neighborhood, they will not do it because someone is prepared to pay a lot of money to make it happen. As for the mess this law creates among many in a vital economic sector like tourism, they do not seem too concerned with that.
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