Good for the Greeks!

  
Smoking ban ‘not working’

Being somewhat familiar with Greek culture, it came as no surprise that the Greeks don’t take kindly to being told what to do. For that matter, no one does.

Greece was better off before joining the EU. They missed the opportunity to welcome back all the baby boom era Greeks that left Greece for America, Britain and Germany. They left for the opportunity to raise their families under better economic circumstances.

Their children are raised and having families of their own now. A large potion of the Greek Diaspora had assumed that when they retired they would be able to retire to Greece – at least part of the time - where there was a lower cost of living. Try buying a cup of coffee or beer in Greece now.

I remember spending summers in Greece as a kid in the 70s and 80s. The streets where filled with tourists and life. Now fast forward to 2007 - empty streets and no life.

This brings to mind a great movie – Demolition Man. If you are looking for a quality acting experience you will be sadly disappointed. The beauty of this movie is in the message. It portrays two parallel societies. One seems perfect with no material want and everything is clean – you just have to abide by the nanny state rules of no red meat, no smoking, and no cursing and so on. The other society is underground and made up of people that don’t want to trade in the things that make life interesting and fun. Does this sound familiar?

I am not condoning cussing and other anti-social behavior mind you – I have small children after all. What I do believe in is letting the individual chose if they are going to eat read meat, smoke or (insert your preference here) without government taxing and pushing to do otherwise.

It seems that the prohibitionists are coming at us from both the right and left. The only difference is in the approach. Some are doing it for our own good, while others are just plain zealots to have things like tobacco removed from what they envision as a perfect society.

Good for the Greeks pushing back. I do have to say that the whole smoking in a hospital thing is a bit much - but I'm sure it is done away from the patients. :)