Courtesy

Peggy Noonan, on what the ostracism of smokers says about modern-day liberals:

I think it is an insufficiently commented-upon irony that cigarette prohibition and the public shaming it entails is the work of modern liberals. They're supposed to be the ones who are nonjudgmental, who live and let live, but they approach smoking like Carry Nation with her ax. Conservatives on the other hand let you smoke. They acknowledge sin and accept imperfection. Also most of them are culturally inclined toward courtesy of the old-fashioned sort.
If you tried to light up near a left-wing big-city attorney, she would cut off your hand the way Christopher chopped off Ralphie's the other night on "The Sopranos." But if you are a smoker and you go visit a nice little unsophisticated Baptist lady in a suburb of Tuscaloosa, she will not only allow you to smoke, she will scurry into the dining room to find the china ashtray she put away 10 years ago under the folded table cloths. She would do this so you could have a nice place to put your ashes. She wouldn't dream of making you uncomfortable. That would be impolite and inhospitable.

Modern liberals are not culturally inclined toward courtesy. They are inclined toward knowing what's good for you and passing ordinances to make sure you get the picture. The first Thank You For Not Smoking sign I ever saw was in 1976, on the desk of Massachusetts governor Mike Dukakis. I thought: I have seen the future, and it is puritanical.

Puritanical.

I remember an acqaintance using that word to describe a Green Party meeting - like a gathering of Puritans. Dwelling incessantly on fear and condemnation, afraid of joy as a sign of frivolity or unworthiness, not above castigating you, for your own good of course...

Noonan says:

Maybe it makes them feel in control. Maybe it makes them feel superior.

Or maybe they just want to bully someone.

Read the whole thing - it's worth the time.

Posted by Mitch at November 21, 2002 08:50 AM