Real Texas Freedom

Anti-Smoking tactics:
AS tactic #1) Don't debate---distort! If your opponent makes a valid point about flaws in your science, ignore it. Don't even read it. Then, mischaracterize his entire argument.
SOUNDBITE: "Oh, I guess if it says secondhand smoke is harmful, it MUST, in your twisted world, be a bogus study."


AS tactic #2) Employ, very liberally, the fallacy of question-begging. While you're ignoring the junk-science debate, pretend there is no debate.
SOUNDBITE: "Freedom? To do what? Give other people cancer?"


AS tactic #3) Spew glib enthusiasm like a brainwashed cultist! Keep repeating cheerful, exuberant slogan-type sentiments about the "smoke-free future"; combine the sunny optimism of Heaven's Gate with the raving of a demagogue mad on world conquest. Do this over & over again. You'll give your opponents a headache.
SOUNDBITE: "December 8. No more secondhand smoke in bowling alleys, bars, and restaurants. Yes!!! That will be a great day. I can hardly wait."


AS tactic #4A) Insult them! It's very important to hammer home the message that smokers, as a group, are fair game for denigration, insult, and general abuse.
SOUNDBITE: "i hope all you smokers get banned ... you are filthy and disgusting ... p.s. you stink."
SOUNDBITE COMBINING TACTICS 3 & 4A: "December 8 will be a great day. In fact, I'm thinking about writing to Gov Gregoire to suggest that Dec 8 be made a state holiday. I will suggest calling it 'Smokers Can Kiss My Ass Day.'"


AS tactic #4B) Smear them! Waste no opportunity to call your opponent a liar, hypocrite, or shill. Don't say he's mistaken or misinformed---say that he's a deceptive con-artist who's muddying the waters.
SOUNDBITE: "So Melle the Deceiver and Gomez the Distorter have been joined by Saprobe the BSer."


AS tactice #5) While accusing the other side of lying, spread lies shamelessly and repeatedly. Remember, a lie repeated often enough becomes the truth!
SOUNDBITE: "Every credible, peer-reviewed legitimate scientific study has found that secondhand smoke kills."


AS tactic #6) Resistance is futile! Take a page from the totalitarians. Promote your arguments on the ground that your side's victory is inevitable. Pretend that political clout is a mark of virtue (in blatant contradiction to all of human history).
SOUNDBITE: "States that allow smoking will fall like dominoes, very quickly. No one likes to be behind the times. The ease and speed of passing smoking bans will increase exponentially."


AS tactic #7) Link your opponents to the tobacco industry, based on the most tenuous connections. If a bartender has accepted Camel promos, smear him as an RJ Reynolds employee! If a researcher worked at 7-Up while 7-Up was owned by Philip Morris, say that he used to work at Philip Morris---and if someone posts his research, dismiss it as "Big Tobacco-funded." Et cetera.
SOUNDBITE: "I think we can now safely store Fuzed's posts in the 'Big Tobacco Bullshit Artist' file."


AS tactic #8: Link your opponents to the tobacco industry based on no connections of any kind. So you know nothing about the person you're arguing with. Why let that stop you? Write as if he's linked to Big Tobacco.
SOUNDBITE: "Melle is reading straight from his Philip Morris crib sheet."


AS tactic #9) If you lose an argument, never fear---just pretend you've won! So your opponent backed up his position reasonably & consistently, with adequate references, and you have nothing to say. Just start saying you won the argument! There may be some inattentive and/or retarded readers who will accept this at face value, and their votes count too!
SOUNDBITE: (wait until the argument you lost is a day or two old) "You had neither facts on your side nor debating skills. Simply put, you were out of your league."

AS tactic #10) Shoot the messenger. Should your opponent quote the local police chief saying the ban won't be enforced, simply ignore the fact that he's quoting. Treat him as if he, & he alone, invented the idea of non-enforcement. In the same vein, should he quote a prominent epidemiologist who says risks below 100% are "insignificant," ignore the authority of the epidemiologist---treat the whole thing as your opponent's personal opinion. You may succeed in misleading some readers---see #9.
SOUNDBITE: "On reading all your angry, defeated, drivel, 'Fuzed', there is only one thing significant enough to be worth knowing. Exactly what are YOUR plans for breaking the law?"

AS tactic #11) For God's sake, keep your mouth shut!!! The anti-smoking movement has come this far without ever addressing certain subjects---e.g., the epidemiological weakness of the science, the lucrative smokefree-nicotine market, the fact that nonsmokers' rights groups and Big Tobacco both lobby for the same legislation---and we're not about to start now! If the opposition breathes a word on these subjects, shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! (If you really want to say something, throw them a cheap insult.)
SOUNDBITE: " ... "
ALT. SOUNDBITE: "What's your agenda? Making sure the air is dirty? Hmm, stupid much?"

From: The Stranger Forums

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