Old and busted: cigarette hatred. New hotness: cigarette dictatorship
original print date, June 30 2004
Paul Ryan
Seriously, who do you have to blow to get people to use common sense? In Australia, the government is requiring cigarette companies to put graphic photos of lung disease and other afflictions caused by cigarettes on 30% of the front of each pack, and 90% of the back. Canada and a few other countries do this same thing.
Ninety percent of the packing has to be used for this. I don't smoke, but still, ninety percent. Here's a news flash for you, Australia: everyone knows smoking causes cancer. It's nothing new or shocking. People don't choose to smoke because there's no disgusting photos on the packaging. They choose to smoke because friends or others influence them.
Forcing companies to put graphic photos on the front of their product is a violation of the rights of a business to sell a product, no matter how bad that product may be. Would you support forcing Coke to put graphic photos of tooth decay on Coke cans? Would you support forcing sugary cereals to put photos of horrendously fat people on their products, with big text that says, "YOU WILL BE A LARDASS IF YOU EAT THIS CRAP"?
Actually, that last one would be pretty awesome.
Nevertheless, if you'd object to any of those things, than you should object to forcing these ads on cigarette boxes. To further show my reasoning, here's how a few products would look if they got the same treatment cigarette companies were getting.
Miller Genuine Draft beer
Miller High Life beer
Wrigley's Spearmint gum
Abercrombie and Fitch clothing
Microsoft Internet Explorer web browser
Fruit Loops cereal
This website
Wires on Fire Similar to: System of a Down, Korn
Wires on Fire is one of the first hardcore rock bands I've heard in a while that actually sounds good. If you're a fan of System of a Down and old school Korn albums, you'll be a fan of this band.
They don't have an album out yet (how's that for bringing you the newest of the new bands?), but an EP is forthcoming. For now, listen to their first song release, "Learn to Drown", which you can also download free from their website.
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Wires on Fire is one of the first hardcore rock bands I've heard in a while that actually sounds good. If you're a fan of System of a Down and old school Korn albums, you'll be a fan of this band.
