Stupid…Stupid People

The number of times I shake my head during the normal course of the day increases exponentially to the number of times I spend time reading the news published to our Vaper’s News section. The ignorant, arrogant, holier-than-thou anti-vaping idiots are actually beginning to force changes in the law in the US and Europe. The stupidity of these people, and the moronic buffoons that take action based on these idiot positions is enough to drive pro-vaping people absolutely crazy.

You would think that “vaping” is a thousand times more harmful than smoking by the way vapers are demonized in the press, in public hearings, and in various state houses across the country.

Just a few million people in the US are using personal vaporizers, and 40+ million people are smoking cigarettes, yet e-cigarettes are in the news all the time while no one seriously suggests outlawing cigarettes. That’s scary.

Every day in some town, some city, some state, there are people pitching fits over vaporizers as though vaping was going to cause the collapse of civilization. God forbid a parent comes home from work to discover their teenager vaping a nice Vanilla Latte or Strawberry Shortcake! The Horror!

It’s insane. Is it just a matter of time before these crazies gather their pitchforks and torches and march through town in an attempt to drive out those of us that have chosen to vape? Sometimes I think it’s inevitable. (just sometimes)

The state of Colorado legalizes marijuana yet towns across the country are in a panic over e-cigarettes. It’s like living in an episode of the Twilight Zone or Outer Limits.

Are We That Far Apart?

If we dismiss the crazies and the zealots, there are people on both sides of the vaping dispute that are capable of hammering out a compromise that each side could live with, but before that can happen we need to get the zealots sidelined, they are the major obstacle to reaching a fair deal with inevitable regulations.

There are those on both sides that do not want to see electronic cigarettes in the hands of minors, that don’t want to see made-in-the-kitchen  eliquid companies selling their wares on commercial shelves and online vendors, and there are those on both sides that want to make sure that what we do vape is safe, well made, and of the highest quality. The number of people that insist that vaping be made completely and utterly illegal is not that large. For that, at least, we should be thankful.

Marginalizing the Stupid

What needs to be done on both sides is to find a way to marginalize these ignorant and stupid zealots. I think it would go a long way toward reaching a compromise if leaders on both sides were to publically state that electronic cigarettes and eliquids made with nicotine are not going away, will never become illegal, and are not tobacco products. That is where we need to be, and from there a formal compromise can be reached and regulations can have a positive effect. Both sides making it known that these are their basic, and only, tenants when it comes to vaping will have the effect of marginalizing the stupid.

Vaping Is Not Smoking

Its time for the opposing side to admit to themselves and their supporters that, when you come down to it, vaping is just not the same as smoking. There is but a single ingredient in both, nicotine, and there has been enough science to put the risks of nicotine into perspective. Nicotine is no more dangerous to the human body than caffeine. Enough bullshit already. Vapor is not smoke, vaporizing PG and VG is not burning plant leaves, and there is very little, if any, risk in vaping. Breathing the air in many major cities causes more damage than pacify vaping (round-the-clock-vaping).

Minors Should Not Vape

Not because it’s harmful, (because it’s not) not because it leads to smoking (because it doesn’t), but minors should not vape because…. Ah, who am I to say they shouldn’t vape?

I’ll tell you what, I personally don’t care if teenagers choose to vape, but if a compromise is to be hammered out and this “minor” issue blocks that path, then fine, keep teens away from vaping. Though honestly, I have two grown daughters and had vaping been popular when they were 16 and 17 years old, I wouldn’t have made a fuss about it. Better to vape then to smoke. Neither of my kids smoke, or vape by the way.

Where We Are Light-years Apart

Taxes – The Deal Breaker

If you believe that vaping is not smoking, as you should believe for god’s sake, then there is simply NO way to make the case that electronic cigarettes and eliquids should be subject to anything like a tobacco tax. Anything else is just plain stupid.

No one on our side, the pro-vaping side, should ever concede this point. Placing tobacco-like taxes on vaping products is wrong. If this is done it will be an act of corruption, pure and simple. Another large government rip-off of the citizenry, and it will put an undue hardship on most of us and line the pockets of the corrupt politicians.

We Will Get Nowhere

Some days I think that there is no way the local, state, and federal governments could ever make electronic cigarettes and eliquids containing flavors and nicotine illegal. On these days I cannot fathom any of this becoming law. This is supposed to be a free country, a country that allows the sale of cigarettes on every street corner, that allows the sale of alcohol to alcoholics, that is allowing states to legalize marijuana without uttering a word of disappointment. How does a country that allows all this support the banning of the recreational hobby, and the best method for getting off tobacco, of vaping harmless eliquid? It can’t happen.

Then there are days where I read, or watch, the most ignorant statements leave the mouths of some very stupid politicians and I am left shaking my head feeling as though I’m going to explode. And I realize that the world as truly run off the rails, and that in today’s society, anything can happen.

I can easily dismiss all the zealots as they have their temper tantrums on TV, on their radio shows, and on the printed page. It’s amusing, sometimes, to see and hear these morons talk about making it illegal because it normalizes smoking, it leads to tobacco use, which then leads to drug use, which then leads to crime, which then leads to filling up our jails even more…all because little Tommy picked up an iStick, a Subtank Mini, and a bottle of Vanilla Milkshake ejuice one morning and went insane.

What was the name of that movie in early part of the 20th century? Ah yes, Reefer Madness.

Isn’t it a wonder?

John Manzione