Lighting up will get "R" ratings...

[TooTiredToLive]

It's one of the last few legal segregations... we're not required to sit at the back of the bus - we're not even allowed to get on the bus until we ditch the smoke... and now this:

Put It Out, Shweetheart.

Quotes for those too lazy to right-click and "Open in New Window:"

"Depictions of smoking in movies will now be a factor when deciding what a film's rating will be, possibly making a PG-13 movie R-rated, the Motion Picture Association of America said yesterday. The policy affects only new movies."

"A number of groups have called for almost all movies that depict smoking to automatically receive an R rating..."

"Christopher Buckley's 1994 satirical novel, "Thank You for Smoking," follows a tobacco lobbyist's efforts to counter the anti-smoking tide by encouraging Hollywood to include more smoking in movies. The film version of Buckley's book depicts no smoking.

"Of the policy, Buckley wrote by e-mail: 'I can only hope this means that the MPAA will strip such films as "Casablanca," "To Have and Have Not" and "Sunset Boulevard" of their G-ratings and re-label them for what they were: insidious works of pro-smoking propaganda that led to millions of uncounted deaths. Bravo.'"

 

[FurryFury]

It's one of the last few legal segregations... we're not required to sit at the back of the bus - we're not even allowed to get on the bus until we ditch the smoke... and now this:

Put It Out, Shweetheart.

Quotes for those too lazy to right-click and "Open in New Window:"

"Depictions of smoking in movies will now be a factor when deciding what a film's rating will be, possibly making a PG-13 movie R-rated, the Motion Picture Association of America said yesterday. The policy affects only new movies."

"A number of groups have called for almost all movies that depict smoking to automatically receive an R rating..."

"Christopher Buckley's 1994 satirical novel, "Thank You for Smoking," follows a tobacco lobbyist's efforts to counter the anti-smoking tide by encouraging Hollywood to include more smoking in movies. The film version of Buckley's book depicts no smoking.

"Of the policy, Buckley wrote by e-mail: 'I can only hope this means that the MPAA will strip such films as "Casablanca," "To Have and Have Not" and "Sunset Boulevard" of their G-ratings and re-label them for what they were: insidious works of pro-smoking propaganda that led to millions of uncounted deaths. Bravo.'"

I don't actually have a problem with this. Though I disagree that kids are so impressionable and stupid. Still, in most cases there is no reason for smoking to be in a movie.

However, I will say Thank You For Smoking was a great and funny film about debate and satire!

I do not like the whole, we have to protect people from themselves thang.

OTOH, I very much dislike people bringing tiny kids to say Spiderman 3 and the like when it is clearly NOT rated for them. It might and really should, scare a small child. Too bad many parents don't realize this or seem to care.

Fury

 

[TooTiredToLive]

...I do not like the whole, we have to protect people from themselves thang.

Fury

While I pretty much agree with the rest of what you said, the quoted portion of your post is what I wanted to get at.

I'm tired of Big Brother telling me what to eat, drink, smoke/not smoke, etc., etc., etc.! What the HELL ever happened to personal responsibility for what one did? Yes, the cigarette companies lied and cheated and mis-promoted their product for decades... but we've KNOWN that since at least 1964 (when the first Surgeon General's warnings came out). If we chose to smoke after that - which I have - it's our own bloody fault! If I have CAD (coronary artery disease) and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder) - I do, both - it's my own bloody fault, and I know how to alleviate or cure both!

If we're overweight - I am - it's my own bloody fault! If we're diabetic - I am - I know how to eat sensibly, I know I shouldn't have a 44-ounce bag of M&Ms on my desk, I know how to get my weight down to a manageable level, but I choose not to! It's not the government's place to tell me I have to eat sensibly, get rid of the M&Ms, lose weight - it's my bloody choice and my responsibility if I choose not to make that choice!

Damn it all! The Welfare State, the Nanny State, the Big Brother State - it's all coming true, it's all coming to a head, and it won't be long until we can only watch one television channel, with the properly approved shows; until we can only eat from a (government) selected set of menus; until our mates are chosen for us by a computer (owned, of course, by the government); until the internet is shut down to personal use because we might use it to find smut; until every last personal freedom has been trampled upon and shredded by those who would do our thinking for us.

"This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper."

(For those who would re-read Eliot's prophetic poem, it is here.)