THE RANT: October 24

Dear Students,

I’ve quit smoking cigarettes. I’m glad I did. Everyone can agree that smoking is an unhealthy habit. Depending on how uppity you are, it either looks cool or is gross. Whatever. The health issue was enough for me to quit.

I know that adding yet another article to the pile of pro/anti smoking articles is going to seem like beating a dead horse at this point no matter which side someone is on, especially given that implementation of the ban is now a virtual certainty. Hopefully, I’ll be beating the horse in a new and exciting way for you all with this rant.

As I said a moment ago, I quit smoking by my own volition. That’s fine. People do things in their own interest. The ban is now a virtual certainty, which is fine as well. The majority always likes to push the minority around. Read any history of any period in any place and you’ll see it. I realize that there was a poll involved this time, apparently in February. I don’t remember any such poll as February is my birthday month and I’m generally distracted by a very earnest attempt to distract myself from the feelings associated with being another year older and having done nothing noteworthy. This, too, is fine.

What annoys me personally about this ban, is that because the majority has decided to remove my right to smoke, and because I take issue with people attempting to remove my rights, I’m now forced to smoke. So not only will this ban be ineffective – they’ve done such a great job enforcing the 25-foot ban – but the 62 percent of the 12 percent of the student body who voted in favor of this ban is in fact going to cause the opposite of the desired outcome, by making a nonsmoker into a smoker. Way to go.

Joshua Vlasman