Creeping Fascism watch...
Written by: Beck
Hat tip to
A Small Victory (click the link for a fantastic visual).
The lead-in to this
Fox News article is too good not to shamelessly steal.
It's a classic movie scenario--two sexy stars rip each other's clothes off, get busy and then later light up a couple of cigarettes in bed.
Such a charged cinematic scene could earn a film an R-rating--because of the smoking.
I still remember, for some bizarre reason,
the first movie that I saw where use of the word "fuck" didn't earn the film an 'R' rating. As far as I know, it was the first ever to earn that distinction. Essentially, the American public has become sufficiently jaded that it takes a lot more to earn the distinction of being unfit for those under the age of 17. Nonetheless, the lifestyle control fascists of the Big Mother establishment regards smoking on screen as on par with full frontal nudity.
I assume the reasoning goes something like this: Americans are smart enough to figure out that killing people is bad unless you're killing a bad person in which case it's good, but smoking, that's like, subliminal auto-suggestion, man. And the talking heads talk:
"I guarantee you if something isn't done by the industry, there's certainly going to be efforts" by lawmakers, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Moon, said at the hearing with Valenti.
Though the battle over smoking promises to be fierce, Thompson pointed out that the issue is ironic given the history of cinema.
"For many years Hollywood wasn't allowed to show sex through voluntary standards. The prevalence of smoking in classic movies was a replacement, like scenes with Humphrey Bogart and his leading ladies where they light each other's cigarettes, it's very sexually charged," he said.
"Now it turns out the stand-in activity is as dangerous, or more dangerous, than the activity it was standing in for."