Fanatics come in all shapes and sizes, with a variety of causes. Personally, I find fanaticism disturbing and off-putting, in and of itself. It doesn't matter what the topic is, even if it's something that, in principal, I agree with; if it's fanatical, I'm going to dismiss it out of hand. I'll listen to a reasonable person and consdier what they have to say, up to the point their eyes glaze over and you can just tell they're not going to listen to anything that contradicts them, ever.
That said, I believe that the biggest problem of the e-cig industry is that the very image of analog smoking has been so demoniized by fanatics that anything that looks like it or sounds like it is automatically considered 'it' by the fanatics and their followers. vaping, for instance, looks at casual glance like smoking, which is why I got a big phony *cough cough* from a passerby the other day while vaping outside on a busy street. It's sounds like smoking, since the term 'e-cigarette' contains the word 'cigarette'. If they hear it has nicotine in it, all the worse. Historically, fanatics don't pay much attention to facts, and are notoriously ignorant and dismissive of science. Therefore, it doesn't matter how much you can prove with studies and numbers and repeatable, verifiable results - it's still the demon smoke and it always will be. Not necessarily a bad thing, but honestly I kept smoking long after I should have just because I hate being told what to do by wild-eyed lunatics.
Where does this fanaticism come from? Well, I'm not a parent, but I can understand the very intense devotion to protecting one's offspring. I've watched a lot of nature documentaries, and that's a common theme. So I understand that an addictive, poisonous and smelly habit like smoking can lead to vehement fanaticism. Also, I think a lot of fanatics just choose their causes out of a hat, and dress up whatever they're fanatical about in the most indisputable-sounding argument they can come up with. Like, 'I must protect my babies!' which is hard to argue with. Or 'Second hand smoke!', which, despite much repudiation and not a shred of actual evidence, people seem really attached to. But to me, fanatics all sound the same; no matter what the topic, all I hear is 'I'm super-special and my desire to control others is therefore more valid than anyone else's point of view or any relevent facts'. It's sheer, unadulterrated self-importance.
Self-importance is a big part of our culture (here on Earth), so it's hard to fault people for that. We're taught to think and react this way from very early in our development. We all know that a baby who isn't cuddled and loved will simply die after a while, and I think it's hard to ease off the 'you're so special' thing once you've started. So I'm not saying it's bad, it just is. There's also the folks who were taught that the quickest path to their own self-importance is to crush someone else's, but that's another topic.
So how does the e-cigarette world deal with the hardcore anti-smoke fanatics? It's a little too late to change the unfortunate name, and since fanatics are usually unwilling to listen, explaining things in even the most simple terms is not likely to get anywhere. This is why we have law: to help those who can't decide what's right and wrong on their own. But law is created by people with the same problems we all have, and we've seen over and over that laws are usually created with goals in mind that are never mentioned in the material. So if nothing works, then what's to be done?
Honestly, I don't know. I keep thinking of things but they all fall short somehow. It's maddening. I think about vaping; it's done with things that are all relatively safe, unregulated and legal. The ingredients are ALL in your food, even nicotine. Everyone uses batteries. It's hard for me to wrap my head around how the issue of vaping being illegal ever even came about. Yes, one can make highly dangerous things with household items and that highly dangerous thing is illegal and that makes a certain amount of sense since we don't want people running around blowing stuff up all the time, but I guess that until vaping is shown over and over to be as harmless as tap water to cute little rodents, nobody with an axe to grind (or a profit to turn) is going back down. The winner will likely be determined by the amount of money they have to spend, and that's the most frustrating thing of all, since money is in short supply for 99 percent of us.
Sorry I don't have a solution. I know, it's a bit of a letdown after all that thoughtful rambling, but I just needed to get it out. And what's a blog for if not the budding half-baked essayist? Feel free to suggest strategies, I'm all ears.
That said, I believe that the biggest problem of the e-cig industry is that the very image of analog smoking has been so demoniized by fanatics that anything that looks like it or sounds like it is automatically considered 'it' by the fanatics and their followers. vaping, for instance, looks at casual glance like smoking, which is why I got a big phony *cough cough* from a passerby the other day while vaping outside on a busy street. It's sounds like smoking, since the term 'e-cigarette' contains the word 'cigarette'. If they hear it has nicotine in it, all the worse. Historically, fanatics don't pay much attention to facts, and are notoriously ignorant and dismissive of science. Therefore, it doesn't matter how much you can prove with studies and numbers and repeatable, verifiable results - it's still the demon smoke and it always will be. Not necessarily a bad thing, but honestly I kept smoking long after I should have just because I hate being told what to do by wild-eyed lunatics.
Where does this fanaticism come from? Well, I'm not a parent, but I can understand the very intense devotion to protecting one's offspring. I've watched a lot of nature documentaries, and that's a common theme. So I understand that an addictive, poisonous and smelly habit like smoking can lead to vehement fanaticism. Also, I think a lot of fanatics just choose their causes out of a hat, and dress up whatever they're fanatical about in the most indisputable-sounding argument they can come up with. Like, 'I must protect my babies!' which is hard to argue with. Or 'Second hand smoke!', which, despite much repudiation and not a shred of actual evidence, people seem really attached to. But to me, fanatics all sound the same; no matter what the topic, all I hear is 'I'm super-special and my desire to control others is therefore more valid than anyone else's point of view or any relevent facts'. It's sheer, unadulterrated self-importance.
Self-importance is a big part of our culture (here on Earth), so it's hard to fault people for that. We're taught to think and react this way from very early in our development. We all know that a baby who isn't cuddled and loved will simply die after a while, and I think it's hard to ease off the 'you're so special' thing once you've started. So I'm not saying it's bad, it just is. There's also the folks who were taught that the quickest path to their own self-importance is to crush someone else's, but that's another topic.
So how does the e-cigarette world deal with the hardcore anti-smoke fanatics? It's a little too late to change the unfortunate name, and since fanatics are usually unwilling to listen, explaining things in even the most simple terms is not likely to get anywhere. This is why we have law: to help those who can't decide what's right and wrong on their own. But law is created by people with the same problems we all have, and we've seen over and over that laws are usually created with goals in mind that are never mentioned in the material. So if nothing works, then what's to be done?
Honestly, I don't know. I keep thinking of things but they all fall short somehow. It's maddening. I think about vaping; it's done with things that are all relatively safe, unregulated and legal. The ingredients are ALL in your food, even nicotine. Everyone uses batteries. It's hard for me to wrap my head around how the issue of vaping being illegal ever even came about. Yes, one can make highly dangerous things with household items and that highly dangerous thing is illegal and that makes a certain amount of sense since we don't want people running around blowing stuff up all the time, but I guess that until vaping is shown over and over to be as harmless as tap water to cute little rodents, nobody with an axe to grind (or a profit to turn) is going back down. The winner will likely be determined by the amount of money they have to spend, and that's the most frustrating thing of all, since money is in short supply for 99 percent of us.
Sorry I don't have a solution. I know, it's a bit of a letdown after all that thoughtful rambling, but I just needed to get it out. And what's a blog for if not the budding half-baked essayist? Feel free to suggest strategies, I'm all ears.
