Getting lung cancer to own the libs: House Republicans want to make smoking great again

[marmar]

Getting lung cancer to own the libs: House Republicans want to make smoking great again
Masculinity gets toxic — literally! — with the GOP majority's plans to stink up the halls of Congress with tobacco

By AMANDA MARCOTTE
Senior Writer
PUBLISHED JANUARY 13, 2023 6:00AM (EST)


(Salon) As a member of Generation X, I've found a reliable way to spook Gen Z-ers: stories of the bad old days of my youth, specifically the era of indoor smoking. Some of you will remember this: Homes, cars, restaurants, bars, college classrooms and even high schools pretty much let smokers have their way with the commonly shared air. Those of us who spent our nights in bars and clubs reeked of tobacco smoke all the time, even if we didn't actually smoke. Our hair and our clothes permanently emanated that distinctive sour odor of it. Bans on indoor smoking were controversial at first, but when they finally arrived, it was something like seeing in color for the first time. The world, it turned out, is a lot more pleasant when you can smell things other than the reek of cigarette smoke. Going back to indoor smoking sounds about as much fun as having someone follow you around dragging their fingernails down a chalkboard all day long.

This is so self-evident that most Republicans I know agree personally, despite belonging to a political party whose guiding ethos is to be deliberately unpleasant in hopes of getting a rise out of some liberal somewhere. Even people who think Fox News host Greg Gutfeld is funny have enough sense to know that it sucks to smell like an ashtray sucks. Or at least I thought they did.

I wrote an entire book about Republican trolling, so I'm ashamed to admit that I underestimated how pathetic it can get. With the GOP now in control of the House of Representatives, people are smoking indoors again in the Capitol, or at least the half of it governed by the oh-so-powerful Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Gross! I suppose Republicans can congratulate themselves, since they have successfully triggered me with this news. Of course, if they'd like to, they can trigger me even more — maybe by refusing to take regular showers or to wipe their butts after using the bathroom.

But in fairness, this isn't just about trolling. It's also about a close cousin to trolling, in the constellation of motivations that make right-wingers such baffling and exhausting people: Toxic masculinity. For about as long as supporters basic public health have argued for restrictions on tobacco use, conservatives have acted as if any regulations whatsoever on their foul-smelling phallic symbols literally amounts to prying the penises off their bodies. Before Rush Limbaugh died of lung cancer, the right-wing radio host who coined the term "feminazi" often portrayed smoking as a wholesome, manly activity that liberals wanted to take away from men purely to emasculate them. .................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2023/01/13/getting-lung-cancer-to-own-the-libs-want-to-make-smoking-great-again/

[Hugh_Lebowski]

1. Not only these things, but also ... they've disallowed proxy voting haven't they?

Stinking up the place is probably also an attempt to get Dems to not want to show up and vote against them.

[TheBlackAdder]

22. That means they're plotting another heist and need a distraction.

.



.

[Girard442]

2. Hey, you know what else Libs tell you not to do?

Eat yellow snow.

[TheRickles]

11. LOL!

[Ferrets are Cool]

3. They actually wipe their butts? I didn't think they had evolved to this.

[Probatim]

12. They still aren't using toilet paper though.

[OMGWTF]

16. insert drum sting here

[modrepub]

4. Some Bars In My State

still allow smoking, if they have a restricted menu. Those places always advertise this fact so at least you are warned before you go in.

Ah, yes, the good old days of smoke reek. And who can forget making out with a smoker. Hey, on rare occasions I managed to score before the 2 o'clock rush.

I don't really miss those days much. But this article made me relive my experiences even though I had by this point largely forgotten them.

And I agree with the writer and others who have pointed out, for the right wingers, it's all about making as many folks around them miserable. Mainly to distract themselves from their own empty miserable lives. (I try to ignore them or ridicule them as much as I can)

[LeftinOH]

5. I used to smoke. It's an expensive, damaging, stupid habit.

There's nothing 'masculine' about it.

[durablend]

6. Next thing they'll get to

Putting lead back in gasoline and banning catalytic converters.

Watch!

[lark]

7. Hey, if they want to smoke indoors, never get vaccinated and die young, it's their choice.

As long as the rest of us don't have to join them, I'm ok with killing off traitors and fascists through their own efforts.

[Sky Jewels]

8. But smoking indoors doesn't kill only them.

It affects everyone who must breathe in the stinking, dangerous air they create.

[lark]

26. I was making an assumption that smart folks wouldn't go to their homes so not affected.

And if they came over to a smart persons house, they'd be sent outside to smoke - every single time.

Our son lived with us for about 6 months and he was not allowed any smoking in the house. Even though he has issues, he's clear about that and never once smoked inside.

[Sky Jewels]

27. Right, but this post was about Republicans smoking in their Congressional offices.

[lark]

29. OK, I missed that.

So smoking in offices is not ok.

[Sky Jewels]

30. ...

[Bev54]

9. And they are blocking congressional staff from forming unions, which it seems they

need more than ever now. This makes for a hostile work environment for many of them, having to work in and around a bunch of cigarette or cigar smoking assholes. I have to say the republicans are truly determined to make the US government the joke of the world.

[Mr.Bill]

34. More often than not,

whenever Congress passes any law regarding employment, they exempt themselves from that law.

[Initech]

10. Well, it's their funeral.

[Rebl2]

14. Yep

[Sky Jewels]

25. And the funeral of those who must breathe in second-hand smoke, like

non-smoking staffers. And others. As we all know, smoke doesn't just stay in a little bubble around the smoker.

[Initech]

31. Yeah they completely fail to grasp the concept of public health.

Remember, these are the same dumb fucks and spoiled toddlers who cried about freedoms and held large church gatherings and giant biker rallies in the middle of a raging pandemic.

[Mr.Bill]

35. And will the ventialtion system in the Capitol

spread it to other rooms?

[IronLionZion]

13. People who worked in those restaurants breathing in second hand smoke all day

many of them are already dead.

That's the problem with these GOP assholes. It impacts people around them who didn't make these choices. If it only impacted the smoker, it wouldn't be a problem.

[Rebl2]

15. Guess it's back

to wearing masks.

[OMGWTF]

17. Gawd, they're such assholes!

[Lonestarblue]

18. I was thrilled when indoor smoking was eliminated.

When I was in college during heavy smoking days, I could not go to the local hangouts because after a couple of hours my eyes would be swollen shut. My hair would reek, and I would cough the whole time—not worth it. But Republicans have always been about ignoring their rights of the many to privilege the few, especially when those few are their wealthy donors.

[packman]

19. Great - 'If they would rather die, they'd better do it, and decrease the surplus population'

Only downside, we'll be supporting them as disabled and paying for their hospital costs.

[Richard D]

20. The repukes, especially the magats . . .

. . . are the same types of people who would bring a picnic basket and beer to public execution, or better yet, torture, and hoot and holler and laugh at the poor victims. Better yet if it was a woman being butchered or burnt at the stake. That would be real fun for their types.

Anyway, probably over the top, but I don't think so.

[TeamProg]

21. Smoke goes everywhere though I believe it's restricted to their offices..yes? n/t

[SunSeeker]

23. Not just any smoking. They are puffing on the stinkiest of Cuban cigars.

Total troll move by Republicans.

[LeftInTX]

24. How many of them actually smoke?

Or is this just a stupid thing?

[liberal_mama]

28. It will be like refusing to wear masks during a pandemic, they will just tell high risk people like

me, "If you don't like it, stay home." It will be the same with their smoking.

After all, why should repub smokers be inconvenienced and have to go outside when they want a smoke?

That Canadian Covid minimizer apparently thinks smoking in moderation is good for you.

https://pressprogress.ca/danielle-smith-claimed-smoking-cigarettes-had-positive-health-benefits/

[muriel_volestrangler]

32. "There are just way too many other good times to be had, with nowhere near the danger..."

"You can have non-procreative sex, take your friends a drag show or read a book, for instance — which as you probably noticed, are all things the modern GOP would like to legislate out of existence."

It is odd how so many of the Republican "freedoms I'd die for" do actually increase the risk of dying, while the harmless ones are in their sights.

[hunter]

33. There are Second Amendment solutions to this problem...

Super Soaker!