:shrug:
Thought I'd repost the whole thing here for those who may have missed it.
http://www.realchangenews.org/index.php/site/archives/2862/Bar the gays, ban the cigs?By Dr. Wes Browning
One of the things I thought would happen, the day after Obama took office, was “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” would be rescinded and he would flat-out order the military to stop discharging homosexuals. Instead, after nearly six months of no movement on the subject, a study commissioned by the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs recommends a total ban on cigarettes in the military, including a ban on smoking in quarters and a total ban on sales of cigarettes on bases.
Before I begin exhaling the rant that is just now forming in the pit of my tar-stained lungs, I should explain my relationship to the subject at hand. No, I am not a veteran, I was an Army brat. And no, I don’t smoke. Well, not for almost 12 years now. I watched my Army dad smoke three packs a day for decades, getting incredible deals on cheap smokes even well into his retirement, first at Fort Lawton, and then when he couldn’t buy them there, down in Fort Lewis. Then, I watched him die of cancer. So I totally get that smoking is bad for you. But I bet you get that, too: You’ve seen the PSAs. So we’ll just brush that aside and get to the heart of the matter.
BEING A SOLDIER IS BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH.
Can we have warnings on military recruiters, pasted to their foreheads? “NOT IGNORING THIS MAN MAY RESULT IN SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH.” “MILITARY SERVICE — A LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH.” “DON’T LET CHILDREN BE EXPLODED BY YOUR BOMBS.”
We can’t have gays in the military because it would be socially disruptive. Sort of like the kind of social disruption you get when you tell the one in three smokers in a room they not only can’t smoke there, they can’t smoke anywhere on the planet. The Pentagon will see Seattle’s 25-foot rule, and raise it to a 25,000-mile rule.
And what about the security of this country? OK, I can’t have gays in my country’s military who can translate from Arabic to English and keep my ass from being blown up by Al Qaeda. Fine, I’ve come to accept that. But now I find out that my country will no longer be recruiting people who can’t quit cigarettes, cigars or chew, even though they know it could kill them (because they’ve seen the PSAs). Excuse me, but who does that leave? Are we only going to be defended by mooses, squirrels and aging Boy Scouts who still call their mothers every day? Are there really enough of those?
Then there’s an irony that begs notice. There’s the gay/cig connection. It’s not widely known by you young people, but there was a time Marlboros were a favorite gay men’s cigarette. When Marlboros were originally created in 1924, it was marketed as a woman’s cigarette. The slogan was “Mild as May,” and the ads showed a feminine hand (May’s?) reaching for a pack. Straight men wouldn’t touch them, and would be embarrassed to buy them in a store. Being filtered cigarettes, rude conceptions and ruder jokes sprang up in the culture. “Tampons” vs “going bare-assed” come to mind. But Philip Morris didn’t care as long as the product had a decent share of the market.
In World War II, sales of Marlboros tanked, so they started to think about changing their image. Eventually, in 1954, they came out with the Marlboro Man ads, forever linking even filtered cigarettes with macho straight images.
As an immediate consequence gay men were forced to don cowboy hats and boots in order to continue to smoke their favored brand of cigarettes without clashing. This in turn led to Village People, “Brokeback Mountain,” and gays in the military, but that’s like death by cancer — it’s neither here nor there.
“What’s your point, Wes?” OK: What are our servicemen supposed to do now during R & R: Play Scrabble while sucking on beef jerky?
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