By Selwyn Duke

As you may know, leftists have a habit of projecting their own prejudices and faults onto others.  They accuse their opponents of bigotry because they’re ridden with it (e.g., they preach tolerance but are completely inured to their own prejudices against Christians); they allege voter fraud at the drop of a hat because it is exactly what they do when afforded the chance; and they accuse rightists of greed because of their great acquaintance with it, not to mention envy.  What’s even more ironic, however, is that while they pride themselves on being cool, laid back and think humor is their province, these are the areas where they may be most lacking of all. 

This came to mind recently while I was with someone close to me who had vacationed in Ireland a little while ago.  He brought back a box of small cigars, and, while I’m not a smoker per se, I do occasionally have one, so I indulged.  As there was only one cigar left, he handed me the box itself, and, upon looking down at it, I laughed.  To understand why, just take a look at the picture below.

   
No, this isn’t a doctored photograph manufactured by anti-tobacco zealots (it’s also not an actual picture of the package I have, but it’s the same label); rather, it is, obviously, the actual warning label required by the nanny-staters of the European Union. 

Now, understand that the dimensions here are accurate; on my box the label occupies almost half the package face and the text is larger than that of the brand name.  And, here’s the kicker, on the back is an equally obtrusive label stating "Smoking can cause a slow and painful death."  I kid you not.

OK, I get it now.  I was going to start mainlining Macanudos, but now I’ll just get some of those chocolate cigarettes instead.

Does anyone else get the irony?  I laughed because, well, putting more intellectual analyses aside for the moment and waxing colloquial, it was just so dorky.  Leftists claim that right-wingers are uptight, puritanical and completely "uncool," but these health nazis take the cake (on which, I might add, we may see a warning label next). 

Really, this is indicative of a callow, juvenile mindset.  It much reminds me of a little child who, upon learning that dogs can bite, runs about like Chicken Little warning everyone of this great peril.  And this is another fault of leftists that they project upon others.  They tend to assume everyone else is childish because they are so; then, of course, they become quintessentially paternalistic, using the nanny of the state to ensure that the citizen-kids don’t go awry.  Ergo, the blunt, artless message.  "Don’t talk to strangers, Johnny.  Johnny, smoking kills."  With children, you have to keep it simple, you see.

And let’s talk about puritanism a bit.  Contrary to what many think, the problem with puritans isn’t that they’re strict; it’s that they don’t know what to be strict about.  As G.K. Chesterton once said, "Puritanism is pouring righteous indignation into the wrong things."

This is the problem with leftists.  They may pride themselves on not being "uptight" and "judgmental" like Christians, on being laid back, live-and-let-live types.  But they fool themselves.  They are every bit as dogmatic as a devoted Wahabbist; Saudi Arabia has its religious police, and the left has its health police. 
To define it quite succintly, there just may be a problem with your moral compass and sense of proportion when two messages you boldly proclaim are "Smoking kills" and "Abortion is a choice."

As for this obsession with keeping people who aren’t developing inside a womb or declining inside a hospital alive as long as possible, what ever happened to leftists’ evolutionist, survival-of-the-fittest philosophy?  I mean, if in this day and age a person doesn’t know that habitual smoking is unhealthful, isn’t that what you leftists call natural selection?

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