Opposition
Claims about the opposition
Every religion knows it's impersonation of Evil, a devil. It's written in their bible, written with blood. And it's the truth, the whole and only truth. The Devil appears in many disguises, but true believers recognize the Devil immediately, even if they have never met that disguise before.
In this view, Tobacco Control shows the same behaviour as a religion: everyone who is against them MUST be an impersonation of the Devil and supported by Evil, even if you cannot prove it.
So bar owners are an impersonation of the Devil, smokers are the Devil in disguise and dissenters in their own movement are tobacco stooges.
If you smell like a Devil, you ARE the Devil.
And for TC, the Devil is the tobacco industry, commonly known as Big Tobacco (BT).
Internal Devils
Religions also have their internal Devils, sect members who don't believe in their Bible or Red Booklet anymore because they have started thinking themselves and made up their own conclusions about the real world. And these internal Devils need to be expelled from their always so coherent group that never listened to ther voices but that of their Bible. Dr. Michael Siegel describes in his blog how expelling dissenters works in TC:
- Accuse the Dissenter of Being Paid Off by the Tobacco Industry
- Accuse the Dissenter of Supporting the Tobacco Industry
- Accuse the Dissenter of Helping to Kill People
- Implore All Anti-Smoking Groups and Advocates to Ignore the Dissenter
- Censor the Dissenter by Removing Him from All Internet and Email Listserves and Discussion Forums
