[BretLudwig]

Incensed Over Menthol€“Tobacco Policy Is Racist, No Matter Which Way You
Look At It

[James Fulford]

"Jacob Sullum has an article on the subject of the attempt to ban
flavored cigarettes, on the specious theory that theyre aimed at kids.
Such a bill would not ban menthol cigarettes, which have been around for
years. Sullum has been arguing that the €œFamily Smoking Prevention and
Tobacco Control Act, which Congress is once again considering, would
stifle competition, raise prices, reduce variety, block the flow of
potentially lifesaving information, [The FDA hates it when you say that
cigars are better for you than cigarettes, or chewing tobacco safer than
either.]and impede the introduction and promotion of safer tobacco
products.€�[ Cigarette Flavoratism, Reason Magazine, June 11, 2008]

All to no avail, but Sullum reports a new objection€“the bill is racist.
If menthol cigarettes are the choice of 75 percent of African-American
smokers, but only 32 percent of whites, then not banning them is unfair to
African-Americans. The mind boggles. There is no way that you can figure
this out so its not racist.

You realize that that if you do ban cigarettes which are popular with
African-Americans, thats racist too? Its racist when crack dealers
get heavier sentences that powder cocaine dealers, and on exactly the same
disparate impact principle. Suppose a store that sold cigarettes refused to
sell menthols? Wouldnt they get in trouble?

Sullum goes through some of the permutations of this:

There are other ways to look at it. Given that white menthol smokers
outnumber black menthol smokers by three to one, maybe this isnt such a
black thing after all. Alternatively, since the bill allows blacks to smoke
the cigarettes they prefer, a freedom it does not allow whites who like
clove cigarettes or Camel Cremas, you could argue that it discriminates in
favor of blacks.

People who want to ban flavored cigarettes, of course, believe that
letting smokers have what they want is a hostile act. But if so, the fact
that the bill allows tobacco companies to continue selling the
non-mentholated cigarettes overwhelmingly preferred by whites suggests
that it blatantly discriminates against European Americans.

Trying to run public policy on this basis is probably what makes
politicians so crazy. My head is starting to hurt just thinking about it.

Finally, the bit about €œwhite menthol smokers€� outnumbering €œblack
menthol smokers by three to one,€� is because there are a lot more whites
that blacks, so that 32 percent of whites is more than 75 percent of
blacks. This is something Steve Sailer has been trying to convince GOP
strategists of for years and years."


http://blog.vdare.com/archives/2008/...ou-look-at-it/

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