Posts by Jackie Clark
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OnPoint: Sock-Puppeting Big Tobacco to…, in reply to George Darroch,
So George, acknowledging that secondhand smoke is dangerous, why do you want smokers to stop smoking? None of any of what you said above addresses quite why so much money is spent every year attempting to stop a small part of the population from partaking of a habit which, if they are considerate and aren't blowing smoke in others' faces, or smoking in their houses thereby damaging their children, is entirely their own business. Is it because you believe that tobacco companies are evil? Is it because it benefits society if we all live long lives uninterrupted by any disease? Why? If it's in the public's interest, why is it so?
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Ah, the smokers argument. How much do smokers cost the taxpayer? It's estimated, in dollar terms, at about $350million per annum. It is thought, however, that excise on tobacco products brings in about $1 billion dollars per annum. So there goes the economic argument. As for the social costs? Each person has the choice to take up smoking. Statistics say about 12% of us smoke. So that's 480,000 people. And every year, 5000 people die of smoking related illnesses. Those are the figures. I don't buy the argument that mountain climbing and other adventure sports kill as many people as smoking does, because patently, that is not true. Smoking does kill, yes it does. But it would seem to me that all the arguments in the world won't solve the problem that people want to solve. Which is how do you stop someone you love dying from an illness which is selfinduced? You don't. If someone is a smoker, then that is part of who they are. If you care about them, you may try to get them to stop. That might work, but people will do only do something if they are self motivated. You may hate that they are killing themselves, but that really isn't down to you, nor is it your prerogative to lay the guilts on them. My bigger concerns lie around the costs of alcohol to our society. Let's talk about that.
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Up Front: One, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Yes. Going forward ( I did get it, very clever!), moving on. All completely not useful.
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Re the disaster tourism thing, Ben, I would agree with Emma and Russell. I still felt a little awkward taking photos from the car, in town, but I would never have wanted to take photos of peoples' houses. Actually, when I came home Ian asked to look at the photos I had taken and there were just 12, and all taken in and around the CBD. My very favourite - well, all the rest are shit, frankly, taken from behind the front windscreen, and moving - is of shelves and desks sitting on an empty lot, all covered with fluoro painted words and hearts, messages of hope and optimism.
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Hard News: Those were different times ..., in reply to Simon Grigg,
Oh now I'm getting all nostalgic - when you talk about that corner, I immediately thought of the Italian place just down a wee bit, that always used to be so fantastic. I think it's even still there, but utter shit if my meal there a few years ago was anything to go by. One of the problems is, I think, that there was, as we know, such little choice in Auckland in those days. I mean, the Blue Parrot cafe lasagne remains a very fond memory for me, for pete's sake.
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Your column, Emma, made me think of something that happened on Saturday. A friend and I went into a little shop called Starfish, on Ponsonby Rd. Turns out they had relocated from Christchurch, the Cashel Mall to be exact. The two women in the shop had relocated too. We got chatting and I could tell how very fragile they were. We shared hugs, and laughter and a couple of tears, as they talked about how they felt, the people they had lost, what they had been through. We also talked about how we hated the word "closure". How very inappropriate it is, and how when bad stuff happens to you, instead of it or it's effects ending, it becomes part of you. It felt hard to leave them, and step back into our "customer" personae.
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I remember a place in Newmarket - was it called the Jade Garden or some such? Would have been the late 70's we went there, I think.
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I kind of wish I had known you back then, Russell, because you said in your missive what I was thinking but was too afraid to say, for fear of offending people.
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Up Front: One, in reply to Emma Hart,
When I came down earlier in the year, Kath drove me round some of the more devastated areas, and we had to drive down past Knox Church to get to her new job. She kept asking if I wanted to get out of the car, and take photos, but I took them surreptitiously as we were driving by. I didn't want to be a "disaster tourist". That felt very wrong to me. But I did want to capture for myself some of the devastation. Mostly because out where Kath lives is this pocket of relatively non affectedness, and I think I wanted to understand what she, and all of you, had gone through, to some extent. We drove past piles of rubble, or cleared lots and she would say "such and such used to be there". We drove past the cordon, and I could just glimpse at what had happened to the inner city, which was a place I had known somewhat in the 70's, when our family used to stay at Noah's for a few days at a time. To be honest, I found it surreal. That so much shit had happened to this city, that I have always professed not to like all that much, and it made my heart stop. Because that devastation could happen to any of us. And of course, the big stuff never happens in isolation, or in a vacuum. People, like you Emma, would have had other things going on for them which the earthquakes have compounded. It is , after all, not one thing that happens that brings us to our knees, but everything in our life happening all at once, that sees us crumble. I hope that someday in the near future people in Christchurch find a new normal - one that isn't too compromised. In the meantime, I join the rest of this community in embracing you, and supporting you all in whatever way possible until you find your footing,
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Hard News: Those were different times ..., in reply to Simon Grigg,
Here you go, Simon