I was spoon fed existentialism (meaning only Sartre and Camus) when I was in college (thought Camus better by far even then). It became deadly boring very quickly. But I was always struck by the great photo of Jean-Paul Sartre with his cigarette. Very cool, very chic, very fier. One of the only interesting things he ever said was this: "Smoking is the symbolic equivalent of destructively appropriating the entire world." Well, in anniversary of his 100th birthday the Bibliothèque Nationale de France has airbrushed the cigarette from the famous photo. Perfect historical revisionism of the Soviet or post-modern form, take your pick. By the way, he smoked Gauloise, which is what I smoked for most of the time I lived in Europe. It was by far the cheapest smike, until I discovered the Bulgarian Plovdiv cigarrete on a trip to the East. They only cost about three cents a pack in those days; came back to Munich with two full suitcases of the stuff; lasted almost a year. Wretchard has a few more thoughts on this.
It appears Winston Smith is alive and well. I am reminded of the removal of Roosevelt’s cigarette holder at the Roosevelt memorial in D.C. Another fine example of erasing the past.
It is one thing to say that smoking should be a non-issue in society, in other words that it should be left to individual choice, and another thing altogether to seem to glorify smoking as a virtue.
why the smoking spin?:
I agree completley. Dr. Schramm, perhaps you would like to look at a little chart right here?
I hope that link works.