We are telling young people that reporting on your neighbour is not only acceptable, but laudable and rewarding. It will be rationalized, of course, on the much publicized 'health hazards' of second hand smoke. The United States have a very large financial interest in going after the tobacco companies, for those manufacturers can provide the means for immense economic revenues. The fundamental right of choice of the citizen as to what to do with his body, business or behaviour is under attack by a state run by demagogues, doctors, and 'administrators'. THIS is the fundamental problem to eliminate, not just the smoking issue on its own right.
Tobacco is responsible for the whole ball of wax in the North.
In that 1970s feature film, the first for director George Lucas, society is a controlled by computers taking care of everything with magnificent control, repression, and a total emptiness of humanity. Social interaction has become automated. I was reminded of that movie at the airport. Messages, broadcast endlessly through the speaker system of the airport, were repeating no-smoking announcements every thirty seconds, together with warnings on the consequences of leaving your car illegally parked.