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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1995-01-25, Page 5International Scene mond anon THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 1995. PAGE 5. The idea's right, but the letters are wrong My all-time favourite quote about the cigarette business appeared last year in Rolling Stone magazine. It came from the lips of David Dangoor, executive vice president of Philip Morris International: "I'll tell you what I like about the business...there are no surprises. There is nothing more to be said or discovered about the cigarette business or the industry. And there's no way to write an article that could do us more harm than what has already been written." Mister Dangoor is, alas, correct. Everybody knows that smoking is like playing Russian Roulette with five bullets in the cylinder instead of one. Tobacco executives wave an impatient hand when you remind them that the product they sell can leave customers with lung, lip and tongue cancer, heart disease, emphysema and a host of other fatal afflictions. So cigarettes are more addictive than heroine. So 35,000 Canadians will die this year from smoking related illnesses. So cigarettes have killed more North Americans The Domesday Book I don't know how much English history they teach in the school system these days; if they still do, probably not too many students take it judging from the historical knowledge which I find in students at both the community college or university level. This is something of a pity since the laws in our country are based on the English legal system going all the way back to the Magna Carter. It is from Britain that we get the whole concept of "habeas corpus"; a Latin expression meaning literally "you may have the body" but in legal terms has come to mean that a person is innocent until proven guilty. In other words either charge the person with having committed a specific crime or let them go. When I was in the Consular Division of External Affairs, I discovered that a lot of young Canadians abroad foolishly had the idea that this "habeas corpus" was practised all over the world' when they did something stupid, they would be releases shortly for lack of evidence. It came as a distinct shock to both them and frequently to their parents to discover that such was most assuredly not the case. In many places a person is considered guilty until proven innocent. A little bit of British history would have cured the young people of their naive assumption. Another fascinating point of that country's history is the invasion by the French in 1066. That brought about a gradual, but eventually, a dramatic change in what we know as the English language, but that is another story. What I would like to tell you about is one of the main works of the victorious king, William the Conqueror of France. Known also as William I, he decided to get his new than all the enemy bombs and bullets of all the wars of the twentieth century put together. So what? So will that be regular or king-size? Plain or menthol? Full-flavour or Light? They never give up, the Death Merchants. They never tire of finding new ways to entice new sets of lungs to sample their wares. Twenty years ago their statistics revealed that North American women weren't smoking nearly as much as men. Tobacco advertisers re-adjusted their sights and came up with "feminine" cigarettes such as Virginia Slims. Result: two decades later, women smokers almost match men smokers in the lung cancer department. You've come a long way, ladies. The latest attempt to find new smokers is aimed at the younger set. (Which only makes sense. After all, the older smokers keep dying off on them.) The newest smoking sortie is to be a product called Dave. You read right - Philip Morris is right now test-marketing a cigarette called Dave in the Denver area. It is, saying the marketers aimed at "hip, image-conscious smokers". Which is bafflegab for "teenagers." Which reminds me of my second-favourite cigarette business anecdote - a story told by David Goerlitz. You might not recognize the name, but you'd recognize the face - ruggedly Hollywoodian, granite jawed, gimlet-eyed. Goerlitz was a model who appeared in many cigarette ads for the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. In the tobacco advertising business, David Goerlitz was known as The Winston Man. Goerlitz told the story of one cigarette commercial photo shoot at which several Reynolds executives were present. The session involved dozens of shots of Goerlitz looking he-mannish and intrepid with a lit cigarette in his mitt and cartons of Winston scattered all over the set. There were dozens and dozens of cartons. When it was over, Goerlitz asked rather timidly if he might take one or two cartons home with him. "Hell," said one of the tobacco executives, "Take 'em all." Goerlitz wasn't a greedy man. Surely the executivest.wanted some too. They smoked themselves, didn't they? "Are you kidding?" sneered the executive. "We reserve that right for the poor, the young, the black and the stupid." So there you are. If you smoke, by all means go ahead and enjoy yourself. But don't ever forget what the people who make your cigarettes think of you. Makes me think that the tobacco advertising geniuses may be off-base with this new Dave line of cigarettes. Oh, the idea is good - nice, short punchy name. They've just got the wrong letters, that's all. Shouldn't call the new cigarettes Dave. Should call them Dumb. remained the same until the 18th century or about the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The population in 1300 was about the same as 500 years later - 5,000,000. Today it is over 50 million. Women having to contend with housework today would envy the fact that there were hardly any communities that did not have servants. Since no less than a third of all English households had servants at that time, this meant that even people who were relatively poor by the standards of the time were able to maintain at least one. Most of these were under the age of 25 and it was almost unheard of for a servant to be married. What happened was that a boy or girl would leave home about the age of 10 and, for the next 15 years would work in one or more households. Given the low life expectancy, it was quite possible that a person would spend a good percentage of their life as a servant working for little more than their keep. You may wonder at this point what caused the system to change. The answer is easy; it was the above mentioned Industrial Revolution which saw a mass migration to the cities. At the time of the Domesday Book, the population was spread all over the country. At the present time no less than one-third of the population lives in three per cent of the land area. One can only imagine what a shock it must have been to the people who found themselves living in the first years of such a dramatic change. Shop at home Support your local merchants The Short of it By Bonnie Gropp May she live a long and tortured life I just couldn't read it. For several weeks now I have had in my possession a magazine article which attempts to shed some light on the enigma that is Susan Smith, the type of woman who cold-bloodedly murders her two babies when she perceives them as being the obstacle to her financial and romantic future. Every time I tried to read it, I became so disgusted, so sickened that I couldn't go on. Finally, last week 1 did finish it only to discover that it failed to do what I had hoped it might — provide some understanding of what could possibly happen to make someone destroy what she should instead instinctively nurture and protect. Smith's children were still very young; Michael, was three and Alex just 14 months. They were at the age when love and trust are given unconditionally, when tiny arms wrapped around your neck provide more than enough TLC to see you through just about anything. Let's face it. Such horrific examples of passionless abuse committed against trusting innocents is always painful, but when the act is done by the one who gave the child life it becomes incomprehensible. Incomprehensible perhaps, but unfortunately not infrequent. Though the diabolical selfishness that drove Susan Smith is not inherent in every case the other examples of mothers killing their babies are never any less sad. Last week, for example, all were shocked to hear of Maria Canhoto, 22, of Cambridge, whose two-year-old child died during an exorcism conducted by her mother, grandmother and two neighbours. Whereas Smith could be seen as a ruthless, heartless social climber, some may view Canhoto with a bit of compassion. They might think the young, misguided woman, believing her daughter to be possessed by demons, felt she was acting in her best interests. Not me, mind you, I'm not that generous. One of the biggest lessons I still keep trying to learn in my life is to not be too judgemental, to attempt to not preach. I work (sometimes with great difficulty and sometimes with limited success) at keeping an open mind and retaining my objectivity even when sentimentality and passion may almost overule. For whatever their motives I can't help regarding all these women with a narrow view. They are contemptible. I, like every other normal mother, recall the day my babies were born. Every day since, even when they are less than perfect, I am reminded by what a miracle they are and how blessed they have made my life. When they hurt, I hurt. I worry about them, fear for them and rejoice in their accomplishments and independence. And I know with a certainty, though fortunately, I have not faced this, I would give my life for them. Corny? As far as I'm concerned only those who are mentally infirmed, hate children or don't have children would think so. Every parent I know would echo my feelings. What makes these stories all the more pathetic is that these children were never expendable. There were many people who would have gratefully given them a loving and safe future. Women's rights groups are valiantly battling to end violence against women, but how can we protect these innocent babies? Infanticide is an atrocity and puniShment should be severe. South Carolina is asking for the death penalty for Susan Smith. Perhaps a more fitting end would be that she learn to fully appreciate what she has done, that the memory of her horrendous deed never fade and she instead lives a long, tortured existence. Arthur Black nation into something that the French considered to be sufficiently organized. To this end he had the ministers of his court go out and gather information of the country which was then tabulated in the famous Domesday Book in 1086. From this book we are able to determine a number of characteristics of Britain and how they compared with that country today. One interesting fact is the age at which people married. Far too many people have the idea, having heard of Romeo and Juliet, that young marriages were the norm. Juliet's father says that 14 is too young to marry; he would prefer that his daughter wait two more years. In reality the Domesday Book reveals that the average age of a bride in the 11th century was 24; that of the groom was 28. Nor did they have a lot of children. Births were spaced widely with the result that the average family had two to three offspring, many of whom did not live past the first year. One family homes were the rule; this meant that, when a son married, he did not move in with his parents. He went elsewhere to live and in many cases his parents were not around to live with. Most fathers were lucky to reach 50; at that time the average life expectancy was 35-45. The records of one village showed that there was only one grandchild in the entire community. By today's standards everything at the time of the publication of the book was relatively tiny. There were no less than 10,000 settlements listed, most of which still exist. However, in the 11th century the average number of people in these communities were close to 100. In the largest town listed, Norwich, there were only 5,000 inhabitants. Since there arc many subsequent records of English society, it is easy to determine how long the characteristics of the 11th century continued. Surprisingly things