Pat Nurse writes about why she distrusts Big TC here:
This is why I don't trust Tobacco Control nor believe they are working for the greater good. No such illustration of violence is justified especially when there are Smokerphobic nutters out there who could be incited to violence because of this irresponsible [video] campaign.
Leg-Iron has been covering it, too:
Could it be, just maybe, perhaps, that the Mail has realised that we smokers are long past the stage where we have had enough? That we are not going to sit back and take it any more? Did they see, at last, that we have not attacked anyone but have been consistently and increasingly attacked, verbally and physically, with the full encouragement of all those who now claim we are threatening them? With Government approval, people have openly despised us and even attacked us for no other reason than we have a little bit of leaf wrapped in paper.
Handymanphil, over at the Simple Simon Says.....! blog writes:
Yes [bloggers] have been accused of harassing health experts but I don't see where any death threats have been issued-and that is because there haven't been any death threats issued to any one person. I must point out here that this is exactly what tobacco control activists are excellent at-media control. They twist wordage to suit whatever situation they feel they need to control and this is a classic situation.
The inimitable Mr Dick Puddlecote (who is evidently not on the Companies House register) has this to say:
I really couldn't give a monkey's chuff if the University of Bath want to waste their time on wiki adventures which attack free speech with their own cash (or CRUK's), after all it's the kind of thing we have come to expect from these charlatans. However, I'm deeply offended that Smokefree South West - a government-funded organisation who are helping to pay for this nonsense - are spending my substantial taxes on something so pathetically shoddy.
Dave Atherton delves a little deeper into the tobacco tactics wiki:
So we have taxpayer’s money being spent on foreign detective agencies to spy on people who are pro-choice on smoking and anti tobacco control. I think at the very least the public should know how much money is being paid to host this site.
Trooper Thompson at Englands Freedom, Souldiers Rights writes:
But we know, dear readers, who the real extremists are, and where that divide should be demarked - between the vile, insane, puritanical, control-freak nannies from hell of the anti-smoking lobby and most of the rest of the people, who, whether they smoke or not, understand that it is a matter for the individual in a free society.
Frank Davis postulates that the dark side of the Force is responsible for Big TC's latest smear campaign against him and other bloggers :
I guess I’m not too surprised that Tobacco Control were going to do something, sooner or later, about the rising number of pro-smoking blogs like mine. We’ve been multiplying unopposed for a long time. TC was going to have to do something. And now the Empire is Striking Back.
Mark Wadsworth rechristens the tobacco tactics wiki as "The Naughty List" and he offers this gentle reminder:
And may I remind people that doing propaganda against its own citizens is not really something that governments should be doing?
Never one to mince words, Longrider defends our use of intemperate language:
And, yes, they are Nazis. Intemperate language may seem extreme, but is necessary when describing people who have consistently used the tactics of untermensch in attempting to further their cause. This is the result of their behaviour – this is what they have encouraged. How dare they now complain when people point out the truth – that they are Nazis. How dare they complain when people merely use their methods to argue against them. They and they alone are responsible for this evil.
Belinda over at Freedom-2-Choose (Scotland) is a little surprised after reading the tobacco tactics wiki's entry on smear campaigns:
I was surprised to read about it as a tactic of the tobacco industry, because it was my impression that tobacco control uses this tactic frequently on us – that is, on what is called by everyone outside tobacco control the 'pro-choice' side – by claiming that we are in the pay of tobacco companies or simply pursue their interests because we have no specific view of our own.
That's probably enough quotes for now. I apologise for leaving out others' posts -- it isn't deliberate. It's only that this post is large enough I think. Feel free to link to your own blog posts in the comments.
One final item of business. The Daily Mail has also published an article about us wee bloggers intimidating the intimidators. I left a comment on the article, but no idea if they'll get around to publishing it. If not, this is what I wrote:
Although not mentioned in the above article, I am one of the bloggers who fights against the tyrannical and hateful tobacco control campaign. My blog has never threatened anyone, has never encouraged violence against anyone, nor has it remotely suggested that others should harass or attack anyone in tobacco control. I do not contact anyone in tobacco control, nor do I recommend that anyone should. I merely comment on their publicly-made statements and reports. Contrariwise, we bloggers have been subject to actual threats and violence both online and in public. I have personally been attacked and assaulted by rabid anti-smokers on the street. We are constantly harassed by the likes of Simon Chapman -- you need only to view his history on Twitter to see how he harasses those who do not agree with his campaign of hate against smokers. It is funny and sad that people like Arnott all of a sudden claim to be victims, when in reality they are the ones victimising us.
