First They Came for the Smokers…

November 21, 2023

by William Sullivan American Thinker

In the early 2000s, entertainers Penn and Teller had a show called Bullsh*t! that aired on Showtime, in which the iconic duo apply their sense of humor and libertarian sensibilities to butcher lots of sacred cows.

In recently revisiting some episodes of the show that I enjoyed back then, one moment, in particular, contained a brief bit of what can only be described as the purest prophecy.

This particular episode from 2003 covered the manufactured health panic over secondhand smoke, and the crusaders who used false “science” to ban smoking in restaurants and bars in New York City, which, as we now know, was the launchpad for similar smoking bans that swept the nation.

The fact that cigarette smoke is unpleasant to many people was not a reasonable argument for the government to impose smoking bans in establishments owned and visited by free citizens.