Much of the western world from North America through to Europe has seen social engineers systematically destroy our culture through the introduction of pernicious laws which seem benign at first and end up as a joke of logical extremes.

Notice the no smoking sign on the glass

Some years ago, basic right to private property was violated when smoking sections were introduced to privately owned restaurants bars hotels and coffee shops. At first there was little noise as it seemed reasonable in a way as well as considerate. As if consideration can be forced on people. Gradually these sections became larger and areas where one could smoke became smaller as well as regulations forcing owners to purchase expensive air treatment units and even special walls and other architectural changes had to be made to accommodate any smoking section at all. Eventually, privately owned and operated business’s had to act as police on their own customers and the mere possession of an ashtray became a crime. Now, patio’s have to have no permanent cover outside and any umbrellas cannot be more than a certain percentage of the total space even to smoke cigarettes outside. Some towns in Ontario  do not allow any smoking on patio’s at all. In Holland, one may still smoke marijuana and hashish in cafes and bars which sell these materials but it is actually illegal to add tobacco into the mix. hence, the point about jokes of logical extremes.

All this on its own is a worthy topic for a serious essay on leftism and how it uses creeping state-ism to destroy more fundamental rights of property and freedom of its use. However when we compound this with multiculturalism, we get an interesting twist.

Various Arab and Islamic groups in Canada have demanded the right to allow tobacco smoking in their cafes and shawarma shops in the form of flavored tobacco in a hookah. This they claim, is their culture and so they should be able to supersede Canadian, Ontario and Ottawa laws on tobacco use in a ‘public’ space.

Shawarma restaurant on St. Laurent Blvd. Ottawa Canada

Of course, smoking cigarettes drinking beer and watching hockey in a bar in Canada was never actually our culture. But smoking this fake strawberry crap in a big brass water pipe is theirs so we have to allow this in flagrant violation of all the laws on smoking in ‘public’ places. To say this is infuriating would be understating the case. But its also a symptom of the suicidal path leftism has created for western civilization. Where we actually criminalize our own culture (for our own good of course) while making exceptions for others.

How do we fight this? well it would be supremely difficult. Inroads to freedoms on all fronts such as speech and thought crimes have been so well created over time that any real constitutional freedoms have so many exceptions that there is virtually no rational argument to be made for real rights. Political correctness, multiculturalism and public health have determined what laws may exist and what may be broken. And there lies the one possible loophole not to fight it but the second best thing, to at least make the enforcement temporarily even.

I plan to make the case that this exception is actually racist on the grounds that subjecting Arab or Muslim employees to second hand hookah smoke shows a contempt for, and less value of, the health and lives of Arab Canadians and therefore is racist and must not be made.

That allowing this to take place in a ‘public’ (I use single quotes as clearly all laws of liability show the onus on a bar or restaurant owner for the safety of all on his property often even after they leave his premises if they have been drinking, and therefore the property is indeed private in the universe of reason) space is in fact flagrant disregard for the health of Arab Canadians and the ‘danger of second hand smoke to the employees’, the initial excuse to ban smoking in business’s across Canada in the first place.

What a hollow victory this would be if I won though. It would just empower the state more and cheapen the cost of a gallon of sanctimony to the point where Canada’s main export would have less value than it already does.