Thursday 24 June 2010

Bigots

I was unfortunate enough today to catch part of the Jeremy Vine moanfest on Radio 2, the subject in question being about pregnant women being breathalysed to check if they smoked during their pregnancies.
The rights or wrongs of smoking when pregnant I, personally, believe are a matter between the woman and her medical advisor and should left as a private matter between them.
However, it seems that a lot of self righteous bigots amongst the general public feel that the issue is of such a great concern that they cannot control the urge to air their views to us all.
The pure hatred expressed by many of the callers against pregnant smokers made me cringe in my car seat causing a momentary hazard to other road users. One in particular managed to classify all the smoking mothers to be as from the deprived classes (whoever they may be) and went on to say that although she wouldn't wish to admonish these people verbally, her 'look of disgust as her eyes swept from the cigarette to the bulging waistline left the person in doubt of what she thought of her'. Others more simply stated that smoking was a clear case of child abuse and the police and social services should take punitive action.
It makes you wonder why we ever bothered fighting Hitler doesn't it.