THIS POST was brought to my attention today and the ramblings of it's author "The Capt" didn't make me angry as much as it pissed me off for having to reply to it.
I can't work out how to register to post in defence to these wild, out of date and truly irrelevant, allegations that I am some sort of Gun-Toting, Looting Granny Anarchist, and part of some sort of organised and effective civil disobedience group. But it's quite clear someone has got something wrapped around his proverbial neck.
I have no idea who "Spencer" is, and perhaps those who do use that forum can enlighten me. The Capt seems to be addressing false accusations about me for "Spencer's" attention. He says (and it does sound rather desperate and clutching at straws on his part) :
"you might have something with this one spencer,the big fight talk on the baccy cruise could be certainly seen as incitement to riot?, especially when one of the confirmed rebels has a history for inciting civil disobediance.
http://patnurseblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/time-for-action-war-declared.html
some big fight talk from our rebel leader smoking hot/mick transit too in the thread, with all this fighting talk it could egg naive shoppers into thinking the blaggers mean what they say and direct action is planned.
thats the trouble with bloggers the need to get even more outrageous with half cocked ideas to get their blogs followed and more traffic...unfortunately truth and facts and sense get lost in the complusion to blog daily"
He obviously doesn't like bloggers very much but I wonder why he is trying to imply criminality is about to take place on a social trip of like minded people where the only "fightback" will be to deny the British Govt our tax on goods bought abroad. All we can do to protest at the waste of this tax on the smokerphobic propaganda and denormalisation programme is to buy our personal supply in another country which is part of a continent that says we can bring back as much as we like - even if our Govt says we can only bring back what it thinks we should smoke.
For The Capt's edification, and to calm his obvious paranoia if he is suggesting I am calling others to riot, I would have left the following comment if I could :
"I'm flattered you think I'm a leader or a rebel when I used to be just a mum of four and granny of two (now three) and a lifelong smoker just pissed off with people trying to tell me how to live my life, what to do with my own children and family, and where I can and can't go based on biased junk studies and ideological social engineering.
It's a shame you didn't read my post that you appear to suggest incites violence or riots. If you had you would have seen it was written well over a year ago and relates to Nick Clegg and David Cameron's refusal to listen to representations from smokers when deciding which load of crap from Labour to repeal or not.
The very sad fact of this matter is that we pissed off individuals who have no funding and are not organised but rather like a swarm that now meets on various blogs, forums and social networking sites in place of the pubs we used to visit, have no "leaders". Back in July 2010, we couldn't even rustle up 50 people for what was planned to be a demonstration in Nick Clegg's constituency office to show him the unfairness of the blanket smoking ban and how it puts the onus on pub landlords to be enforcers.
It is pure fantasy to suggest that some sort of "riot" or civil disobedience, which you allege I am often inciting on my blog, is to take place on a forthcoming social trip in the middle of the Ocean, and then in Bruges. The only protest here is against the discriminatory high tax of tobacco in the UK which is used to fund the denormalisation of smokers.
I have said many times on my blog that I abhor violence, I do not condone rioting, but I do believe in challenging bad laws using legal protest - such as was seen in Stony Stratford recently - or civil disobedience if pushed that far.
The post you refer to is also well balanced in the comments where a debate took place as to whether civil disobedience was justified or not - and the event I had hoped would give a peaceful message to Govt that smokers will not be ignored didn't happen. I have not organised or taken part in any protest that was not legal or entirely peaceful.
Finally, if you think I write daily just to attract nutters like you and get my stats up don't kid yourself. I started writing because I was angry, and I write now when I feel like it and when I feel I have something to say. Sometimes I write because I just like to write. I am a writer by profession after all so wanting to write is natural for me.
I've also said many times that I have a love/hate relationship with this blog because of what it brings out in me in terms of the best and the worst. Attempts in the past to delete it and walk away from this METAPHORICAL "fight" have failed because when it comes down to it, I can't. People need places to meet and get support in this mental, upside down world where decent people are being abused, slandered, excluded, stigmatised and marginalised because they smoke. I need that place too but never did before July 1, 2007 and neither did they.
If you read some of the The Capt's other posts at the link above you will see that he also has a pop at Smoking Hot who challenges UKBA and highlights the Agency's lack of acountability to the public that funds it.
I'm grateful to someone called Andrea who defends my position on the Daytripper forum but confused as to why "The Capt", who hides behind anonymity, feels justified in calling Andrea out to identify herself when he will not.
Some of us do use our real names and we have no hiding place. As Simon Clark, who despite my occasional rants, is someone I do recognise and respect as a mentor and a friend in this "fight", once said that anyone who is serious about campaigning should use their real name because the Anonymous can be ignored. I've always used my real name and I have never posted anonymously.
So here I am "The Capt". Me, myself and I exposed here most days for people like you to take what I say out of context and to post derogatory information about me on sites I am likely never to visit.
If you think you're hard enough, bring your fight over here. My only weapons are words.