F E AT U R E
W O R DS & P HOTOS BY TON Y OTTOMAN EL L I II
O
n May 4 2016 the FDA announced
regulations on the vaping
industry, their own approach at
imposing crony capitalist practices
which are so strict they’re essentially
installing prohibition.
Regarding these FDA Regulations, which
apparently, according to a recent poll,
just over half of all Vapers even know
about, I must officially tell all my fellow
advocates “We can overcome! We can
do this!” However, as the late-great
Basketball Coach John Wooden once
said: “Failing to Prepare is Preparing
to Fail.” We have to look into history in
order to decide our futures. Specifically,
look at the history behind past groups
who fell victim to hegemonic oppression
and crony capitalism. Groups of
individuals who were being targeted
by discrimination or perhaps not given
enough respect by the government all
have very similar struggles as well as a
common theme of redemption.
Such oppressed groups had the
constitutional right to stand up, speak
out and say "No!" More importantly, they
were all on the same page, chanting
the same message in unison, and
each person was there for the other.
They stood up to speak out together.
Throughout our rollercoaster of American
history, we see such a scenario
happening time after time. The f act of
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the matter is that this is America where
we are typically granted “Rights” and
the oppressor would always be forced
to compromise on account of those
Constitutional Rights.
For example, the Civil Rights Movement
and the Million-Man March, the
Feminist Revolution, the Gay Rights
Movement, etc. These movements
were all groups that became polarized
by the government and had restrictions
targeting them specifically or had no
respect paid to them by lack of action on
the government’s part. This all caused
a rise in stereotypes among the general
public, creating even further burdens on
such groups.
Taking all of these particular marginalized
groups into consideration, by no means
am I attaching precise equivalency in
comparison to their struggles to our
vaping movement misfortunes. Still,
our cause remains largely significant in
the sense that, vaping itself, could be
the primary catalyst behind the singlemost effective public health intervention
that we ever experienced throughout
human history. Not to mention, due to the
current FDA Regulations being instituted,
our group (the vaping community) has
been targeted for an enforcement of
harsh restriction, so it is certainly obvious
that our group of vapers have been
polarized to the point of possessing
similarities to all those other historic
groups oppressed by the powers that
be. One thing all of these marginalized,
oppressed and victimized groups have
and had in common is their
unyielding unity.
As of current, don't allow the overly
saturated market of “overnight-advocacymovements” and “daily petitions” to fool
you, especially “donation-scams.” Sure,
I've taken part in each one of these
specific forms of action because at least
it is and was proactive. Yet, there is
surely only one thing that would have
the best chance at fixing this clear case
of oversight by the FDA; engaging in a
three-ring-circus that is among political
bureaucrats, industrial capitalists and
uncontrollable institutions consisting
of cronyism, greed, and corruption - all
easily traced back to being the main
ingredients of an imminent “centralized
profit motive.” Meaning, all of this
misconduct by government officials and
immoral assertions from big business
moguls certainly have an agenda, a
concise strategic approach.
We, as the vaping community and
industry must also have a precise grand
design of disciplined precision created
solely to counteract the wicked ways
of our tarnished social system and the
inexplicable indications of this faltering
capitalist economic climate -