Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Glendale: Maybe Weaver Was Referring To Smokers

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Glendale: Maybe Weaver Was Referring To Smokers

    MAYBE WEAVER WAS REFERRING TO SMOKERS
    By Jesse L. Byers

    Glendale News Press
    Aug 21 2008
    CA

    As a resident of Burbank, I can appreciate the controversy surrounding
    Glendale's proposed smoking ban ("Smoking ban still unsettled,"
    July 31).

    I was initially opposed to the smoking ordinance that we adopted in
    Burbank, and though I think it has its negatives and it is sometimes
    a little too far reaching, overall, I admit, it has worked and it
    has been successful.

    I do believe it is in Glendale's best interest to adopt a similar
    measure.

    That being said, it might also be in everyone's best interest to leave
    Glendale City Councilman Dave Weaver alone ("Weaver's remarks slammed,"
    Aug. 7).

    I've been keeping up on it and I can say that everything I have seen
    points to Weaver having no bias or prejudice against anyone.

    The lone statement he made that is being targeted is, there is "a lot
    of opposition from one segment of the population that loves to smoke."

    And the furor arises from the words put in his mouth by a Pasadena
    Weekly reporter who claimed Weaver's comment was referring to the
    city's substantial and politically influential Armenian community.

    So why are people so outraged and certain that Weaver himself was
    referencing to Armenians?

    If he was, maybe he's right.

    According to the Center for Communications, Health and the Environment,
    70% of native Armenians smoke, the highest percentage in that part
    of the world.

    Glendale's Armenian population is about 80,000 strong. According to
    the American Public Health Association, 77% of Armenian men smoke.

    Given those statistics, it might be a safe bet that yes, if Weaver
    was referring to Armenians then the largest portion of smokers in
    Glendale are Armenian.

    Then again, he could be way off. See, those 80,000 Armenians are only
    about 40% of Glendale's population.

    And, according to the Armenian National Committee-Glendale Chapter,
    61% of respondents to a recent survey don't smoke.

    That means Armenians are both a minority in Glendale and a minority
    of the city's smokers.

    Accepting all that, Weaver's comments were identifying only smokers
    and no one else.

    The newspaper in which the article appeared and the reporter have
    both apologized for the statement.

    So what's the problem?

    Seems to me people are looking for a reason to be angry, as if they're
    deliberately looking for a reason to brand someone as a bigot.

    I know people who say they don't support Sen. Barack Obama for
    president and they're automatically branded as racists.

    Doing so is the same mentality as accusing Weaver of being prejudiced.

    In other words, simplistic.

    Maybe some people just don't like Obama's policies.

    And maybe, when Weaver says smokers he just means smokers and not
    Armenians.
    From: Baghdasarian
Working...
X