Aaron Adams’s Lame-ass Blog

I’ve wanted to write about the HBO mini-series John Adams for some time now, but I’m not able to put my thoughts together in any presentable way that I would expect others to read and follow. And I have tried. And I’ll probably try again.

This evening, however, I discovered that the soundtrack to the series is available, and I promptly purchased it through iTunes. While waiting for the download, I perused some of the reviews at Amazon and came across this mind-numbing gem of colossal stupidity:

A terrific series with brilliant cinematography! I DO wish that the producers (Tom Hanks certainly had the say) had left out the use of the tobacco drug. We don’t need smoking or other use of tobacco in ANY movie. Otherwise, a memorable series that everyone over the age of 12 should see! I understand that the DVD extras as really supposed to be something. I’ve already got my order in for the set.

Emphasis added.

I responded with this comment, which I want to re-print here before Amazon takes it down:

Of all the unpleasant things depicted in the series that are historical factualities… tarring and feathering, inoculations with a rusty unsterile cutting implement, life-threatening disease of all kinds, graphic tooth decay, chronic alcoholism, amputation of a leg from a man still awake and the associated gore, a masectomy performed on a woman who could do little except bite down on a pencil, and whatever else I’ve forgotten to list… you’ve chosen to complain about John Adams *smoking cigars* as something inappropriate? This is exactly the kind of anti-tobacco zealotry that further reinforces the nanny state which founding fathers such as John Adams would have fought with every last fiber of his being. It seems that the point of John Adams’s life, and the series, are lost on you.

Freedom. The freedom to make mistakes and bad decisions (if you consider smoking such) included. Especially included. Having the personal preferences of others forced upon you by the law is not freedom.

And as a somewhat related stinger, I want to add this for those of you who have seen the series or have any meaningful understanding of John Adams: Think of Adams, his life, his principles, his accomplishments, his obstacles, and his integrity; and then take a good look at the three candidates we’re considering right now. If you don’t feel some sense of sadness, of regret, of apprehension for our republic, then I call into serious question your patriotism, your perspective, and the value you assign comfort at freedom’s expense.