Last week David Seigel, CEO of Westgate Resorts (the largest private employer in the state of Florida) announced that he would be firing all employees of the company who smoke. No, not just those who smoke on company premises, nor only those who occasionally enjoy a puff when they hit the 3:00 p.m. work-day wall - this is meant to implicate everyone who smokes, period.Mr. Seigel goes on to show that he is equally discriminatory towards the obese and those with alcohol addiction issues, because somehow these other character flaws make his bias towards smokers more acceptable.
It's one thing to hate everyone, but it's quite another to play God. I'm not going to pretend that we don't all have biases and thoughts that are not objectively desirable, because this quite obviously isn't the case. Personally I'm not a fan of anti-smokers, but does that give me the right to shove my beliefs down their throats? I also enjoy a good steak and a nicely cut fur coat, but I am I allowed to toss red paint on those who disagree?
The level of intolerance that is currently prevalent in the world is truly astonishing to me; but that's a hypothetical issue of course. Most of all, on a humanistic level, I'm shocked and saddened to note that nothing, thus far, has been done about Seigel's maniacal tirade against those with addictions (of which food, nicotine and alcohol all qualify as such). The innocent employees that Seigel insists upon denegrating and publicly shaming may not be able to feed their children due to this man's megalomania - I sure hope that his own inflated ego is worth that much to him.
Excuse me while I go enjoy a Benson & Hedges (while I still can)...
