There is something very unsettling in the way modern society isbeginning to parallel the fictional worlds presented by writerssuch as Orwell, Huxley and Rand. From the disturbing similaritiesbetween contemporary texting language and Orwell’s Newspeak to thehealth care battles that still continue to rage in Congress, it isundeniable that, at some point in the last 50 years, the linebetween fact and fiction began to blur.

These novelists’ prophetic visions continue to frighten andenthrall us for more than just the apocalyptic drama they paintwithin their pages – much of what was written is indeed comingtrue, possibly by our own unconscious need to indulge inself-fulfilling prophecies.

It is a well-known fact that we, as a society, are extremelysusceptible to the lures of mob psychology. From the xenophobictendencies we exhibit toward the influx of immigrants to the morerecent green movement that seems to has swept through not onlycollege campuses but through the very heart of Suburbia, we areunable, when together, to exhibit anything other than the traits ofthe timeless adage “Monkey see, monkey do.”

From the time we are children until adulthood, we want to bepart of the group, to be liked, to be popular. but the question, ofcourse, behind the innate drive to seek this popularity is: am Idoing what is right, and if so, at what cost?

On July 1, the statewide properties of UF, including its homebase right here in Gainesville, will be banning the use of any andall tobacco products on campus.

In the policy made available on the university’s website,“’tobacco use’ means the personal use of any tobacco product,whether intended to be lit or not, which shall include smoking …as well as the use of an electronic cigarette or any other deviceintended to simulate smoking and the use of smokeless tobacco,including snuff; chewing tobacco; smokeless pouches; any other formof loose-leaf, smokeless tobacco; and the use of unlit cigarettes,cigars, and pipe tobacco.”

In lieu of quoting statistics, as is often done with thecontroversial issue of smoking and the effects of secondhand smoke,it is more important to focus on the ban’s sociologicaleffects.

Ever since the statewide smoking bans in enclosed workplaceswere enacted seven years ago, those Floridians who choose to smokehave been ostracized and demonized by contemporary society. Deemedmodern-day lepers, smokers have slowly been cast into the role ofcancer’s errand boy, with tobacco farmers and those who work fortobacco companies as drug smugglers and harbingers of death.

Indeed, advertising and the media have convinced us of theeffects of secondhand smoke. By standing within 10 feet of anyonewho is smoking we will surely and quickly bring about our owndemise.

UF is no different. This ban is poised to create a divisionbetween smokers and non-smokers and draw the proverbial line in thesand.

Soon enough, it will no longer be considered wrong for a campusguard to stop a student and demand to investigate the contents ofhis or her bag under the pretense of suspicion.

Soon enough, random raids of the dormitories by the universitystaff in order to discover illicit contraband will be considerednecessary. And soon enough, the entire city of Gainesville may fallunder the influence of the almighty UF, with designated “cessationcenters” cropping up all across town in order to “re-educate” thosenaughty smokers and illuminate the errors of their ways.

And if you think, “Oh well, it’s bad for people anyway, whyshould anyone complain?” Remember, these are the first steps thatlead to second steps, and those second steps may just be the onesthat encroach on something you feel personally about. And if thosesecond steps do not, then surely the third ones will.

Such is the way our own innate need to adhere to the unconsciousdesire for self-fulfilling prophecies continues to beguile us.

Carter Lyles is a third-year journalism/psychology major.

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Tags: adage, immigrants, influx