Michael J. McFadden
Mid-Atlantic Regional Director
Citizens Freedom Alliance, Inc.
The Smoker's Club
Email Media Interview RequestsMichael J. McFadden grew up in Brooklyn in the 1960s and graduated cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Manhattan College with a degree in both Peace Studies and Psychology. He went on to study statistics and propaganda analysis under a doctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton program in Peace Research.
He left the University after two years to host a Quaker training center in non-violent social change and has worked at various levels in the areas of peace activism and social change ever since.
He began his Free-Choice activism in the late 1970s when he was presented with some early ASH leaflets. When he looked at them he saw two things that disturbed him: The same sort of emotionalist propaganda techniques that he'd studied in his Peace program, and a clearly horrible misuse of statistics and the scientific method to back up outrageous claims.
On and off over the next 20 years he battled with Antismokers on computer bulletin boards, at public meetings, and in private conversations while building up his knowledge base to be able to combat the Antismokers' ever-slicker claims. Finally, just after the turn of the century (hey, c'mon, I can say that!) he settled down to write "Dissecting Antismokers' Brains" and began working with all the Free-Choice groups he could connect with.
He continues his efforts to help people who find themselves a target of a powerful lobby against which they feel they have no defense and he continues in his belief that spreading truthful information and standing up against social injustice will win out in the end.
Mr. McFadden currently lives and bicycles in West Philadelphia where he shares a small row house with a very noisy cat and a very quiet squirrel.
Author of "Dissecting Antismokers' Brains"
Web page: http://pasan.thetruthisalie.com/
Read and print out copies: The Stiletto!
Naked No More!
December, 2009
Newsletter readers were surprised to learn this week that one of our most well-known icons, the naked black on white text cover of "Dissecting Antismokers' Brains," has been given a makeover. We interviewed author Michael McFadden as to what inspired this change and the interview went something like this:
Newsletter: What inspired this change?
McFadden: I dunno.
Well, ok, that's not quite how it went. Actually it seems that the old Amazon image of the book against their white screen background made it appear to be little more than letters floating in the air. In a bookstore setting the cover stood out, pointed starkly to the fact that the book was about smoking but not against smoking, and prompted customers to pick it up and page through it. But in recent years most of its sales have been through Amazon and McFadden felt it made sense to design a cover that would fit better in that context while also giving his much beloved "Brainy" character a spotlight of its own.
We asked him how he came up with Brainy and he confessed that he actually had nothing to do with it himself. He'd enlisted the services of a talented book cover designer, Sam Ryskind, to simply take his "naked" cover design and apply the proper technical specifications to it. Sam couldn't resist reading through the book in the process and Brainy sprang from his artist's pen. McFadden resisted the temptation to scrap his original cover design but vowed that if he ever put any graphic at all on the cover it would be the cute little Antibrain cowering on its slab as it awaited dissection by a smoker. McFadden's niece came up with the antiseptic tile background to add the proper clinical atmosphere and the new cover was born.
One point we've been asked to make strongly in this article is that readers should NOT buy this book expecting any changes on the inside. If you've got one of the original "naked" copies treasure it for your grandchildren, but if you're looking for a new read for your Christmas stocking McFadden suggests one of the options listed at the end of this article. On the other hand, if you know someone who has not yet enjoyed the Brains experience, or if you have worn your copy to threads, the new design will now look a bit more at home under the Christmas tree.
===============
Other books recommended for the Christmas season by Mr. McFadden:
"Rampant Antismoking Signifies Grave Danger: Materialism Out Of Control" by Vincent-Ricardo DiPierri of Australia. A 588 page blockbuster offering an extremely detailed philosophical and psychological analysis of the antismoking movement. The initial printing has sold out and Mr. DiPierri has made a welcome decision to share his work and thoughts freely through an electronic download from his site at http://www.rampant-antismoking.com/ Not a book for the faint-hearted or those looking for a quick, light read: Rampant is almost 600 pages long and packed solid! I would **HIGHLY** recommend downloading it and giving it a try. If you're like me you'll want a hardcopy eventually: 600 pages of online reading is a bit rough. :> If you want one though you'll have to send him an email and hope he gets enough demand to resurrect it!
"Smoke Screens: The Truth About Tobacco" by Rich White of the UK. Rich White carefully and competently modernizes and extends with his own unique British twist the sort of arguments made in Lauren Colby's "In Defense Of Smokers" that the health risks of smoking for smokers themselves have been greatly overstated. Not everyone will agree with his conclusions, but he argues them well and states them clearly! http://smokescreens.org/
"The War On Smokers And The Rise Of The Nanny State" by Theodore King. Theodore King gives an educational and enjoyable overview of how we've gotten to where we are now and where we're headed. His voice and concern shows through, and there's enough information in the book to give a new reader to the field a solid background without feeling overwhelmed while also introducing a number of new details for even folks who've been in the battle for quite a while! http://www.iuniverse.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-000110740 (also available as an e-book!)
"Velvet Glove, Iron Fist: A History of Antismoking" by Christoper Snowdon. Chris Snowdon may have titled his book "A History.." it goes far beyond that. Chris offers a detailed examination of the politics, science, AND the history of the antismoking movement, its tactics, and its claims. While I like all the three previous books noted here, Chris's has been my favorite in terms of being a natural complement to Brains. Our main arguments and approaches are similar, but the different perspectives offered by a historian and a psychologist (well, ok, I'm not a "psychologist" per se, but close enough for jazz) work well together and there's surprisingly little overlap of actual information. http://www.velvetgloveironfist.com/index.php?page_id=1
===============
And of course, McFadden's own "Dissecting Antismokers' Brains," still in the Amazonian process of trying on its new dress, is available in bulk orders from the author (Cantiloper@aol.com) or as individual copies through Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/Dissecting-Antismokers-Brains-Michael-McFadden/dp/0974497908/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241953484&sr=8-1 Although as of the date of this newsletter the old cover is still shown in the main window, the "customer image" of the new cover is what patrons will receive.
