One more freedom gone.

Why do people overeat? Why do people do cocaine or smoke weed? Why do people bitch at each other?

Cause we can, we have a brain like no other mammal on earth, we're humans.

 

yeah man fuck those hippies, fucking dirty bums, always posting lousy propoganda on their god damn left wing communist message boards.

 

Let's ban those with chronic flatulence issues, as well. Their disturbing bodily gases assault my sense of smell. Those who don't wash their hands after using public restrooms are just as guilty as spreading illness and disease as smokers. I'm not advocating the whole "Let us smoke where-ever the fuck we want" idea, but no one is forcing you to inhale second hand smoke. Have you ever crossed a street, to get a nosefull of exhaust? Did you flame them for their lack of respect for you? I didn't think so. I sit here right now, in my apartment, smoking a cigarette. You want us to have respect for your health, yet you show next to zero respect for our decision to pursue a "dirty" habit. It's not healthy, but did you stop to think that perhaps those smoking don't find it nearly as 'dirty' as you? A whiff of tobacco smoke isn't going to cause cancer. For those of you who like to throw in the "But some people work around it" blah blah. Get a new job. If you're a bartender, or waitress, or some sort of server, you know good and well that smoking is to be expected in most situations. I've yet to hear one person point out that due to the wonders of EoE, you can request to work in a smoke free area at NO consequence to you. *gasp* Amazing, isn't it. It's not that we're forcing you to share our habit. It's that you don't want to take half of the extra steps to avoid smoke, as what you want us to do to keep it away from you.

Those of you who say "Smoke trees, not tobacco" can seriouslly deactivate your accounts right now. The paper on a joint alone can cause serious health issues. Sure, you can use a pipe, bong, hooka etc, but SMOKE is harmful. Not just the additives inside of the tobacco. Go set a pile of dry leaves on fire and inhale that. doesn't feel too great, does it?

My point is simple. You can't preach to others about the lack of respect for you and mr. random johnny sonofabitch (nonsmokers), when you refuse to do ANYTHING in the slightest to keep it from yourself. Your "I'll sit around smoke and bitch, hurting myself, just to teach them a lesson" attitude is only hurting yourself. We're still smoking. We're still lighting up in public places. Request tables away from smoking sections. Avoid places that allow smoking. Ask people kindly to step away, put out their cigarettes. Kindness is a two-way door. You can't DEMAND kindness, and respect, like you anti-smoking nazi's seem to think you can.

If one of you walks past a smoker, and suddenly contracts a horrible illness, tell me. I'll gladly give you everything I own. I'm serious. Your only legit argument to this whole thing, is the smell. I give you that much. It is vile, but so are a LOT of other things. People who have cats (piss, anyone?). People with gas. Diesle trucks, and vehicles. People who burn trash. Coal factories. Paper mills. Waste treatment plants. Septic Tanks. Broken plumbing. Where are the threads for those things?

Merry christmas <3

 

I love the smell of smoke, cigars cigarettes......don't hate the smell, I love it, mmmmmm, smoker's smell. No seriously I've dated some girls that always smelled like cigarettes, turn on.....maybe it's just me.

 

even if you lived with a hundred people who were constantly farting you'd probably kill yourself before it killed you. and fucking right, there are a lot of things worse than second hand smoke. but there's one thing that makes smoking different; a lot of people have watched family members die because of cigarettes. the smell brings back all those feelings. it feels disrespectful to the person's memory to allow yourself to breathe it in after it took their life.

i don't see how smokers can say "go get another job" when a person is probably going to work in the same place AT LEAST for a few months, but you're only going to be at that particular resturaunt or bar or whatever for a few hours at most. maybe in a big city where other jobs are available, it'd just make sense. but in small towns or places where you have to take whatever job you can get just to survive, is it really going to hurt someone to go without for a little while?

i don't think most people would like to have dinner in a room with someone who was slicing themselves open with a razorblade, and that doesn't affect them. and imagine if someone close to them had commited suicide that way, and they had found them, and that kind of thing was as common to happen in public as smoking is.... i don't really see much difference.

 

You don't see much difference between suicide and smoking? What? I understand what you're getting at but you have to come up with better comparisons.

Smoke has been a religious thing for centuries, for example, in the Russian Orthodox church we have the .....( I don't know what we call it in English, I just know it's called a kadil in Russian ) a silver or gold container for these white pebbels that are put on top of coal and it makes smoke like crazy, some churches I've walked in and it was heavy with smoke, now I use to go to Church almost every Sunday since I was 4, I'm still alive.

The Native Americans to this day smoke tobacco as part of their culture ( some not all ) and we're all going to die eventually, do you realise that people have lived lives of structure, studied hard, achieved their goals, and then got run over by a car. Death is always just around the corner, hell, our entire life is a risk, we could die at any moment, you never know, and nothing is for certain, and being afraid of smoking in public places is just another one of those things that really, in the end, it's not going to mean anything.

 

why do i have to come up with a better comparison? it's the same thing. you're doing something that you know is killing you, and eventually it does, and everyone around you has to deal with that. but smoking around people who want to stay healthy is like gently running the razorblade across their skin; it won't kill them, it probably won't even hurt them, but over time, again and again, it'll become a problem. and it's fucking annoying and disrespectful. i see no difference.

there are a lot of things that have been religious things for centuries, including killing lots of different people for lots of different reasons. i don't understand your point. i don't know what you were getting at with native americans either, but tell me, do they like camels or marbs?

if we're all going to die does that mean we should allow others to fuck up our bodies against our will? some people want to live full, long, healthy lives, and not have to be scared of death. when it comes, it comes, but how is that justification to bring it on sooner, especially on others?

you make no sense.

the way i see it, smoking in a public place is like walking up to a stranger and poking them repeatedly just because you think it's funny... sure, you have the right to, sure, it probably won't kill them right then and there. but come on. it's just fucking rude.

 

Everything in our world can be considered rude, saying Merry Christmas to a Jew can be considered rude. We all die eventually, it really doesn't matter when we die, it makes little difference, even if you look back and say " well what if this person died before he/she came up with ", who cares, we're one planet out of billions, shut the fuck up and live with it, we're all going to be the same crap in the end anyway.

 

so you can kill yourself if you think life is so meaningless. i don't, and i want to live. don't tell me that there's no point to my life as justification for contributing to my death against my will. (i know YOU aren't doing anything to me, but you vs. me = smokers vs. non smokers)

saying merry christmas isn't considered rude, no matter who you say it to, because it's going out of your way to try to make someone happy. going up to someone who you know is a jew, or maybe just someone you don't know, and preaching to them about your religion even after they ask you to stop, is rude. imposing on someone's life without them wanting you to, and having no respect for them whatsoever, is rude.

if i were you, i would NOT be a lawyer. or a public speaker. or involve myself in anything where i would have to convince someone of something.

 

How encouraging to see such wisdom from someone of such a tender age...16. I'll bet you'll go far in this life, no matter what that might mean for you. Good for you!!!

 

I hope you were being sarcastic. The young folks of today have totally bought into the propaganda about protecting their health through legislation without any knowledge of the rights they give up by suppressing the behavior of what they see as others. Someday it will be their behavior that is regulated.

 

Well you're not me, I will pursue my goals. You can stew in your own hippie views.

 

i want to protect my health in every way possible, i'm not buying into any propaganda, and i don't know where you came up with the idea that i was. what form would this propaganda even be in? i watched my dad die from lung cancer. is that propaganda?

unlike most people in this country, i will admit that freedom is not that big of a deal to me. that doesn't mean i want to give up all my rights, but it doesn't mean that i believe i, or anyone else, should be able to do whatever i want at any moment without any consequences. the world isn't ready for that. i hope someday we will be. but right now, we're not. we need to reach a point where a society can function without laws before we try to get rid of them. if there were no laws, people would kill people for things like race, sexuality, religion, musical tastes, any little difference that sprung up. it's not that they don't want to now. the laws and punishments hold them back. i'm sure if you think for a moment you can imagine how chaotic and violent america would be if tomorrow we woke up to complete anarchy.

some freedoms are worth fighting for. some freedoms are worth sacrificing, so we don't fight.



BelladonnaBlue, thank you, a lot

 

No, Gardener, no sarcasm at all in my post. I don't want the government controlling everything I do either, but what I found refreshing in his quote, was that there's freedom and there's respect. No one, in this country, or any other, has the right to disrespect others, including smoking around those who find it bothersome. To all those that say "what about my freedom??" I say...WAAAAAHH, fucking grow up. With freedom, comes responsibility to your fellow man. What about the other guy's freedom to breathe smoke-free air? No one wants to talk about that part, do they?

 

Most smokers are very considerate. But when employers push the point to firing people for smoking on their own time in their own homes that's carrying it a bit too far. How is that infringing on your rights?

 

You're entirely welcome, Pris. Keep on standing up for what you know is right...that, to me, is the essence of freedom, not being able to run roughshod over everyone else, regardless of their rights or comfort. Good for you!

 

I totally agree. Even if George W brought his army out to my place to take my cigs, they'll have to pry them out of my cold, dead hands, along with my shotgun, lol.

 

Kid, you have to realise that life is a risk, every breath you take may be your last, you might get run over by a car or get hit by a drunk driver, or some maniac kills you while robbing a store, and then what? Is your smoke free life going to save you? Idiot.

 

I'd like to share an experience I had recently. I am a smoker. I was in my own truck (having a smoke), stopped at a stop sign. A young teenager was crossing the street. She yelled at me that my fucking cigarette was killing me. What sort of consideration was I given by that child? I wasn't fouling her airspace (my windows were rolled up), but she totally ruined my day by being rude and abnoxious. Should we legislate against that sort of behavior?

 

"Respect me, it's the law!"

that's "growing up"?

using force and coersion to get what you want?

seems pretty immature if you ask me.

An adult would reach a compromise, an adult would allow for business owners, employees, and customers to decide of their own free will if they wanted to own, work, or frequent a smoker friendly establishment.

"waaah.... fucking grow up"
exactly, you decide where to work, you decide where to eat/drink/bowl/shop ect ect.

but it's sooo much easier to have the State strongarm people into living more healthy isnt it...

Make sure people don't get high, make sure people wear seatbelts, make sure people dont eat trans fats...

it never ends.

hear about those guys getting thrown in jail for public intoxication? yeah, except they were in a private establishment(bar).

where does it end?

in 20 years am i going to be fined or jailed for drinking coca-cola?

prohibition doesn't work, never has, never will, and that's right where this is leading...