Cigarette assholes

The BBQ Pit
101

I think that an important point is still being missed when cigarette butts are compared to other forms of litter. Sure, a butt may be much smaller that a pop can or a chip bag, but how many people drink twenty or forty cans of pop each day? How many people eat twenty or forty bags of chips each day? (Saaaay, maybe we’ve gotten to the heart of why American kids are so overweight!)

The point that I made in my original post has largely been ignored. Most smokers who do drop their butts, do so regularly. (Those of you who are responsible about it have my high praise.) I have met very few smokers who are scrupulous about the disposal of their butts. I think a safe number would be about 90% of all smokers carelessly discard their butts (anyone gotta cite?).

To repeat my statement. Think about the tons of cigarette butts being deposited onto the face of this earth each and every day and the impact that it has. Yes, other people litter as well, but none so consistently as smokers. It is just this simple. A dozen or more times each day the typical smoker lights up, and where does the end product go? Too often directly into the environment. It is a matter of statistics that make the issue of littering butts such a problem. Almost no one walks around drinking twenty sodas a day and littering the cans.

To claim, “Oh, it’s so small…”, just isn’t valid. To hope that people will build up an immunity to seeing garbage on the ground is akin to hoping that people will get used tagging. “It’s not going to stop, so get used to it.” That sort of reasoning is how we got to the point of living in a litter choked and graffiti spattered society.

Alphagene, you have tempered your original statement enough to where I’m not going to dump on you further (I know that’s a big relief), but I really have to agree with Yosemitebabe, littering just plain sucks, period! It is just another form of socially incohesive behavior, like not using your turn signals.

To those of you who have suggested that we pick up after you. I suggest that you bite my clank.

102

The stupid neighbors of mine have a new game.
They throw their butts into piles of leaves drifting around the building. The don’t even look! Just off the balcony, and when I rush out to catch them, they are back inside.
So far we haven’t had a fire, but the next time I can see one for sure I’m calling the firehouse to see what they can do about it.

103

Y’know, my OP was about people who drop butts on sidewalks. That’s sociological, and I don’t regret asking it in GQ.

But, people who are so stupid as to possibly start a fire by dropping butts in bushes, or out a car window, are the reason threads like this get moved to the Pit.

104

You know, the anti-smokers have brought this upon themselves, to some extent. With all that “Clean Indoor Air Act” nonsense. When I started on my job ten years ago, I smoked at my desk. Guess where the butts went? Into an ashtray, which was later emptied into a garbage can. Now I have to go outside in the rain/snow/ice/sub-zero temperatures. If I am shivering cold in the loading dock for cripes sake, I might occasionally miss the ashtray. Sue me.

105

Yeah…I mean who the hell thinks that they have the right to breathe clean air…jeez …

Try again milroyj…that line of reasoning is making you look like an idiot

106

Why don’t you try again, Beagleboy? Guess what? When you force all smokers to go outside, there’s going to be more cigarette butts outside. What’s so hard to comprehend about that?

107

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“Force”? Meaning, you have NO CHOICE in the matter? Like, oh my gosh, you will DIE if you don’t have a smoke, so you are FORCED to go outside?

No one forces you to do anything. No one forced you to start smoking. No one forces you to smoke, or not smoke, or smoke while standing on your head, or smoke outside. You decided that you wanted to smoke, and if the only option was outside, that’s where you took yourself to smoke.

I also might add, with every habit, comes a responsibility for that habit.

You may bitch about not being able to smoke at your desk, but c’mon. Does that excuse you (or anyone else) for “missing” an ashtray? Is that a viable excuse for littering? Did anyone force you to take on a habit that happens to include nasty butts? When you take on such a habit, you’d better be prepared to dispose if these butts in a considerate manner, no matter what the circumstances. (As in using an Altoids Tin.)

108

Umm, did you occasionally miss the ashtray when you were inside? If so, I hope you picked it up before you started a fire.

Now, why can’t you do that outside?

109

Whats hard to comprehend is how someone can take a courtesy issue (throwing litter, including butts in a trash bin) and turn it into a diatribe against clean air legislation…something that I DON’T see the other smokers in this thread doing

110

I attend NA meetings in California. As you may know, it is illegal to smoke in any public building in the state. As such, we no longer have smoking meetings.

The majority of NA meetings are held in churches, more often than not in their sunday school meeting rooms and what-not. We place 3 or 4 empty coffee cans around the grounds as ashtrays. Some of our smokers seem to think it’s much cooler to flick them onto the grass or grind them into the sidewalk with their shoe. NA Group leaders always announce that the cans are there to collect the butts, so pleeeaaaase use them. But some people just gotta be kkkeeewwwwlll.

We have actually lost meeting places because of this! Churches have asked that we not return! The stated reason (as if general slovenliness were not enough) is that the children find the butts on the ground and put them in their mouths!!!

Next time I see one of the cool dudes miss the butt can, I’m gonna kick him in the shin!

111

There really must be something more at work here, IMO. I have witnessed the most die-hard-marching-in-the-streets-Death-to-Bush-type enviromentalists you will ever meet who think nothing of spinning the still-burning butts into the grass, or dropping them on a sidewalk. And I also have witnessed these same people dumping their car ashtrays onto the parking lot, without a care in the world.

I almost think it’s some sort of mental block resulting from the nicotene use, or a religious thing, or both. It’s like a cry for help perhaps, I don’t know.

I don’t, and will never smoke. I have nothing against smokers, and I also believe tobacco should remain legal at the current level. I even don’t mind being with smokers for a time while they smoke (especially pipes, which can smell wonderful). But the butt-dumping and tossing is indefensible IMO. And just leads to a more negative sterotype of the group.

And you know? Due to indoor clean air rules/laws, I rarely see smokers smoking alone anywhere in my city. Surely some sort of peer pressure could be applied so these rude persons would dispose of their butts properly?

112

this is exactly what i was suggesting on page 2. it is why there’s no use logically arguing this topic. butt flickers can’t connect the act of dropping butts on the ground with the concept of littering. you may as well argue that walking is the same as littering. it will seem just as meaningless to them. since it’s unlikely that litter laws will ever be strictly enforced, the only solution to the problem is to make sure cleanup crews are doing their jobs.

113

Wow, back from 2 weeks’ vacation, and this thread is still smokin’.

Gosh, I guess it’s just too quaint to have manners these days.

A “paragon of virtue?” No, not the way I see it. But if you mean that I don’t lie, steal, cheat, litter or whatever, well I don’t. I try to do a little better than that today. Sorry if I offended any litterers or their parents, but I’ve gotta call 'em like I see 'em.

So Alphagene, where’s my rose? :wink:

And spooje- considering the capacity of the newly sober, it is not at all surprising that they can’t find the butt can. We have a “butt girl” to help them keep us from getting evicted from our space.

114

Het zwaldd, you know what you can do? Go suck on a big fat donkey dick, you asshole. You can take your little “brainwashed” idea and stick it up your ass. I did not bother to reply to the other five times you posted this shit in this thread because I did not feel like beating you down, but now I am tired of it. Almost every single smoker in this thread falls into one of three catagories:

Catagory One: Acknowledges that flicking their butt is littering and tries to be responsible when they can, but they are not going to spend too much time looking for an ashtray.
Catagory Two: Claims that they do in fact properly dispose of all butts.
Catagory Three: Admit they flick them but did not post again, so who knows if they are responsible about it or not.

The break down
Cat. 1:
Me
Alph
oldscratch
tradesilicon
RosieWolf

Cat. 2:
Dogzilla
Zette
neutron star
Sn-man
xizor
Lsura
EJsGirl

Cat. 3:
Pit Meister
Missy2U
black455
milroyj

And of all of these people I believe two or three of them defended it like you claim that all smokers do. So your little idea is completely false and besides that, completely stupid and ignorant. You sound like that prick in the Penis thread that has been getting so much shit the past couple days.

Now on the off chance that you were joking around then I do apologize and I retract my statements, but otherwise I must reiterate, PISS OFF, you ignorant buffoon (how does one spell buffoon?)!!

-N
(My apologies to anyone I missed, or mis-catagorized. I am bored at work so this gave me something to do, but I am not that bored that I am going to proof read the list.)

115

Actually, I think that the SMOKERS brought this on themselves. While there are some considerate smokers, the majority of them don’t seem to care if they cause other people discomfort or distress. So what if the person at the next desk is just recovering from bronchitis? The smoker wants to smoke! So now all the smokers, polite and impolite, get to go where they will cause less inconvenience to other people.

I went to a medical building today, and had to pass a smoky haze to get to the door, even though there are signs posted saying that smoking is prohibited within 50 feet or so. The people who ignore the signs are the ones who are gonna complain the loudest when it becomes illegal to smoke in public OUTDOORS as well as indoors.

116

Okay, emotions run high on this, but it’s useful to distinguish stress from trauma, and damage from insult…

Air pollutants are rotten, but they abound. I’ve had a pernicous, low-grade sinus infection for 6 months from purely natural pollens. That’s my quirk–and it ain’t fun. Others are triggered by all kinds of impurities.

The fact is the natural world abounds with itchy impurities, and so does the man-made world.

The wheezing, lung-grabbing, wanna-die syndrome is not an excuse for scapegoating! I’m sorry, but targeting shivering smokers outside a doorway, while buses, cars, etc. drive by unnoticed is scapegoating.

Rude smokers deserve to be asked, with icy courtesy, to refrain from smogging enclosed, immediate air space. Smokers do not deserve to laden with leper-like UNCLEAN responsibility for every lung problem going.

This is a witch-hunt. Blaming shivering smokers by a bus stop is intellectual cowardice. Want pollutants? Forget second hand smoke; look at the vehicles. Concerned about litter? Don’t overlook the fast-food detritus.

I’m not excusing, just drawing the line on PC scapegoating.

Veb

117

Actually Strider, zwaldd is dead right. How can you possibly try and tell someone who is addicted to nicotine that what they littering their butts is wrong? That would be like telling Stalin after WW2 that he can put an end to this “Communist nonsense” right away. The reason you get so angry and defensive about the topic is because every time the thought enters your mind that you might have to start desposing of every single cigarette appropriately, it makes your blood run cold.

You still don’t agree with this? Well where are all the non-smokers in here flocking to your defence? The only people who seem to think littering their butts is ok is those who are addicted to smoking. Why aren’t the non-smokers coming on here and saying “Throwing cigarette butts to the ground is not littering. I agree with the smokers.” I’ll tell you why. ‘There brain is not being held hostage by nicotine’. Yours, quite sadly, is.

118

I’m halftempted to ask a Mod to close this, since it’s absolutely not what I intended with my OP.

But, I really think that smokers should think about the consequences of their actions. So, I’m going to sleep on it.

Just gain some senses, people. Pick up your damn butts.

119

This is probably a waste of time since this is the pit and all I’ll get for my troubles is a big “fuck you” or something, but I am bored and I am right so off we go…

Well first you say, “Littering your butts is wrong.” Pretty easy huh?

Take your false and in-appropriate analogy and politely shove it.

Now I remember where I left my “Guide to Strider’s brain,” I left it at MadHatter’s house. Can I have it back? Anyway, as a matter of fact, the reason I got made at zwadda, or whatever the hell the name is, is because he/she stating as fact that all smokers are brainwashed and last time I checked, I was not. I get pissed when people tell me what I think, just like you did here.

Why should I? You have not given me any kind of valid reason to believe you. And here, I would need some kind of scientific data that shows that nicotine makes me brainwashed. Thank you.

This is an illogical question that does not apply to this arguement.

JESUS CHRIST ON A POPSICLE!! HAVE YOU NOT READ ANY OF THIS THREAD? DID YOU NOT READ MY ABOVE POST? With the exception of two or three people, no one here thinks it is alright to throw their butts on the ground. Almost every single smoker in this thread has acknowledged the fact that it is wrong. How dense is that skull of yours???

First, this argument is made invalid by my answer to your last question. And second, this is again an invalid argument/inappropriate question.

Go ahead but I’ll bet your answer is as fucked up as the rest of your post.

Just as I thought, a stupid, illogical and ignorant answer. How predictable.

Let me say again. I have in no way condoned the practice of littering in this thread. I do not think it is right, nor do I think it good. I realise that this detrious is clogging our sewer systems, polluting our rivers and oceans, creating an eye-sore for the anal retentive, and is just bad, M’kay? But also realise that most smokers DO NOT GIVE A FUCK! This is in no way related to nicotine on the brain or any other stupid argument. It is simply apathy. Can you understand that? Some smokers, such as those in catagory 1 and 2 from my last post, do give a fuck, but those smoker’s in catagory one are not going to make a big deal about trying to dispose of their butts properly. Do you kow why? Because, and I am guessing here, they probably see it as such an insignificant thing that it is not worth the trouble. I may be wrong about this one part, but being wrong here does not invalidate my whole argument, so don’t even go there. This is EXACTLY the same attitude you will probably find with ANYONE who litters in general. They know they should not throw their garbage into nature, but they do it anyway becuase they are lazy. Jesus, I hope this makes it’s way into your thick head.

Now fuck off!

-N

120

I think the thing that is getting some people’s ire up is that while most smokers say “Yeah, littering is bad” many of them follow that sentence with a “But…” (Not ALL, mind you, just some smokers…)

“But they make me smoke outside now”
“But it’s on fire!”
“But there is nowhere to put it!”

And on and on. It’s not a blanket condemnation of the habit, there are all the excuses, and the “buts” (pardon the pun) and the all-time favorite, “well if it bothers you so much, pick it up!”

I cannot imagine any other types of litterers trying to excuse themselves like this. There is no excuse. It’s just lazy. No excuses or whining are needed or accepted. But for some reason, smokers want to come up with these excuses. These lame excuses, or they simply respond with outrage at the concept that their lazy, shitty habit is not pleasing to some. They call the people who do not appreciate their butts “anal”. That’s the difference (IMO) between smokers and other types of lazy litterers. I don’t believe that people who toss gum wrappers would get so outraged when someone pointed out their bad habit to them.

And frankly, I didn’t know that smokers in the SDMB would be butt-tossers, before I read this thread. I really expected the intelligent, articulate smokers on SDMB to NOT be the types that would have such an inconsiderate habit of tossing butts. (I guess I should accept that we’re all flawed, even on SDMB!) And I certainly didn’t expect any smokers here to get such an attitude, when they are called up on it. I figured they’d know better. And that’s not because I have some rabid, fervent anti-smoking agenda. It’s because I have a rabid, fervent anti-littering agenda. (Just to clear that up. ;))
Strider wrote:

Maybe the nicotine induces apathy in smokers! :smiley: