Hey, I have a great idea about how to make the world a safer place.
How about instead of telling that harried assistant taking a smoke break behind the office he’s killing himself (after all he’s likely to make it to 65), ya’ll go downtown and tell that homeless guy talking to his duffel bag that living on the streets and smoking that crack could kill him? Maybe he doesn’t know that it’s dangerous to his health.
There’s a remote chance he could be dangerous to you too, he needs to be confronted for everyone’s good. Why don’t you walk pointedly into his personal space and make comments on his aroma?
Gosh, based on your OP there is apparently some rule that at least one mod has to be a retard to even out the bell curve bulge at the other end for the rest of them. Smoking is a disease and not a lifestyle choice Einstein. It’s a nasty, smelly, disgusting and expensive drug habit Sparky, if you want to indulge some pathetic, febrile persecution fantasy by stomping around and wheezing and huffing your way though a “It’s My Prerogative” I suppose that is …well …your prerogative my little smokestack.
What’s the matter you churlishly loveable, curled lip rebel you, concerned that you’ve lost your edge, that special Alpha-tude that defines you and this is your barbaric yawp of individuality? That you are a proud and unapologetic ashtray filler? No honestly, it’s not incredibly sad and pathetic! Your mommy would be so proud.
Yeah, he’s offering rationalizations to counter the rationalizations of people who want to get angry at smokers. Which is fine, but people who want to get angry at smokers are going to get angry at them no matter how much their own rationalizations are challenged. Far too many people in the U.S. are simply disgusted with smoking – the smoke, the smokers, the discarded butts, the tobacco companies, the whole thing – and disgust is not something that can be undone by logical reasoning. You might as well try providing a bunch of rationalizations in favor of public belching.
I’m not saying this is how it ought to be, but I do think it’s a sign of how the smokers’ rights campaign is really a lost cause at this point. But hey, if it makes you feel better to write up a list of pro-smoking rationalizations, maybe even post it on the wall at your workplace’s Designated Smoking Area, then by all means go for it. It’s a free country.
Second, being involved in a political fight down here in FL has taught me a lot about ETS. That phrase you used is tossed around a lot, but people forget there’s a flip side.
Your right to swing may end at my nose, but I also bear a responsibility to make sure my nose is not in a situation where it will be swung at.
Let me get this straight, smoking is a disease and mental retardation is a punchline. Feel free to touch down any time, Major Tom.
I’m an “ashtray filler”, a “retard”, and my mom might be upset at some of my activities. Gasp. I bet she dresses me funny too. I eagerly await any further repsonse since it may have the phrase “sit on it and spin!” Zing!
And who was it who claimed it’s the people who smoke who get whipped into a frenzy?
I’ll say it again. I’m not pro-smoking. As I said before, it’s a disgusting habit I’ll be happy to quit. I’m just saying if you get all into a froth about smokers, by calling them “retard” for example, then it’s rather hypocritical not to do so towards people who drink, people who gamble, people who tan, people who have sex for fun, people who drive around uneccesarily etc. And most non-smokers engage in at least one of those activities.
Sure, there are a few ego non quoques out there, but if they wanna bitch about smoking, then I would hope they have the intellectual integrity to also attack a less trendy target. Please, spread the smug.
Now, I’ve had a fairly typical number of colds, the occasional flu, pneumonia a couple of times as a tyke, chickenpox, and for all I know I might have already caught and killed off some Compass Nile variant from having grown up in a state where the mosquito is pretty much the state bird. So I’ve had stuffed sinuses, hallucinatory fevers, nausea, chills and cold sweats, itchy lumps, fluid in my lungs…but I must have avoided that particular virus that makes people light up.
This has been a brief bit of resurgent irritation with the modern tendency to call every unfortunate habit or psychological tic a disease. (It’s probably caused by another one of those germs.) Please resume the normal course of the thread, and I apologize for any inconvenience.
They were doing a magic trick with a cigarette, and Penn stops and holds up the cigarette.
“Now kids,” he says. “You shouldn’t smoke. Smoking is bad for you and it’s a dirty filthy habit. So remember, don’t smoke
…Unless you want to look really cool and pick up all the girls.”
ivylass, thanks for the congratulations. Quitting wasn’t hard for me because smoking all them smogs made me very sick and I really wanted and needed to quit. If I could only smoke 2-3 a day, like some folks, I’m sure I’d still be smoking Winstons, which do taste good like a cigarette should.
Whould you be so kind as to tell me what ETS is?
For the record, I’m no anti-smoking facist (sic). I know how smoking has been shoved down our throats as the avatar of cool; I know how hard it is to quit; and I really feel for the smoker who wanted to quit and can’t. I would never bother some smoker smoking in a smoking-allowed place. And, unlike certain towns in California, outside is such a place, although do us a favor and move a few paces away from the doors, please.
I just replied to this thread because I thought the OP was asinine. The ‘vast majority’ of non-smokers don’t give a shit whether you smoke or not, just as long as we don’t have to breathe it or see acres of butts all over the damn place.
Oh they’ll proudly call you “junkie” and “retard”. But they don’t care what you do with your spare time.
I think some people stopped reading the thread after the title. I’ve yet to hear a solid explanation why a smoker deserves to be insulted more than a drinker or driver, yet posters do it anyway.
Oh puh-leeze. Cry me a river. As a mod (of all people) one would think you’d have a clue as to where to post your OP. If you want “solid explanations” and some deliberative discourse I think umm… maybe GD would have been the best place for your little persecution tantrum. Instead you opted to be incredibly snide in your OP and posted it in the Pit and now that the toasty reviews are in you’re asking for a martyr hanky at the unfairness of it all.
Here… have the whole box of Kleenex and next time read the forum descriptions.
Semantics. OK, so you’re not pro-smoking, you’re anti-anti-smoking. And you’re not a smoker, you’re a person who smokes but who plans on quitting. Glad that’s cleared up.
I actually agree with this (except the part about people having sex for fun), but that’s beside the point. The “solid explanation” for why smokers get dumped on more than boozers or drivers is that society (a large enough majority) is of the mind that smoking is socially unacceptable, or close to it. And guess what? Standards for what is/isn’t acceptable are frequently NOT arrived at through logical reasoning. They’re often arbitrary (women can wear lipstick but not men), a product of the whims of the times rather than the kind of “solid explanation” you’re looking for. No, it’s not fair, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.
Yeah um, that’s the second time you’ve brought up I’m a mod, even though it is completely irrelevant to my OP. Can’t separate the man from the badge, can ya? I’m also a Taurus and I like cheddar cheese. Perhaps you’d like to incorporate those equally unrelated facts about me into your next “argument”.
And you seem to think I’m hurt or that I’m crying or throwing a tantrum. I’m not even close, despite your scathing barbs (once again, master stroke with the “retard” gem). I’m just intrigued by hypocrisy. It’s OK. Some posters get it.
See to me, this statement just demonstrates you can’t provide any. Unless you have a whole list of refutations and you’re just holding back on my intellectual comeuppance out of respect for the SDMB. In which case my already tremendous respect for you has grown even more. Wobbles the mind, don’t it?