# Nauture 1, asshole cigarette flipper 0 **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 21, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nauture-1-asshole-cigarette-flipper-0/291101 "2005-02-21T02:22:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![High\_Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8797f3/32.png) [@High\_Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/High_Cheese)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nauture-1-asshole-cigarette-flipper-0/291101/81 "2005-02-22T23:26:58Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > I’d be pretty surprised if the Expedition didn’t have ashtrays. Most people who do this say they don’t want ashes messying their precious little cars. Can’t laugh enough at this moron. My Og, what is this saying? Smoke in my lungs? Sure, I’ll pay for money that. Ashes in my _ash_tray in my car? Nooooooo freakin’ way man. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nauture-1-asshole-cigarette-flipper-0/291101/82 "2005-02-23T00:04:11Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Sorry to bring this up now that everybody’s calmed down, but I honestly don’t understand this statement. If I flip a cigarette butt out the window while you’re behind me at a stop light, are you saying you’re going to run out of your car, pick it up off the ground, and throw it in my window? And you’ve done this before? Because I’m pretty sure if I was at a stoplight and the driver behind me got out of their car looking pissed and approached close enough to throw something in my window, I’d either: > a) Roll up my window; or > b) knock the shit out of them by swinging my car door into them. > So your threat sounds like a fantasy to me. > > Unless you mean I flick my cigarette out my window (while stopped, with no wind to carry it very far, presumably) and it somehow miraculously flies through your open window and into your reach, and you pull up alongside me and somehow manage to aim it through your passenger window from the driver’s seat and into my car (I can only assume you mean to throw it in my driver’s side window, since that’s the only window I’d have open when flicking out a butt). Which also seems highly improbable. > > In short, I think you made this up. Actually **woodystockingbird** you are one the posters whose opinion I value so it kind of hurts for you to call me a liar, but I suppose such are the vagaries of cyberspatial ocmmunication. I am really not sure how to convince you otherwise. Suffice it to say that it does not play out the way you imagine. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nauture-1-asshole-cigarette-flipper-0/291101/83 "2005-02-23T00:18:18Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > Actually **woodystockingbird** you are one the posters whose opinion I value so it kind of hurts for you to call me a liar, but I suppose such are the vagaries of cyberspatial ocmmunication. I am really not sure how to convince you otherwise. Suffice it to say that it does not play out the way you imagine. Under the circumstances, this might be a good place for you to tell us all the story of the day you returned the gentleman’s cigarette butt to him. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nauture-1-asshole-cigarette-flipper-0/291101/84 "2005-02-23T06:35:43Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > Actually **woodystockingbird** you are one the posters whose opinion I value so it kind of hurts for you to call me a liar, but I suppose such are the vagaries of cyberspatial ocmmunication. I am really not sure how to convince you otherwise. Suffice it to say that it does not play out the way you imagine. Well, liar is a bit harsh, as I was actually kind of half-joking - I just know if somebody threw a lit cigarette in my car, it would escalate, and it seemed comical to me that somebody would attempt such a thing - more effort than it’s worth, IMHO. Not a personal attack, in any case. Because, even as a smoker (and one who smokes in his car), I basically agree with your position. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nauture-1-asshole-cigarette-flipper-0/291101/85 "2005-02-23T07:29:02Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > cyberspatial ocmmunication Band name, anyone? ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nauture-1-asshole-cigarette-flipper-0/291101/86 "2005-02-23T12:09:28Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Dang, you people talk quaint. Do you still call matches “lucifers”?Why? Are you into promotion of trash diversity? 😕 Yes I’m “quaint” but my point was that I never ever ever found a public rubbish bin that contained ONLY fag butts. In other words, I dispose of my rubbish the same way that everyone who makes rubbish does. I feel no need to identify individual pieces of rubbish. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nauture-1-asshole-cigarette-flipper-0/291101/87 "2005-02-23T14:41:52Z")
OK: People have a right to smoke in their own car. Car manufacturers have a right to sell cars without ashtrays. People do not have a right to throw cigarette butts out of cars, regardless of whether the car has an ashtray or not. Because people who want to smoke in cars without ashtrays can buy a little ashtray to keep in their car, which would probably be cheaper than buying an ashtray installed in the car. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nauture-1-asshole-cigarette-flipper-0/291101/88 "2005-02-23T15:03:21Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Well, liar is a bit harsh, as I was actually kind of half-joking - I just know if somebody threw a lit cigarette in my car, it would escalate, and it seemed comical to me that somebody would attempt such a thing - more effort than it’s worth, IMHO. Not a personal attack, in any case. Because, even as a smoker (and one who smokes in his car), I basically agree with your position. The first time it happened I was riding my bicyle and was hit in the helmet by a butt flung from a car window. They had to stop suddenly for a light giving me time to pick up the butt, zoom past, and pop it in the window. I doubt there was much fire left in it by then. Riding a bike has given me a real attitude towards people who throw things from cars. It is not uncommon for objects to be aimed at us or to just miss us. The two times I returned a cigarette to a car stopped in front of me at a light they were not lit. I just walk up to the driver’s side, make roll down motions with my hand, and drop it in, saying “I think you dropped this,” and go back to my car.I am not a violent person but I am fairly large and imposing looking. I think this coupled with the element of surprise and the imminent green light forestalls any escalation. I don’t go looking to do this. Sometimes I just get fed up and have to do something. Circumstances have conspired such in the last few years that I am not particularly constrained by social convention, and am not particularly afraid of anything. I am about to be employed (for the first time in 6 years) in a position of some responsibility, and in which I will be a role model of sorts, so I suspect my guerrila anti-littering days are behind me. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nauture-1-asshole-cigarette-flipper-0/291101/89 "2005-02-24T01:28:59Z")
> [@High Cheese](#): > > My Og, what is this saying? Smoke in my lungs? Sure, I’ll pay for money that. Ashes in my _ash_tray in my car? Nooooooo freakin’ way man. Heh. I’ve got a relative who’s a flicker. Why not use the ashtray? He doesn’t like to stink up his car. Can I get a :rolleyes:? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nauture-1-asshole-cigarette-flipper-0/291101/90 "2005-02-24T01:51:13Z")
This thread has got me curious. I will occasionally smoke a small non filtered cigar. When I’m done with it, if I’m outside, in my own yard, or on our town street, I will grind it out, break it up, pull it apart, and let it go the same way that the leaves on the trees go. Do you consider that littering? ---
**Author:** ![Merkwurdigliebe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Merkwurdigliebe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merkwurdigliebe)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nauture-1-asshole-cigarette-flipper-0/291101/91 "2005-02-24T03:02:38Z")
> [@yosemite](#): > > I wondered how long it would take for one of these types of posts to materialize. > > Let’s cut to the chase: when you littered you helped keep the street sweepers in a job, right? So you were really doing a public service, right? I expect that rationale to come up next. > > Anyone who flicks burning things out windows deserves my scorn. A lot of us were raised with a strong “no littering” philosophy, and add to that, “no littering of things that are **ON FIRE** ” and you pretty much feel quite strongly that it’s a bad, bad thing. A lot of us live in fire-prone areas and have seen too many devastating fires attributed to a careless cigarrette thrown out the window. > > I feel little sympathy for the people who cannot bestir themselves to discard their **BURNING LITTER** (or litter of any kind) in a proper manner. Hey I never tried to rationalize it, I was simply being lazy. All I am saying is that if you spend the rest of your life on an endless moralistic crusade against your particular pet peeve that is the result society not functioning properly, then you may make some impact. Just to let you know, I used to clean up lots of trash. When I was a kid, I lived out in the country and before I cut the grass by the road, I would pick up the trash. I never really had any kind of disdain for the people who did that. Sure the people who are doing that are either selfish/lazy but there is no way to make it stop, so I just let it not bother me. For me it was part of the job. I don’t think it makes me entitled to littering. Actually you can tell that I don’t litter from looking at the inside of my car! I mean we all have our faults you know. Some talk to loud, some have disgusting table manners. Some people raise their kids to be little brats that piss everyone off in the vicinity. Some people smell bad and don’t shower. Some people don’t pay attention when they drive TALKING ON THE PHONE! Some people kill and some people steal. Now the way of preventing these things are laws, and even though we have them, people are still going to break them. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nauture-1-asshole-cigarette-flipper-0/291101/92 "2005-02-24T13:39:43Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Heh. Escalating _threats_, of course, though we’ve no shortage of escalating threads, either. Nor empty ones. I hereby pit myself for having thrown approximately 18,000 lit cigarette butts out my car window over the last 15 years. There is no excuse, but I want you all to know I am now heartily sorry for doing it. I have not smoked a cigarette for 18 months now, but if I ever start again, I will not ever throw a butt anywhere but into a garbage receptacle or transitional container after making absolutely sure that the cherry is completely extinguished. I sincerely have no idea why I behaved this way. I believe that I am an otherwise reasonable human being, but in this one area, I had blinders on. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nauture-1-asshole-cigarette-flipper-0/291101/93 "2005-02-24T14:25:40Z")
**Merk:** \*This will never change no matter how much you want it to. You can fight it and scream, but in the end, you are only causing yourself problems, because the guy who throws the cigarette butts out the window sure can’t feel your anger. \* **Rufus:** \* I have not smoked a cigarette for 18 months now, but if I ever start again, I will not ever throw a butt anywhere but into a garbage receptacle or transitional container after making absolutely sure that the cherry is completely extinguished. I sincerely have no idea why I behaved this way. I believe that I am an otherwise reasonable human being, but in this one area, I had blinders on.\* Well **Merk** , whaddya know, looks like raising your voice against ignorant behavior actually **can** change someone else’s mind. Sometimes the lazy response of shrugging your shoulders and saying “why bother getting upset, you can’t change anything” isn’t the best solution after all. **Rufus** , congrats on quitting, and if you ever do smoke again, I for one very much appreciate your commitment to refrain from littering butts around, lit or unlit. **enipla:** _I will occasionally smoke a small non filtered cigar. When I’m done with it, if I’m outside, in my own yard, or on our town street, I will grind it out, break it up, pull it apart, and let it go the same way that the leaves on the trees go. Do you consider that littering?_ Speaking for myself, I’d say it’s nowhere near as bad as just discarding the butt; being basically all leaf matter, it will probably biodegrade quite quickly (though I wonder if the nicotine in the tobacco washes out and is poisonous to critters). I would probably still prefer it if you put it in the trash properly, especially when you’re outside your own yard. (Also, I would have thought that just carrying a small “butt container” and sticking the butt in that until you can toss it in a trash can would actually be **less** trouble, and less dirty, than “field stripping” it as you describe. Not so?) ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nauture-1-asshole-cigarette-flipper-0/291101/94 "2005-02-24T16:02:24Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > Now that you got an apology from Contrapuntal, maybe now you can answer his perfectly reasonable questions you chose to ignore earlier. To recap: **ArchiveGuy,** You are not by any chance holding your breath, are you? **Merkwurdigliebe** , In case the point has not been sufficiently refined for you, it is not smokers who are being pitted, **it is people who throw burning cigarettes out of cars**. No one is being pitted for smoking. Read the first sentence of the OP. ---
**Author:** ![keturah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e95f7d/32.png) [@keturah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keturah)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nauture-1-asshole-cigarette-flipper-0/291101/95 "2005-02-25T01:44:31Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Speaking for myself, I’d say it’s nowhere near as bad as just discarding the butt; being basically all leaf matter, it will probably biodegrade quite quickly (though I wonder if the nicotine in the tobacco washes out and is poisonous to critters). I would probably still prefer it if you put it in the trash properly, especially when you’re outside your own yard. (Also, I would have thought that just carrying a small “butt container” and sticking the butt in that until you can toss it in a trash can would actually be **less** trouble, and less dirty, than “field stripping” it as you describe. Not so?) It may be less trouble to throw it in the trash, than to “field strip”, but then the trash goes to a heap of other trash where the organic matter cannot decompose. Yes, that’s right, trash does not magically disappear once it enters the plastic garbage bag. It makes more sense to allow the leaves wrapped in leaves (the cigar stub) to decompose naturally. Sounds like composting to me. ---
**Author:** ![Nightime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Nightime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightime)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nauture-1-asshole-cigarette-flipper-0/291101/96 "2005-02-25T02:08:37Z")
People who throw burning cigarettes out of the window of a moving car belong in jail. It’s not just ordinary littering, it’s extra dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nauture-1-asshole-cigarette-flipper-0/291101/97 "2005-02-25T08:20:02Z")
Since I’ve been quoted a couple of times, I just want to say that my first post was completely sincere: I had no idea that there are cars being sold now without ashtrays. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nauture-1-asshole-cigarette-flipper-0/291101/98 "2005-02-25T08:54:35Z")
> [@Merkwurdigliebe](#): > > I mean we all have our faults you know. Some talk to loud, some have disgusting table manners. Those are temporary annoyances and don’t cost a lot of money to “clean up.” Also are an annoyance that doesn’t threaten to burn down the hillside and destroy homes. > [@](#): > > Some people raise their kids to be little brats that piss everyone off in the vicinity. Pretty bad annoyance which can sometimes be serious, yes. > [@](#): > > Some people smell bad and don’t shower. Some people don’t pay attention when they drive TALKING ON THE PHONE! Can be serious, yes. So what? Does that make throwing burning things out the window something to not get upset about—feel disdain for? Have you witnessed an area near you burn down, only to hear the explanation for the fire to be, “cigarette thrown out window”? Maybe you don’t feel disdain for such people, but the rest of use may want to reserve the right to do so. > [@](#): > > Some people kill and some people steal. Now the way of preventing these things are laws, and even though we have them, people are still going to break them. And so why bother feeling anything about it, or expressing contempt or disapproval for those who steal, kill, or act like they were raised by wolves? You feel however you want, but if you behave in a certain way, you will earn the disdain of many people. You don’t have to let it bother you, of course. But it won’t change the fact that you will be regarded very poorly in many circles. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nauture-1-asshole-cigarette-flipper-0/291101/99 "2005-02-25T09:34:44Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > It doesn’t piss me of at all. I am mildly amused at your weaseling attempt to turn “answering a question” into “some actual information would be handy.” No one asked a question. You did not answer a question, although you claimed to. You figure out what that means for youreself. So she offered information she was privy to without an actual question having been asked. I’m confused as to why this “amuses” you and why it makes you think she is somehow supporting litterer’s rights to litter or something. Is there something wrong with offering information one is specifically privy to unless an “acceptable” form of asking for the information happens first? I’m completely perplexed at why you’re being so snippy with Queen Tonya and trying to make her look stupid when she didn’t do anything wrong. As to the subject matter. SMOKERS!!! Relax, we’re NOT attacking smokers, we’re talking about those who LITTER! And litter with a potentially forest firei causing item. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nauture-1-asshole-cigarette-flipper-0/291101/100 "2005-02-25T11:40:31Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > So she offered information she was privy to without an actual question having been asked. I’m confused as to why this “amuses” you and why it makes you think she is somehow supporting litterer’s rights to litter or something. > > Is there something wrong with offering information one is specifically privy to unless an “acceptable” form of asking for the information happens first? > > I’m completely perplexed at why you’re being so snippy with Queen Tonya and trying to make her look stupid when she didn’t do anything wrong. > > As to the subject matter. SMOKERS!!! Relax, we’re NOT attacking smokers, we’re talking about those who LITTER! And litter with a potentially forest firei causing item. [Post #72](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=5867279&postcount=72) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nauture-1-asshole-cigarette-flipper-0/291101.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nauture-1-asshole-cigarette-flipper-0/291101.md?page=6)