Strait pissed

The BBQ Pit
1

Okay, I welcome all chalengers to my opinions, but don’t point out tipe-o’s, that’s just rude. (yes I did that on purpose)

I’m a 17 year old smoker, and I’m getting really freaking pissed at people pointing out the hazards of my bad habbit. I went to submit my complaint on “the truth”'s site, but they were “down”.

Okay, smoking is bad for you. We all get it, we all understand it, we choose to ignore it. LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE! I don’t care if other people don’t like it, I’m not killing them, why the hell do they feel it’s their mission to let me know that eventually when I’m old and about to lose my bladder control and can no longer remember where I live, that I’ll have a chance I could die. (I realize it could happen any time, but the odd’s are in favor of getting cancer at around 40)

And why do people keep repeating the same facts? If you have new information I’m more than happy to listen, if you’re just going to bitch, shut up!

And what is the truth going to attack next, Big McDonalds? Lord know that crap will kill you just as fast. Or will they start hacking all the bad habbits and go after Big nuckle crackers, cramming the fact down our throtes that it can lead to arthritis?

Personally I think their whole organization is a conspiracy. Think about it. Who is getting publicized on TV that couldn’t before; tabacco. They’re subliminaly messaging people to lite up a smoke by putting those commercials on. Think it’s far feched? Whatch TV with a smoker, I see it happen all day long.

And where do they get their cash from? Tabacco. If they shut down the companies, they lose their jobs. Not logical, job security is important to most anyone.

Lets face the facts: the US is filled with undernurturing overprotective mothers that don’t want their kids to be exposed to anything, but are too fat and lazy to get off their ass and do anything about it. (don’t get me started with video games) These people have indirectly ruined my teenage life. I CAN’T EVEN BLADE ON THE GOD DAMN SIDEWALKS BECAUSE SOME ASSHOLE THOUGHT IT WAS DANGEROUS TO OTHER PEDESTRIANS AND MADE A LAW AGAINST IT! I can’t rent a video game with any blood unless I’m 18, but I can purchase a knife (and I’m not talking kitchen hardware). I have to pay an adult price to get into movies because over 12 and qualify as an adult, BUT I CAN’T GET INTO THE FUCKING RATED R MOVIES BECAUSE I’M NOT 18 AND DON’T QUALIFY AS AN ADULT!

Everyone wants us to keep out of trouble, but all the fun things in life have been made illegal because someone could get hurt. Even the internet, although it’s easy enough to bypass, has things restricted to adults. Doesn’t it say in the constitution “regardless of race, religion, sex or AGE”. I have about the same amount of rights as my dog, except he gets to run around outside naked pissing where ever he wants.

Teens may not be as intelligent (although I’ve met a lot of adults that I could run circles around), but we are human. Give me liberty or give me death.

2

Have you ever sat in a pub or restaurant when someone’s blown smoke almost in your face for an hour?

Try a search on “Passive smoking”…

Its antisocial and annoying. I respect that you have the right to smoke, but if people are uncomfortable with you smoking near them, why not respect that?

3

I live in the US, it’s illegal for me to smoke, or to enter a pub for that matter. These people say this crap to me when I’m OUTSIDE, and they’re just passer-byers As for antisocial, you wouldn’t belive how many friends I’m made by going out and having a smoke with them at lunch.

4

“Okay, smoking is bad for you. We all get it, we all understand it, we choose to ignore it. LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE! I don’t care if other people don’t like it, I’m not killing them, why the hell do they feel it’s their mission to let me know that eventually when I’m old and about to lose my bladder control and can no longer remember where I live, that I’ll have a chance I could die.”

It’s because those of use who have lost people to smoking-related illnesses (mother-in-law to lung cancer at 59, sister-in-law to congestive heart failure at 40) know that smoking can trash your health much sooner than that. It’s because we think every day how much Jackie would have loved to see her first grandchildren and how nice it would have been for Patty to have finished that degree she was working so hard for. But they can’t, because they’re dead. Because they smoked.

5

Hippy wrote: “when I’m old and about to lose my bladder control and can no longer remember where I live, that I’ll have a chance I could die. (I realize it could happen any time, but the odd’s are in favor of getting cancer at around 40)”

Umm… loss of bladder control and the onset of senility at 40? Fuck, I got less time than I thought.

Also, I’m glad you can’t balde on the sidewalk. I’ve seen a lot of rollerbladers who really sucked. Thanks, but I don’t need them cartwheeling towards me at twenty miles an hour.

Good point about ticket prices, though.

Over all, I give it a 7.

(PS It’s spelled “tobacco” And yes, I did that on purpose too. :slight_smile: )

6

We all have to go sometime, why wait until that point at the end of your life when you get shoved in a old folks home or realize you didn’t do everything you should’ve could’ve and now can’t. I don’t want to live to hate teenages for doing things like blading and being rowdy just because I no longer can.

7

Don’t you think its illegal for a reason?(can I ask how old you are?)
If you are smoking in public, then you are still a nuisance to those who don’t want smoke in their face.
Personally, I don’t care who does/n’t smoke, but please understand it is an annoyance; my brother suffers from asthma and once had a semi-serious attack from being in an elevator with a smoker.

Show some consideration, and they’ll leave you alone.

8

Well, I don’t think they shut down their server just so you couldn’t post. (By the way, thetruth.com edits all posts to their boards, so yours might not have made it through.)

I’m with you there, your decision to smoke (even though you’re technically underage) is your business.

Whoa there, pardner! Do a search on “the effects of second-hand smoke.” Read. Digest. Think.
Oh, and 40 is hardly one-foot-in-the-grave-Lisbeth-this-is-the-big-one, ok?

Well, they could say the same to you, except they have facts on their side, and all you have is the power of whine.

Well, McDonald’s (as far as I know) never said that their food posed zero threat to your life and would in fact increase your life expectancy. Hell, even if you go to McDonald’s site, they’ll tell you that not all their food is exactly nutritious. Also, according to Cecil himself, it’s not known whether cracking knuckles causes arthritis. Whereas years of studies and research have shown that smoking can cause cancer not only in those who smoke, but those who inadvertently inhale cigarette smoke as well. (check out the American Cancer Society’s site).

**
So, if you get cancer, it’s not your fault because you don’t have the reasoning power necessary to resist advertising? And are we only susceptible to this advertising if we watch TV with a smoker? I don’t understand your argument.

** I was under the impression that thetruth was a non-profit organization. I can’t get into their site to find out. If anyone can get me a cite, I’d be most grateful.

And you can’t wait one more year to qualify as an adult because…?

**

Try broadening your horizons some. It’s a big world out there, and there’s lots of LEGAL stuff to do in it that gasp is fun! Perish the thought.

Things are restricted to adults because not everyone under 18 is as mature and preternaturally wise as you. cough Excuse me, I seem to have something in my throat. By the way, there is no such clause in the Constitution. There are all sorts of age limits in the Constitution, actually. You can’t be a member of the House of Representatives until you’re 25. You can’t be a senator until you’re 30, and you can’t be elected President until you’re at least 35. (This concept of age limits, by the way, dates back to Plato’s Republic)
**

Well, why would you want to do that?

**

No one’s treating you inhumanely. You have a roof over your head, food in your stomach, clothes on your back, and enough money to buy your ciggies. Doesn’t sound so very arduous to me.

**

I’d rather give you the sense of insight and maturity to realize that you have more liberties now than you would have, as a 17-year old, than at any other time in history.

P.S. Before you start whining how I’m old and have no idea what your point of view is, I’m 18.

9
  1. Bugger.
10

Oh, sure, Tiggeril, when your eighteen, it’s easy to look back and see all the easy answers, but you don’t remember what’s like to be THERE, man! The hassles, the non-smokers, the ticket prices. For you, its all just a fuzzy memory, but Hippy’s RIGHT THERE, right in seventeen’s FACE, man! Fight the power, Hippy! Some of us remember! (Not me, actually, but some of us, somewhere. I’m sure.)

11

Hey Hippy… I understand your frustration. I can’t speak for eveyrone who feels the need to say something to you, but I know I speak for SOME when I say this: they are truly trying to spare you the hell and heartache you are headed for. It’s one thing when someone has been smoking for a decade or two or three…but you couldn’t have been smoking for very long at this point. And the day will come, I would bet everything I have on it, when you will be desperately, desperately sorry you ever started, and just as desperate to find a way to stop. But by that time, you won’t even remember what it was to have been a non-smoker (which you surely remember very well right now, it was only a moment ago) and quitting will look like hell.

I’m 42 years old (and I can still control my bladder…isn’t that amazing?). I smoked 2 packs a day for 26 years, since I was 16. I finally quit last September. But if I’d been able, I would have quit 20 years ago. it took me 20 years to get my shit together enough to shake that addiction. But I wanted to all that time. (By the way, I had less bladder control smoking…because I’d have coughing fits!)

I just read a long article about women and lung cancer the other day. Bummed me out. One gal, 28 years old, smoked 3 cigarettes a day for 10 years. She’s trying to stay alive just long enough to marry the man she loves. I have to wait out around 15 years before my risk of lung cancer goes back down to the same risk it would have been if I’d never smoked. (And it will never really be the same) Aint’ that a bitch?

Wow, just previewing this, I started crying, thinking about how incredible sad I am that I smoked for so long, and also how incredibly grateful I am that I finally was able to quit.

The reason people bug you so much, Hippy, is because you are so young… stopping now will be SO much easier than stopping later.

By the way… Do you care about your looks, your sex appeal? Because those cigs are ruinging your complexion, destroying your skin, and worst of all: you stink to high heaven. I have one friend who still smokes, and I cannot believe how nauseating it is to be near her after she’s had a cigarette. Is that what you want to present to someone you want to be near?

Hey, I’ve been really supportive, haven’t I?

well, good luck. I hope you catch a clue, kiddo.

stoid

12

Consider yourself very, very fortunate that this behavior is illegal and that the police rigorously enforce the law.

Because if it were not illegal, I would prohibit it and rigorously enforce the non-law. You’re much better off with the cops. Trust me.

13

Ah, Hippy. To be 17 again. Such glorious, rash anger. I used to be like that. Hold onto that feeling Hippy - that need to live life unfettered by idiotic rules. Hold onto it but also listen, and learn.

Much of our society is stupid. Why can’t you blade on the sidewalk? Because some out-of-control nitwit collided with some stale old complainer. It’s got nothing to do with you. Why can’t you buy a video game with blood in it or see an R-rated movie at 17, but at 18 it’s ok? Because God forbid it might turn you into an ax-murdering sociopath.

Your life will be filled with this nonsense and much more, even if you do live past 40. Get used to it, but don’t stop being pissed about it. Get informed and you might even be able to do something about it. Being here, you’re obviously off to a great start.

Walk tall, my friend.

14

Jesus CHRIST. I hope to hell I wasn’t that big a fucking whiner when I was a child.

No, fucknuts. It’s because numerous out-of-control nitwits collided with a shitload of people trying to mind their own fucking business.

15

This might be a nitpick, but I think this is more of a legal liability issue than anything else. If you’re 18 and decide to become an ax-murdering sociopath, you’re held responsible. If you’re under 18, and you become an axe-murdering sociopath, you’re responsible, your parents are held responsible, the makers of the game/movie are held responsible, the video store/movie theater is held responsible, etc. The 18 year age limit is a method used by people to cover their asses in the (admittedly unlikely) event that someone uses their product and subsequently goes apeshit.

16

In terms of the evils of second hand smoke, Cecil himself wrote an interesting article on the subject only a couple of months ago.

Regarding the people telling you to stop smoking for your own good- I think Oscar Wilde said it best, “The worst vice of the fanatic is sincerity.”

They may in fact mean well, but it often comes across all wrong.

For instance- I’ve always wanted to find one of these people out at a restaurant, walk up to one of them and say, “Do you really need that much salt on your steak? I mean, that stuff can kill you. How about you lay off using so much. It’s really for your own good, trust me.” Or, for the truly assholish people, “Judging by the size of your ass, you really don’t need that cheesecake for dessert. Have a carrot instead.”

O.K., that second one I’d never use. No one has ever pissed me off that bad.

And I’m sorry, but I happen to believe that roller-blades, skateboards, and bicycles all have their own place- off the sidewalk.

17

Totally appropos of nothing, what does the title of this thread (“Strait” pissed) have to do the OP, which, in essence said “It would behove us all, smokers and non-smokers alike, to come to some basic understanding. Perhaps a colloquy would be beneficial to all concerned parties?”

I can’t figure out a useage for the word “strait” that makes sense. It either means a narrow passage of water, or it means distress or need. Neither works.

If I assume it’s a misspelling of “Straight” it means direct, or “not homosexual” or “not curved”.

When I opened it up, I thought that the OP would be named “Strait”. Alas.

Anyway, I suspect that it’s used in this case to mean “extremely”. Is that a traditional useage of the word with which I was previously unaware, or has a subtle nuance of meaning escaped me?

Fenris, apparently traumatized by the dictionary thread!

18

HIPPY, I would just suggest that you consider that for some people who have either lost a loved one to smoking or struggled to overcome the addiction themselves (themself?), the sight of a beautiful, healthy teenager, full of life and promise, with a cigarette hanging out of his/her mouth, is something that is almost painful. It’s a function of wisdom (often earned the hard way) observing foolishness, and wanting to save you from having to walk the road they have walked – or crawled.

Of all the adults I know who are dedicated smokers, I don’t know one who would say that, given the choice, they would take up smoking again. I agree that it is inappropriate for people to want to save you from your own cavelier attitude about your health, which is your own business, but I hope you appreciate that some of them are trying to help you, not piss you off.

19

1st: It’s pure and utter bullshit that you’re not hurting anyone else with your juvenile sucking on the phallic symbol made of tobacco. As others have stated above, do some actual research into Passive Smoking as opposed to your utterly worthless whining and repeating what other whiners have whined before you.

2nd: I spent a week in a damned intensive care unit thanks to other people’s smoking. Yes, I did not smoke. No, I did not have any say in the matter. Yes, this was a long time ago. No, I did not enjoy it. Yes, they were assholes for doing it to begin with. No, they did not remain assholes because when the doctor explained it to them, they all quit smoking around me. And, yes, the x-rays of my lungs looked just like a smoker’s lung x-rays although I did not smoke. Well, except for that whole passive smoking thing. Oh yeah, Yes, the fucking collapsed lung hurt like hell. Especially the cure for it.

3rd: That dog is not yours. The dog belongs to your parent(s) or legal guardian(s). Also, that room you call your bedroom is not yours. That house you call your house is not yours. All that stuff belongs to your parent(s) or legal guardian(s).

4th: You are not the first, and I daresay you are not the last, “anti-ageist” to appear on this board. However, you are by far the most whiny* of same.

5th: I really don’t give a rat’s ass if you want to kill yourself slowly or even quickly. Just don’t involve anyone else in your slow suicide.

Sheesh, what a moron. I can’t wait until the Spring Vacation for all the high schools is finally over!

*also spelled “whiney”

20

I only opened it up because I thought someone was pissed off at George Strait, who I am slightly infatuated with, and I was going to have to rip them a new asshole over it. Ah well. Just my luck that I don’t get to.