Public Smoking Bans

[Hazelbunny 0]

I quit three years ago and they are right - there is nothing worse than a convert. I could care less about "smoker's rights". I think my right to breathe in a public place trumps that.

Until I quit I never realized how nasty it smelled and I absolutely hate to have to run the "gauntlet" to enter a public building.

[lizrbit 0]

Right on.

[green 6]

Ah, it sure is fun to hate addicts, isn't it? In fact, it sure is fun to hate other people. Let's all practice being smug and dissing everyone who isn't exactly like our own perfect selves.

Let's see.... I am an atheist, a Canadian, a smoker, and now can wear a size 12P pant. I am also affluent, well educated, well travelled, sophisticated, an urbanite, don't eat all that much meat, never did like to drink soda or eat sweets, and have always eaten a lot of fresh produce. I also don't drive a car and have in fact never learned how to drive. Oh, wow! I guess that allows me to despise all kinds of folks should I choose to opt to employ the same rationale employed by some of the folks who have posted in this thread.

I guess I might have to change my opinion on Americans and agree with the assessment which most Europeans have: under-educated and uncultured, racist, soda-sucking, fast-food addicted, bigoted nutcases.

Because I am a big city grrl I figure that this also means that I can laugh at anyone who has chosen to live in the country instead and call 'em hicks or bumpkins.

Oh, and now that I can shop in normo stores, that means that I can laugh at fat folks and agree that they are lazy, self-indulgent piggies and that they are stinky, too.

And as for people who don't own passports and regularly use 'em, these are unworldly, uneducated individuals. Typical Americans!!!

And of course I am a much nicer, cleaner, more environmentally responsible individual because I use mass transit and I walk; I don't crap up the air and waste fossil fuels because I don't own or drive a goddam vehicle!!!

But I do smoke. I smoke on the street and I smoke in my house. I am an addict. And I am certain that you all would be much more tolerant of my addiction if my drug happened to be heroin but the truth is that nicotine and heroin are equally as addictive and just as hard to quit. And cigarettes were socially accepted when I began smoking and are still legal.

Of course the truth is that I don't harbour any of those feelings - except the stuff to do with vehicular dependence - but I am anxious to make a point: Hating other folks is never kind nor attractive to the observer or to those who are the objects of the venom. Smugness and hypocrisy are not good qualities, folks.

[anonemouse 1]

I don't hate smokers, I hate their habit. I'd be just as pissed off if a crack addict decided to smoke his crack pipe in my face as I am when a cigarette addict decides to smoke their cigarette in my face.

What I am sick and tired of is people using the excuse, "But I'm an addict!" It pissed me off when Mel Gibson used it to excuse his antisemitism, and it pisses me off when smokers use it to excuse putting the health of other people at risk.

Should I go around stuffing double cheeseburgers and milkshakes down people's throats just because I am a food addict? No. And smokers shouldn't be going around and forcing other people to inhale their smoke.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

Lauran...

I have never in my life forced others to inhale my smoke but you make it sound as though every smoker in the world has held you down in a closed room and forced you to inhale their smoke. You have to admit, a few of you really do take it over the top. Your better than thou, holier than though attitude is really annoying and it doesn't look any better on you than a cig does in my hand.

I can kick the eating habit ONLY because a band will forever prevent me from eating MOST solid food. I was going to have it removed at one point but I know I'll gain weight back. So I plan to live on Protein Shakes and tuna for the bulk of my diet. My point is that I have a band that doesn't allow me one addiction. You are about to be banded. When you can lose weight without a band then we'll talk about how tired you are about hearing of the addictions of OTHERS.

And you know what? I don't give a rats back side if my addiction is different from your addiction or HOW it is different. Makes no difference. You have an addiction that you can't kick without surgery just like the rest of us. The issue is addiction. So honestly, I really don't care how tired you are of hearing about addiction. Examine yourself before slamming others around you.

It is pretty easy to insult and slam others, whine non stop and stomp those feeties but it really does boil down to the same thing. Addiction. You just aren't better than the rest of us.

[anonemouse 1]

I have never in my life forced others to inhale my smoke but you make it sound as though every smoker in the world has held you down in a closed room and forced you to inhale their smoke.

If you smoke around other people, you are forcing them to inhale your smoke. It isn't like they are wearing gas masks. People can't just stop breathing.

You are about to be banded. When you can lose weight without a band then we'll talk about how tired you are about hearing of the addictions of OTHERS.

And you know what? I don't give a rats back side if my addiction is different from your addiction or HOW it is different. Makes no difference. You have an addiction that you can't kick without surgery just like the rest of us. The issue is addiction. So honestly, I really don't care how tired you are of hearing about addiction. Examine yourself before slamming others around you.

When I said that I hate hearing people say that they are addicts, I meant that I hate hearing the excuse. Addicts think that just because they are addicts, their behavior is socially acceptable or somehow excusable. I don't care if a crack addict is an addict or not, I don't want them smoking crack next to me.

And I don't go around forcing other people to eat, get fat, and die of a heart attack. All addictions are not equal. When I force someone to gain 20 pounds by just being around them, then you can talk to me about food addictions being the same as smoking. Yeah, they are both addictions. But one can kill the people around you, the other can't.

[green 6]

Few smokers go around blowing smoke into non-smokers' faces. We have all been tamed long ago. It is when individuals persist on continuing with the feeding fest that I feel annoyed. In my opinion there has been quite the little feeding fest going on earlier in this thread for the issue was no longer the question of second hand smoke but of the stinkiness of smokers. Well, I for one don't like to sit in an aircraft seat next to a tubby because my personal space - and I am neurotic about being touched by people - is infringed upon. I am also really unhappy about being near very young children and babies. But families and wide-bottomed folk are part of humanity and so I am often forced to suck it up and without a cigarette to take the edge off, too! That's life. Some people smell of cheap perfume, some carry with them noisy kiddies, some of us carry the stench of our last cigarette and some of us are tubby.

[anonemouse 1]

Green, it wasn't the cigarette smell of a regular smoker that I was talking about earlier. I have friends that smoke, and I don't mind being around them for the most part. It's the stale, smokey smell of chain smokers that bothers them. Not the smell that you can smell within a foot or two of someone, but the stench you can smell from literally 20 feet away. That smell's a little harder to tolerate. And to be honest, if it is strong enough to literally make someone sick, it's intolerable.

[anonemouse 1]

Few smokers go around blowing smoke into non-smokers' faces. We have all been tamed long ago.

Not all. Most smokers that I have been around don't care where their smoke winds up. Some, admittedly, do blow it away from people, but not all or even most. When there is a cloud of smoke hanging over the entrance to a building, I can't see the graciousness of smokers.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

If you smoke around other people, you are forcing them to inhale your smoke. It isn't like they are wearing gas masks. People can't just stop breathing.

Who said I smoke around other people? I do smoke around other smokers but I have never in my life forced another person to breathe my smoke. As I have explained previously, I don't even smoke in my OWN car or home if a non smoker is over here. Hubby smokes so I'm not forcing anything on him either.

When I said that I hate hearing people say that they are addicts, I meant that I hate hearing the excuse. Addicts think that just because they are addicts, their behavior is socially acceptable or somehow excusable. I don't care if a crack addict is an addict or not, I don't want them smoking crack next to me.

I don't want fat people eating around me. It offends me.

Doesn't sound very nice, does it?

And I don't go around forcing other people to eat, get fat, and die of a heart attack. All addictions are not equal. When I force someone to gain 20 pounds by just being around them, then you can talk to me about food addictions being the same as smoking. Yeah, they are both addictions. But one can kill the people around you, the other can't.

F'ING AGAIN!!!!!!!!! I never claimed the results of all addiction are equal.

Oh hell.. I'm not explaining it again. This is silly. What I have written previously? Several times? Yeah, that again.

[anonemouse 1]

Who said I smoke around other people? I do smoke around other smokers but I have never in my life forced another person to breathe my smoke. As I have explained previously, I don't even smoke in my OWN car or home if a non smoker is over here. Hubby smokes so I'm not forcing anything on him either.

That's why I said IF.

I don't want fat people eating around me. It offends me.

Doesn't sound very nice, does it?

It doesn't cause you to get fat or die of a heart attack, though, does it? It just makes you uncomfortable. Being around people smoking doesn't just make me uncomfortable. It makes me PHYSICALLY ILL.

[anonemouse 1]

F'ING AGAIN!!!!!!!!! I never claimed the results of all addiction are equal.

And I never said you did! You IMPLY, though, that one addict can't complain about another person's addiction, because they are both addicts. I was simply pointing out that all addictions are not equal, either in severity or impact on the people around the addict. So to say that I, as a food addict, should understand what you, as a cigarette addict, are going through and be more understanding, is crap. My addiction only physically impacts myself. A smoker's addiction impacts every person they smoke around. So to say that one is as bad as the other is completely wrong.

[leatha_g 4]

I guess we all have our crosses to bear. I was a smoker for 22 yrs and thoroughly enjoyed it. I wished I could still do it, honestly. Healthwise, I was forced to look at how I could continue to rationalize doing it. Blood clots in the legs and lungs, a family history of dying of clots and heart attacks really didn't leave me much to stand on. The cost became pretty laughable and then you have those people who feel the need to control everyone else's behavior.

I think empathy is a really good characteristic for anyone. I loved smoking. It helped me to maintain my weight. It kept my hands busy. It seemed to help me be a calmer person. Even my grandmother was encouraged to smoke by her doctor for her nerves. Of course this was in a simpler time. I miss it.

Of course, now, nearly 5 yrs later, I'm glad I'm no longer encumbered by that habit:ban: . I am glad that my suitcase doesn't smell like smoke when I open it in a hotel. It makes me rather sick to get into a hotel room which smells like a stale bar:yuck: . I can't even tell you the last time I stepped inside a convenience store because I no longer have to go hunting my drug of choice. Heck, I even feel alien in a liquor store these days.

I think, in general, most people understand that most of society doesn't like smokers these days. They've already been exiled to the outside. In some cases, they're not even allowed to practice their habit on the parameters of their workplace, so they're forced to wait or hide out in their car - off campus. Some places, their own home is the only place they're safe in and you even those controlling folks trying to say they'll prosecute you if you smoke around your own children, etc. So when will those people be happy? When cigarettes are prohibited and we have yet another group of people seeking their drug of choice through illegal means and hiding behind the corner to get their 'fix'? I'm just not so sure that's fair.

I walk down the aisles of grocery stores, drug stores etc and I get severe headaches immediately when I go down the aisle for laundry soaps and cleaners. Should I throw a tantrum and demand they be removed? I can become completely nauseated from this or being forced on an elevator with some wench who feels me and the world need to know what perfume she has spent her money on. Should I turn to her and curse her for smelling up my space or giving me a sick headache? I think not. I think at some point, we graciously sidestep something we find unattractive (ever see a skinny person meet an obese person on a sidewalk?) and we consider our own inventories instead of focusing on who else we can blame for our own discontent.

Expectations is the quickest way I know of to be disappointed. Think about it.

[MzAngel 0]

and yep i think you should spank those d@mn unruly kids too.

You opened up a whole new can of worms with this comment, I'm gonna start a new thread on it

[lizrbit 0]

I appreciate the attempt at posing a nuetral stance, but i just dont see in your last analogies how they are anything close to tobacco smoke.

I do think it should be illegal, and i think possession should carry a harsh sentence. I dont CARE if it "makes people seek illegal sources", GOOD. And i hopes its horribly expensive and that smokers get arrested, then should be fined, prosecuted, convicted and stripped of the rest of their rights for putting that crap in the air.

Its not an inconvienience. it kills people.

You dont like what i have to say about it thats fine, i wouldnt have liked it three years ago either..but all i have to do is go clean out my sons portable urinal again, or move his shower chair out of the way and i get angry all over again. all because of second hand smoke, so no, i dont see ever being nuetral on the stance. I vote, I will always vote, and im vocal about my opinion not only here, but whenever i can be.

Vote against me...and keep smoking..there will be less and less of you to do so.