millipede said:I'll say again, smoking is bad. It seems most of the people that argue for smoking are smokers and are just defending themselves. There's no justifying something that is bad. Bad is bad. Now I know, that's a horrible thing to say right...? I don't think so. Sure, I agree, we all need rights, we need freedom. Those are things this country was founded on, amongst other things(such as morals and faith)... And I also belive in personal responsability and I also agree that people are not being responsible for themsleves as much as they should.
midiman said:Not to justify it, it is a bad habit, but one could say drinking is just as bad, but they encourage that in bars and provide parking lots, And if you think that it doesn't affect others, then perhaps you can explain that to my kids that were screaming while I tried avoiding a drunk that came head on with me
Not relevant. Drunk driving IS against the law. So is adding alcohol to someone's drink without their knowledge, which is akin to what smokers are doing to OUR air when they smoke. What on this earth could possibly make anyone think that they have a "right" to blow smoke into the air that others have to breathe? To me, it is the ULTIMATE in self-centeredness. I, a non-smoker, have to alter MY behavior because SMOKERS choose to blow smoke into OUR shared air? Amazing concept.
No one is infringing on smokers "rights" if smokers are required to go outside to smoke. It is simply false to suggest otherwise. Many smokers don't want the "right to smoke" - they want the "right to smoke" wherever and whenever they feel like it- without regard for others.
As I said, I really have no patience with this (so I'll quit for now), but to me, a defense of smoking by smokers is simply a rationalization of their inability to end their drug addiction. And I say this as a former smoker myself. There is help available for smokers. EVERY SINGLE member of my family quit smoking after my uncle died of lung cancer. Some of them had smoked since their navy days in WWII.
They all quit in memory of my uncle and so that they could provide two things to their children:
1) an example of doing the right thing even when difficult, and
2) a more healthy living environment free from all numerous KNOWN toxins and carcinogens in cigarette smoke.
Wizzard~Of~Ozz said:if a non-smoker knows there are smokers inside, then should they go in? no.
I believe there are some areas that have deemed certain "areas around entry ways" to be smoking prohibited as well. Things like hospitals, schools and public buildings (such as court-houses, polices stations, town-halls etc) I know, I can see so many of you but if I have to show up for court, I shouldn't have to hold my breath to get into the building.ReefRaff said:what happens when smokers aren't allowed to smoke outside either. Is it true this has happend in california somewhere already? would this be considered taking it too far and forceing a non-smokers values on smokers.
I know, the nerve of some people. On my walk to work this morning I had to walk between two buses that were belching deisel smoke into the air - a known carcinogen. Near my building, I could smell the chocolate from the bulk chocolate candymaker across the river. I'm sure that offends someone, though not me. In the summer, people ride motorcycles with VERY loud exhaust (and legally I might add). Very irritating and damaging to my hearing, by the way.
As a matter of fact, human beings are physically comparable to herbivores, yet we eat meat when we really shouldn't.
chrism said:ok, so i'm against smoking, so i wont go into a pub that allows smoking... hmmm im never going in a pub again... so i loose a large chunk of my social life because i don't want to breathe smoke? That doesn't sound fair.
Offices are non smoking, supermarkets are non smoking, doctor surgeries are non smoking, shops are non smoking, take aways are non smoking, banks are non smoking, newsagents are non smoking, so why should pubs allow smoking? granted it's not illegal to smoke in these places but still...
I've just come back from a friends and i stink of smoke, they all smoke. Do i complain? No, it's their home, they have more of a right to smoke than i do to ask them not too. If it was my house would they smoke, no. It's not a public place, we all share that air we all have the right to breathe it uncontaminated. they should have dedicated smoking pubs - fine, that way you know everyone smokes. but where its a 75 - 24 split as it is acording to this vote at the mo then i'm sorry but it should be smoke free.
Ban smoking in public. Grant special licences to pubs that meet the "healthy air" requirements and we wont have a problem.
Every day freedom is chipped away, always with supposedly noble intentions. Its for your own good, for safety,
seafan said:"there is a simple answer to every problem... and its wrong"
I love this quote, but can't remember the source, can you? Its awefully Mark Twain-ish, but Twain used to complain that anything that sounded off-beat and clever was wrongfully attributed to him. Can you remember who is credited with it?