Thread: Anti - anti-smoking rant

Originally Posted by Bruno

Wrong argument. If it is a health issue, there are plenty of grounds for the government to tell you what you can and cannot do. And while the people involved generally don't like it, it is usually for the better.

This is pesky government interference like not allowing people to store toxins in leaky barrels, not allowing companies to burn whatever the hell they want, mandating fire exits in restaurants, demanding foodstuff to come with a list of ingredients, etc.

I disagree with you on this, Bruno. And I'm going to use the cliche slippery slope argument! I know, sorry.

Of course we can all point to obvious health issues in society-- proper storage of toxins in barrels is one you mentioned. But what isn't a health issue on some level or another?

Imagine that next week the soviet socialist republic of Minnesota (or anywhere) comes out and declares that "non-safety" razors are hazardous to health. To wit, not only can they be readily found by unsuspecting innocent children, but they are dangerous to use for anyone and everyone else. Hence, their use, import, trade, sale, and possession is outlawed. Health and safety would mandate that they be outlawed.

There's a fine line between safety and freedom. I just don't like being told what to do!!

Jimbo if it meant that my children's generation were free from smoking related illnesses then I would gladly shave with a fusion for the rest of my days.

Originally Posted by JohnnyCakeDC

Hear Here! Smoking ciggy's while having drinks go together like shoes and socks, but they're people who want to impose and insist that they have a 'right' to....... wherever they want. I'm sure you already know this, but that mentality is not going to stop at bars. The protectionist mentality has no end because it does not work.
you're not going to get a real answer to that.

The real answer is that public opinion has turned against smoking amid fears of second hand smoke. Politicians that advocate this kind of legislation are rewarded, or else they wouldn't do this.

I grew up in the home of a smoking parent and during a time when the practice was perfectly normal. Personally, I have always thought that smoking didn't affect you one way or another unless you did it yourself.

I don't smoke but have felt for years that smokers have been treated as if they had a disease and need to be quarantined. It makes them feel like second-class citizens.

Originally Posted by Bruno

There is a difference though. You can eat all you want in public and people are not negatively impacted by it.
If you smoke in enclosed spaces, you are harming people around you.
It would not be so bad if it was only an occasional cigar or pipe, but people lighting up cig after cig are just filling the room with smoke.



That's just silly. Smoking outdoors is not an issue, compared to living in a city, near a highway or any of the other places where there is pollution.

I wasn't making a stand for smoking in enclosed areas, you misunderstand the point of my sarcasm-ridden post. I was simply addressing the prejudice towards smokers of any kind as purposefully degenerate in their actions.

Furthermore, it wouldn't have been a major health risk for the children to be near me outside in a park, but I moved for the peace of mind of the parents. I did this, because I know smoke is labelled as the devil's breath of malice upon humanity. I had a right to be there, but I could easily move so they wouldn't have to with their stroller and bags and such.

Originally Posted by Jeltz

Well the food/fatness analogy has never worked. With smoking you can just stop doing it and you will survive, if you stop eating you won't. There does need to be an attitude shift with the over consumption of sugary and fatty foods much as there has been over the last 30 years with smoking, but the main thing is that a thin person in the presence of an obese person who is eating a candy bar does not generally find it unpleasant as where as a non smoker in the presence of someone who is smoking does.

Lets face it the smokers desire is that when they want to feed their addiction, they want to do so wherever and whenever they want. Make no mistake that, that is what is being done when I smoked I thought I did it for all sorts if reasons, to relax, to cope with stress, to wake up and to concentrate etc. In reality nicotine is a stimulant so how can it help you do anything other than be stimulated? Drugs can not perform differently the situation you find yourself in! The truth is that the relaxation or ability to think comes form removing the body's nagging want for the drug, cravings, people see smoking as a pleasure but its more like hurting yourself so that its nice when you stop.

This is actually false. A study showed that people under the influence of nicotine showed a greater level of concentration than people who didn't smoke.
I'm against cigarettes and smoking in enclosed spaces, but facts are facts.

I would also add that people should have the freedom to smoke as long as it doesn't cause second-hand effects (as is the case when smoking is done in enclosed areas). I am a pipe smoker. It is my hobby. I'm not asking to be able to smoke anywhere I want, simply that I am not breaking the law by occasionally enjoying my hobby. Restricting smoking? Yes, to an extent. Outlawing it entirely? No.

Originally Posted by WongKonPow

I wasn't making a stand for smoking in enclosed areas, you misunderstand the point of my sarcasm-ridden post. I was simply addressing the prejudice towards smokers of any kind as purposefully degenerate in their actions.

Furthermore, it wouldn't have been a major health risk for the children to be near me outside in a park, but I moved for the peace of mind of the parents. I did this, because I know smoke is labelled as the devil's breath of malice upon humanity. I had a right to be there, but I could easily move so they wouldn't have to with their stroller and bags and such.

Thanks. No I only meant enclosed spaces, and only those with a public character.
While second hand smoke is no doubt 'dangerous', in outdoors spaces it is no more dangerous than exhaust fumes from a car, solvent based paint, small dust particles, etc.

That is why I always think people should be reasonable about this. Outdoors fine, indoors not fine unless it is a private space. It's not like the smallest whiff of smoke will kill you. Jimmy still lives. If he can take 40 years of heavy smoking, I doubt a small whiff of second hand smoke in the outdoors will be lethal.

Originally Posted by Bruno

Jimmy still lives. If he can take 40 years of heavy smoking,.

Knocking on wood .....

Originally Posted by GOLDCREST

I don't know about it being a majority decision to ban smoking...more a VERY VOCAL MINORITY....

In my view this is usually the case with politics and legislation.

A small but LOUD minority screams untill the majority gives it what it wants even if it's simply to make it shut up.

In the Uk earlier this year..we had a case of some county council "nobody's"...(with police help)...stopping "company cars"..to check that the drivers weren't smoking in there..........A company car is classed as a place of work..and as such smoking isn't allowed in there..even if you're driving by yourself with no one else in the car.....offenders would potentially have been prosecuted....Have these people got nothing better to spend our taxes and very hard earned money on......

A thought that springs to mind........
When I was young... Children who shouted ..threw themselves on the floor or stamped their feet and generally carried on in selfish pursuit of WHAT THEY WANTED.... would have been given a good clip round the ear and told to shut up they were spoiled.......maybe thats whats been lacking with these Vociferous minority groups...a good crack round the head when they were young................perhaps its still not too late!!!

And as to politicians climbing on band wagons.........................Well I think most of us know what they are...

Originally Posted by GOLDCREST

a good clip round the ear and told to shut up they were spoiled.......maybe thats whats been lacking with these Vociferous minority groups...a good crack round the head when they were young................perhaps its still not too late!!!

And as to politicians climbing on band wagons.........................Well I think most of us know what they are...

Unfortunately the polititians have never had a good smack to the head or a strop to the bottom.

The rod was spared and the child was spoiled.