Smokers – selfish scum or persecuted minority?

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  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    There's always a group of smokers right in front of the entrance of my University.
    Has always annoyed me like crazy.
    We have a huge square in front of our University, and they all have to go stand in a huge group right in front of the entrance.
    You actually have to push your way through the group to get into the building and by then you are coughing and smelling of smoke.

    When I was in college, there was a smoking area inside, rather than at the entrance. That made it a LOT easier to avoid the smoke. Smoking bans make things worse instead of better.
  • shunggie
    shunggie Posts: 1,036 Member
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    My best friend and my boyfriend both smoke. Neither do it in my house <I have a screened in porch, and if it's really cold there is the garage>. I don't hate smokers, but your addiction infringes on my breathing. If I am in an enclosed space with a smoker, my throat starts to close up and I have trouble breathing. I grew up with a smoker, I had problems with allergies for my entire childhood and was hospitalized with pneumonia twice. I cannot say these things are directly related but I will never know.

    Smoking bans have made it possible and comfortable to eat in public again. If smokers could trade places with someone like me I think they would see this issue differently. Addiction is a terrible thing, but I do NOT understand how anyone under the age of 50 started smoking. It's not like we didn't know smoking kills people. I am 43 years old and do not remember a time when I didn't know smoking was bad for you. It's expensive, it stinks, and it causes cancer. What is the appeal?
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    MDWilliams: This, along with a gazillion other things easily searched on the internet should provide you with the proof you need that second-hand smoke is deadly and dangerous to everyone. I hope that you will do a small amount or reading and realize that you should change your tune on this issue. If not... then I don't know what to tell you. I'm bowing out before things get mean spirited. I feel like the arguments are just going in circles at this point.

    http://www.epa.gov/smokefre/healtheffects.html

    There's no citation of any scientific study on that page.
  • ScumbagSteve
    ScumbagSteve Posts: 103 Member
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    Smoking is way more healthy than diet coke.
  • JustJennie1
    JustJennie1 Posts: 3,843 Member
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    I'm an ex-smoker and I have to say that I absolutely LOVE the smoking bans that they have put in place every where. I can finally go to a bar/restaurant and actually see and taste what I'm eating. When I go out to a club I don't have to play "Dodge the Cigarette" on the dance floor. Not only that but I don't come home smelling like an ash tray or feeling like I smoked a carton of cigs that night.
  • jealous_loser
    jealous_loser Posts: 395
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    I am going through this thread and I am not sure it's been brought up but, in my experience, smokers tend to litter. A LOT. In that respect, I would say they are selfish scum.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    Here in the town I live in I have seen businesses go out of business due to the smoking ban. Bowling allies are getting crushed. Smokers are not going to spend their money at a place, spend 4-5 hours there and not be able to smoke.

    I find this very hard to believe... i live in the UK weve had a smoking ban here for several 4? years now, I remember being afraid i was going to get burnt when i went to the bar in a club, and the smell of clothing when i got home, blegh!. I saw NO businesses suffering from the smoking ban... if its the same rule anywhere people are still going to go...every smoker hasnt become some kind of recluse, not daring to leave their home because they wont be able to smoke *rolls eyes*

    So true. That is just drama and exaggeration. The smokers I know just altered their behavior and adapted to the new rules. They didn't stop going out and doing things.

    In my city, most of the restaurants on the west side of town closed down, and all but one bar, and it has a patio where you can take your drink with you. It is illegal to step outside with your drink, and it's illegal to smoke your cigarette while inside. So what's the point of a bar at this point? House parties have increased on this side of town, for sure. :wink:

    On the east side of town, it is a lot of national chains and their corporate money has helped them stay afloat. (Interestingly, these same chains have received TIF as well so they aren't even paying taxes. It's no wonder the city is going bankrupt.)

    I know in some places, people are fine to just finish their drink, then go outside for a cigarette, then back inside and order a new drink, but those are the ones with no vehicles that live in the inner-city and Midtown. The suburbanites trek over to the towns without bans, towns that AREN'T going bankrupt right now, btw.
  • fleur_de_lis19
    fleur_de_lis19 Posts: 926 Member
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    I don't see why they have to be one or the other. How about they like to smoke? It's their vice, and their choice! I don't really care what someone wants to do with their own body. That's the problem with America, people think its their job to be in other people business, when it is in fact, none of their business. As long as they follow the laws, about where to smoke (sorry, thats out of my hands) then who f**king cares!?!?
  • moosegt35
    moosegt35 Posts: 1,296 Member
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    It is air pollution that kills...they and others in proximity. Should others not be protected from an environmental TOXIN that they do not desire. AFTER ALL THIS COUNTRY BANNED DDT FROM BEING SPRAYED IN THE STREETS TO KILL INSECTS WHEN IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT IT WAS TOXIC TO HUMANS!!!

    YES, Selfish is not the right word (s) for them.


    Dont even get me started on DDT. Do you kow how many millions of people have died because of the ban on DDT. Research it. But again, if you dont want to breathe smoke, dont go to places that allow smoking. Why do so many people think they are special?

    Why are smokers so special that their deadly disgusting habbit becomes a right to bother others?
  • AngryDiet
    AngryDiet Posts: 1,349 Member
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    If you aren't a selfish scum smoker, then you will go out of your way to not inflict your smoke on others who do not want it, regardless of what studies you choose to quote. The fact that others don't want to be around it should be enough, for the considerate smoker, to be considerate.

    If you are a persecuted smoker, perhaps it's because you or your brethren are selfish scum, and society needs to compensate by passing laws forcing you to be considerate.
  • kellygirl324
    kellygirl324 Posts: 74 Member
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    Can't stand when people smoke in front of kids. It should be a form of child abuse, if not attempted murder. Makes me sick to think any PARENT would put there child in harms way.


    That is absolute insanity. First of all, a persons kids are their kids not yours. Second, there is not a single study anywhere in the world that proves that second hand smoke is as dangerous as people try to make it out to be. My advice, worry about your own kids and stay out of other peoples business.


    http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Tobacco/ETS

    Actually, there are quite a few studies. Many of them done by the government. If they weren't worried about it, why would they be banning it in so many establishments? It's obvious you have a very firm point of view about this, but there are 2 sides for everyone's view.
  • solyhhit
    solyhhit Posts: 97 Member
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    I don't smoke. But I don't understand people that feel like they have the right to tell other people how to live their life or raise their children. Loving caring families can include smokers. I personally don't see someone walking by me smoking as having more impact than the polluted air I breath, and surely less than the exhaust fumes I suck in everyday running.

    I have many family members who smoke, and I love them very much.

    There is a grey area in this discussion. If you don't see it, you're part of the problem.
  • GTOgirl1969
    GTOgirl1969 Posts: 2,527 Member
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    Can't stand when people smoke in front of kids. It should be a form of child abuse, if not attempted murder. Makes me sick to think any PARENT would put there child in harms way.

    But drinking in front of kids, or verbal/physical/emotional abuse of your SO in front of them (such as I experienced) is PERFECTLY acceptable, right?

    I don't smoke, I don't like the smell or taste of it, and it makes me sick. However, I'm not going to tell someone else they can't do it just because *I* don't like it.
  • loserbaby84
    loserbaby84 Posts: 241 Member
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    Non smoker here .. My mom and her husband are smokers and most of my friends for that matter so it doesn't bother me much. I agree that the anti-smoking campaigns are out of control. Until the government tells us "we can't" then exercise your right to smoke! Just be mindful of the people who don't around you please :)

    Cheers!
  • Karebear_68
    Karebear_68 Posts: 67
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    I totally agree also with people who say it is their own business.... I am a smoker and I do not have kids at home (they are all grown). when My grandkids come over I do not smoke in the house or anywhere near them. I am so sick of people griping about smokers when there are so many other ILLEGAL things people do and they are not the minority like smokers are.
  • moosegt35
    moosegt35 Posts: 1,296 Member
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    Bottom line is this. You cant have it both ways. You can not say that the government should ban this and that and then say they should stay out of your life. If you think the government should have the right to tell me that I cant smoke, then dont be upset when the same government tells you what you can and cant eat. Or who you can and cant marry. Dont tell me that you have a right to an abortion because its your body but I dont have a right to smoke. It makes zero sense. Wake up people. Eventually, something you enjoy is going to be banned and youre going to be pissed. And guess what? Nobody will care because we allow the government and the busy bodies to dictate what we can and cant do. If I want to allow smoking in my house, that my business, you dont like it, too bad, dont come over. If I want to allow smoking in my place of business thats my choice, you dont like it? Too bad, go somehwere else.

    You can't be this dumb. NONE of those other things affect the health of other people, smoking does.
  • hrshygrl00
    hrshygrl00 Posts: 66 Member
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    I think smoking is selfish and disgusting, and I am 100% behind any moves to have it banned in certain areas.
  • AngryDiet
    AngryDiet Posts: 1,349 Member
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    Bottom line is this. You cant have it both ways. You can not say that the government should ban this and that and then say they should stay out of your life. If you think the government should have the right to tell me that I cant smoke, then dont be upset when the same government tells you what you can and cant eat. Or who you can and cant marry. Dont tell me that you have a right to an abortion because its your body but I dont have a right to smoke. It makes zero sense. Wake up people. Eventually, something you enjoy is going to be banned and youre going to be pissed. And guess what? Nobody will care because we allow the government and the busy bodies to dictate what we can and cant do. If I want to allow smoking in my house, that my business, you dont like it, too bad, dont come over. If I want to allow smoking in my place of business thats my choice, you dont like it? Too bad, go somehwere else.

    You can't be this dumb. NONE of those other things affect the health of other people, smoking does.

    Well, one could argue that abortion does.
  • embercakez
    embercakez Posts: 141
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    I guess I am selfish scum.

    I don't blow my smoke in someone’s face. When kids come around in a public place I move away from them or put my cigarette out. I have this nifty thing called an ashtray, so I tend to not litter.

    I understand why people don’t want to be around it, so I move myself away from them. Looks like most people have been around a lot of ahole smokers.
  • GeekGirl23
    GeekGirl23 Posts: 517 Member
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    With any group you have responsible, curtious folks that care if you are or aren't and take your feelings into consideration.

    Then there's others who don't care and will do what they are going to do.

    This is with anything in our society. I grew up in a house with chain smokers, I chose not to smoke because of constant sinus infections and such. That doesn't mean I don't step foot back in my parents home or visit them... it just means that when I get home I put my clothes directly in the wash. They also know it bothers me and try to take it outside or in another room while i'm there... curtious!

    What I don't like is when there is a posted sign at work for folks to be 25 feet away and when you go on break they are all right by the door... especially on bad weather days... 20 brands is not cool.

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