posted
Sol, it is the 'give them an inch and they'll take a mile' thing. A snowballing effect....
I have gone without smoking in the great outdoors, when I go to church functions, as I am either the only smoker, or the only one that will smoke, but after walking away to a place where it won't bother anyone. But that is jus me....
Passing laws for the health and welfare are, for the most part, taking things too far. This cheesecake I am eating isn't healthy, and some people I know can stand the smell of it, or the looks, let alone the taste, so it falls in to the same category.
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
"How dare you deny me my right to poison myself!" Of all the things to get indignant about. Jeez...
And never mind asthmatic, what about allergic? We have a wonderful downstairs neighbour who likes to leave her patio door open about a foot at night, and her cigarette smoke wafts out and gets pulled right into our apartment. I just love waking up at 3am to discover my throat feels like someone's gone at it with a cheese grater.
I believe people have the right to do whatever the hell they want, so long as it doesn't have a negative impact on those around them. Even though she is smoking in the privacy of her own home (except when she strolls just outside for her morning smoke), I'm the one who has to go around slamming windows and turning on the fans to try and alleviate her stench.
I don't know if smokers realize how insidious and tenacious that shit is. By the time our neighbour's smoke wakes me up, it's thoroughly impregnated my pillows and blankets and the only thing I can do is wash the whole mess, and even then it's still detectable.
When two habits clash, the one that is more harmful should yield to the one that isn't. My non-smoking habit is a lot less damaging to your health than your smoking habit is to mine. If you want to turn your lungs into malignant lumps of carbon, do it where I can't smell it.
*grr*
--Jonah
-------------------- "That's what I like about these high school girls, I keep getting older, they stay the same age."
--David "Woody" Wooderson, Dazed and Confused
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
And Ritten? Your cheesecake analogy doesn't hold up. As much as some people may be nauseated by the sight or smell or taste of cheesecake or mushrooms or whatever, merely being in the same room with those objects usually doesn't have an adverse affect on their health. Until someone discovers the scent of cheesecake is a carcinogen, I have little sympathy. In the meantime, I don't want to have my cancer risk heightened because of your addiction, and appreciate your courtesy.
--Jonah
-------------------- "That's what I like about these high school girls, I keep getting older, they stay the same age."
--David "Woody" Wooderson, Dazed and Confused
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
I agree with some of you guys that many smokers "just don't get it" about how foul many nonsmokers find cigarette smoke. Smoker basically cover themselves with smoke, so probably don't even notice the smell any longer and can't even imagine what the smell is like to nonsmokers. It's nothing like the smell of cheesecake. It spreads, it clings, it stays around in a room after the smokers have gone. It has to be washed out of your hair and clothing. I might suggest an analogy to someone wearing too much cheap perfume, but cheap perfume isn't being continuously produced by the wearer and doesn't stick to you.
-------------------- When you're in the Sol system, come visit the Starfleet Museum
Registered: Oct 1999
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Da_bang80
A few sectors short of an Empire
Member # 528
posted
SKUNK MUSK!
It's stinky, sticks to stuff, and you carry it where ever you go. And no I'm not saying this from personal experience
-------------------- Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I cannot accept. And the wisdom to hide the bodies of all the people I had to kill today because they pissed me off.
posted
Why do people object to Cigarettes being banned being used in public? I mean people don't shoot-up in public.
And I couldn't agree more about how it sticks to you and your hair and your clothes - it's not a MINOR annoyance - it's a MAJOR annoyance. I hate if you got to a public toilet - and someone is smoking in there - there is like NO air - and your in there for 1 minute and come out smelling like a 60-a-day person. BAH!
Smoking isn't a 'self-contained' thing. It affects a WHOLE lot more people - probably moreso than the user.
I was also think - people don't like exhaust fumes, and burning forests etc. But think of the amount of cigarrettes smoked in 1 day alone and group them all together - that's millions and millions and millions. Now think of the amount of smoke 1 lets off. Now think of that group of cigarrettes - and light them ALL. That's a lot of smoke. No doubt it has to contribute something to the bad-state of the planet? I mean think of the intensity of the fire of all those cigarettes burning at once.
Not to mention the damage they do when idiots throw them out the car window in the bush. Causing huge blazing infernos.
I reckon a good idea would be to have people dob drivers who throw the butts out the window in to say the radio stations. That'll put a stop to these fire-bugs. (Well - at least some of them). Funny that the smokers don't want to litter their OWN CAR with thier OWN cigarrette butts. Most of you in Europe and Canada etc won't appreciate the danger that 1 cigarrette can have to thousands of square kms of bush, the animals that live in them, and the people and their homes that surround it.
Andrew
-------------------- "Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica." - Jim Halpert. (The Office)
"Why do people object to Cigarettes being banned being used in public? I mean people don't shoot-up in public."
Not that I disagree in principle, but your logic is a bit flawed. People don't shoot up in public because it's illegal all-around. Get a bill passed to legalize heroin, methamphetamines, etc. and see if people still take them only in private.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Again, it isn't that I'm denying the validity of the argument that banning smoking leads directly to wealthy fascists personally eating our children, but it just seems to me that there are other, perhaps more serious, threats to liberty that are worthy of attention.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Frankfurt, mid 1989, small underground mall, heroine addicts shooting up in the neck, cuase their arms would do it anymore.... Yeah, so it was 3:00 am and I had been in Sax.... It was still distrubing...
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
Registered: Sep 2000
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quote:The whole problem with smoking anywhere in public is that it IS irresponsible, it IS indiscrete, and it IS offensive to others.
So are cellphones, yet we all carry them. So is sneezing, or coughing, or cycling on the pavements (sidewalks), and a ton of other stuff. Yes, life can be a pain in the ass.
...
But outside, in a free domain, I will continue to excercise my rights to smoke if I wish. If someone doesn't like it, then they can bother to move a few feet away, or stand upwind.
...
Non-smokers may find cigarettes obnoxious, smokers do not. Non car-drivers, pedestrians, find cars obnoxious and irritating, it's a similar thing. Both are necessary and desirable to the user. Both are annoying and a pain in the ass to non-user. Both can harm you, even kill you, etc etc. Life is full of these things. But they cannot be eliminated. Cars are necessary, obviously. But so is tobacco - to those that use it. If you were a smoker, you would understand this.
Except that there are a fair few smokers who have managed to give up. So it's not necessary for anyone. I'm sympathetic, but your argument has as much merit as "Oh, dad, if you took heroin you'd understand why I need it, so just let me carry on, okay?" Cars are primarily a form of transport, and are necessary as such. Smoking is for pleasure. There's a world of difference there.
And yes, mobile phones are annoying. But standing next to someone using a mobile doesn't make you start coughing up. Standing even a foot away from someone sneezing doesn't affect you at all. Same with coughing. Smoking though can hit from a fair distance.
And regarding: "If someone doesn't like it, then they can bother to move a few feet away, or stand upwind."
Why should they have to? As you point out, it's a free world. That means that people have the right to stand where they want without getting a lung full of carcinogenics. You could bother to only smoke indoors. And you might claim that you need to smoke there, but what about people who need to smoke 60 a day? Or 100 a day? Should they be allowed to smoke on planes, because it's "necessary"?
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
You know, it is far easier to give up the alcohol than it is the cigarettes....
No AA, but I haven't had a drink in 3.25 years....
VP, people can give up cars and go by bicycle or foot...
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
Registered: Sep 2000
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"Why do people object to Cigarettes being banned being used in public? I mean people don't shoot-up in public."
Not that I disagree in principle, but your logic is a bit flawed. People don't shoot up in public because it's illegal all-around. Get a bill passed to legalize heroin, methamphetamines, etc. and see if people still take them only in private.
LOL! True. "Excuse me waiter, can I have a new spoon".
OK, what about Urinating in public?
-------------------- "Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica." - Jim Halpert. (The Office)
VP, people can give up cars and go by bicycle or foot...
Liam. Not Lee. Different.
Yes, they could. But it'd take a lot longer for me to get from London to Liverpool on a bicycle.
Yes, I know, public transport. Which I'm generally in favour of. But there are some situations where it's not practical.
Cars fulfil a transportation requirement. This is useful.
Also, I don't know about anyone else, but I'm far less bothered standing a few feet away from a car that's running than standing a few feet away from a smoker.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
The car usually isn't puffing out its toxins at face level.
I'm wondering if insurance companies will wise up and stop giving smokers health insurance. They're a bad risk.
I see no reason to make my premiums higher to pay for the illnesses of people who enjoy breathing carcinogens.
It's like asking us to pay for the head injury treatment of nitwits who play russian roulette.
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I believe that taking away the ability for smokers to smoke in public will make it more inconvenient for people to smoke, so perhaps more people will quit. Also, the price of cigarettes is increasing quite a bit here in NB. Currently they're $9/pk and aobut $60/ctn. I think that my dad may finally be considering quitting after smoking for 35+ years. He just can't afford it anymore.
-------------------- I haul cardboard and cardboard accessories
Registered: Mar 1999
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