Are people too hard on smokers?
- Thread starter The Red Bastard
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Over here in the UK we are way too harsh on smokers and our attitude is totally wrong(non-smoker here myself). On the one hand the government bans smoking in public places (with a little exception for Palaces so they can smoke in the bar in Westminster ofc) and throws out adverts saying what a filthy habit it is, while on the other they rake in enormous taxes from every pack of cigarettes sold. Don't get me started on the oh-so-pious Quit Smoking industry, they can bleat all day about how they want people to stop smoking but they are nothing but a parasite industry: if everyone quit overnight they would go out of business and they know it. Oh yes and the Eurozone bans Swedish snus from everywhere barring Norway and Sweden despite the fact that its the least harmful way of imbibing nicotine, so much so that they cant even put one of those hideous 'black lung' health warnings on it.
So yeah the TL,DR version. We are a bunch of nasty hypocrites when it comes to our attitudes to smokers
So yeah the TL,DR version. We are a bunch of nasty hypocrites when it comes to our attitudes to smokers
Meh, I don't really dislike smokers per se, but as with anything, it's HOW they do it that can bug me.
The first one is smoking next to strangers in waiting areas. It bugs me to no end when someone is smoking at a bus stop while I am waiting for a bus.
Also, and I don't really dislike people for it, but I don't really like it, is just the smell they have. It's probs bad memories where an IT teacher I had during high school just had the worst breath ever. When I asked him for help he would come over my shoulder and.. just ugh. At times he would just come up to me and see how I am doing, which is fine, but still...
I don't really dislike smokers for the health problems, just that it's less pleasant for my nose than it is with a non-smoker. I am sure that it probably gets on people's nerves greatly. It IS a selfish reason, I don't really think that you should really condemn someone for their habits, even bad ones.
The first one is smoking next to strangers in waiting areas. It bugs me to no end when someone is smoking at a bus stop while I am waiting for a bus.
Also, and I don't really dislike people for it, but I don't really like it, is just the smell they have. It's probs bad memories where an IT teacher I had during high school just had the worst breath ever. When I asked him for help he would come over my shoulder and.. just ugh. At times he would just come up to me and see how I am doing, which is fine, but still...
I don't really dislike smokers for the health problems, just that it's less pleasant for my nose than it is with a non-smoker. I am sure that it probably gets on people's nerves greatly. It IS a selfish reason, I don't really think that you should really condemn someone for their habits, even bad ones.
I personally find smoking repulsive, but what people do to their bodies is their choice. While we should certainly offer to help them should they try to quit, they've made a personal choice and that's their business. People are addicted to tea, coffee, fast food, alcohol and drugs everywhere. Everyone has a vice, so smokers really do need a break.
I think it has a link to a certain image: young, smoking, baby in arms, pint, badly dyed blonde hair. So in some cases, obviously not all, it's become a grimy and low signifier of a person with a lack of moral (or just stupid).
In most of these cases this isn't the complete picture, so I don't have a problem with it
In most of these cases this isn't the complete picture, so I don't have a problem with it
If idiots overpopulating the world with their babies in Idiocracy (decent movie) wasn't the main theme, idiots who believe they should be allow to smoke where and when they want, could have worked as another theme too. Eating junk food in front, or next to a bunch of kids, teens or adults wouldn't be as harmful as say smoking. I don't have anything in particular with smokers, but I hate their reaction when they pretend they didn't notice they were trying to smoke in a non-smoking area stealthily. You ain't solid snake.
Easy, people like to get to places fast, it's handy to not have to walk two days to the nearest city and instead spend half an hour on a bus. And measures are being taken to make cars cleaner, if not perfectly clean (like the ones that can drive on hydrogen), smoking however serves no practical use, hasn't taken us to places fast, up into the sky or to the moon, and is just a coping mechanism for people too frail and weak minded to handle their own problems and developed a very unhealthy tick of lighting a cigarette and deluding themselves into the idea that this helps ease their woes.blind_dead_mcjones said:
And some people are indeed just damn inconsiderate about it, just earlier today I saw a young mother waiting on the train and smoking, when not inhaling she was letting the arm holding the cigarette hang limp, conveniently pretty much in her young daughter's face, I probably should've gotten off the train to punch her, but hey. (Also, Belgium's train network is entirely electrified. No loud, polluting diesel engines here
)Mind you, I've befriended a few smokers, most of which have cut the habit by now, good on them, buuuut on that note I do say that I'd never, ever date a woman who also is a smoker.
On a final note, I could just as easily invert this whole thing and ask why many smokers simply love to victimise themselves. =p
i dont think they are hated that much. like smokers arent spat on or beaten up.
but smokers do stink alot, damage theirs and everyone around thems health and smell. also smoking is one of the stupidest habits.
you smoke to releave the effects of your withdrawals from smoking. it creates the problem and offers the solution in one handy tube.
the reason i dislike smokers is partly cause they smell (have i mentioned that?) and partly because it is so pointlessly useless. with drinking you drink and feel all nice and warm and stuff(positive effect). with smoking you smoke and fell all normal and stuff cause all smoking does is get rid of the withdrawal effects(removes the negative effect that it creates).
but smokers do stink alot, damage theirs and everyone around thems health and smell. also smoking is one of the stupidest habits.
you smoke to releave the effects of your withdrawals from smoking. it creates the problem and offers the solution in one handy tube.
the reason i dislike smokers is partly cause they smell (have i mentioned that?) and partly because it is so pointlessly useless. with drinking you drink and feel all nice and warm and stuff(positive effect). with smoking you smoke and fell all normal and stuff cause all smoking does is get rid of the withdrawal effects(removes the negative effect that it creates).
I agree with you. I wouldn't date someone who worked up a sweat a dozen times a day and stank of BO. That would be really quite unpleasant (and time consuming on their part). A friend of mine dated a guy who installed car windscreens and was always complaining about the smell of glue on him, under his fingernails etc. It didn't work out.The Red Bastard said:
There is a reason why the multi million dollar perfume industry exists: smell is a very important thing when choosing a partner for many people, probably a lot more than you realise on a subconscious level. Also I think you are right when you say some people are more sensitive to it than others. Familiarity has a lot to do with reaction to any smell, eg: people live next to rendering plants and are seemingly immune to the smell. Have you ever been to Rotorua?
Personally I don't have any friends or family members who are smokers. Since they banned smoking in bars a while back (and I don't go out much these days) I have found I am actually more bothered by the smell now than 10 years ago when I used to spend lots of my time in smokey pubs.
People who hate/ shun smokers are as bad as racists or homophobes.
while its perfectly reasonable to be annoyed by a smoker smoking "on You"
shunning someone because of a lifestyle choice even a bad one is prejudice.
while its perfectly reasonable to be annoyed by a smoker smoking "on You"
shunning someone because of a lifestyle choice even a bad one is prejudice.
I suppose it is based in that most people consider smokers disrespectful.
you are standing in line, waiting for the bus and someone in the line lights a cigarette without any regard for the other people in line, that, while perhaps not considered so by the smoker, can feel pretty disrespectful.
and frankly if you try to point that out to the smoker it is not unusually you get a rather rude and dismissive response.
I, myself have rather serious asthma because my parents wasn't careful with their smoking when I was an infant.
I am more damaged by their smoking than they themselves ever was, and that is because of their heedless actions.
and on top of that, of all the smokers you know, how many of them thoroughly extinguishes their remaining cigarette butt and actually but it in the dumpster?
I know of no such smoker, they just fling it away, tossing it to the ground, and many smokers smoke several cigarettes per day, think of all these filtered butts that cant be decomposed in nature just being strewn about.
besides, smokers are considered rather expensive for society aswell, there has been a lot of argument here in sweden about whether or not smokers should be allowed health care at the expense of the rest of society, since they are much more likely to become seriously ill.
while of the smokers defend themselves with the fact that they pey more taxes than other since cigaretts have such high taxes, but then the other side claims that sum is not nearly enough to compensate for the hospital costs and so on and so forth.
there are more respectfull alternatives, that's all, for example, if you really need your nicotine there is always snuff.
other don't get harmed when you use it, only you but that is your choice.
I don't know what it is like elsewhere but in sweden, snuff boxes have like a mini stash in the lid where you can put the used snuff so you can dispose of it later.
now as a finnish, I actually don't hate smokers, there are many downsides to smoking, but I suppose if you are ok with that then smoking is your choice.
so it's ok as long as you show me the same ammount of respect by not smoking in my direct vicinity.
BTW. don't smoke when walking down a crowded street that is like THE most stupid thing you can do, pretty much 2nd hand smoking as many people as possible, I'm always amazed at these kinds of acts.
you are standing in line, waiting for the bus and someone in the line lights a cigarette without any regard for the other people in line, that, while perhaps not considered so by the smoker, can feel pretty disrespectful.
and frankly if you try to point that out to the smoker it is not unusually you get a rather rude and dismissive response.
I, myself have rather serious asthma because my parents wasn't careful with their smoking when I was an infant.
I am more damaged by their smoking than they themselves ever was, and that is because of their heedless actions.
and on top of that, of all the smokers you know, how many of them thoroughly extinguishes their remaining cigarette butt and actually but it in the dumpster?
I know of no such smoker, they just fling it away, tossing it to the ground, and many smokers smoke several cigarettes per day, think of all these filtered butts that cant be decomposed in nature just being strewn about.
besides, smokers are considered rather expensive for society aswell, there has been a lot of argument here in sweden about whether or not smokers should be allowed health care at the expense of the rest of society, since they are much more likely to become seriously ill.
while of the smokers defend themselves with the fact that they pey more taxes than other since cigaretts have such high taxes, but then the other side claims that sum is not nearly enough to compensate for the hospital costs and so on and so forth.
there are more respectfull alternatives, that's all, for example, if you really need your nicotine there is always snuff.
other don't get harmed when you use it, only you but that is your choice.
I don't know what it is like elsewhere but in sweden, snuff boxes have like a mini stash in the lid where you can put the used snuff so you can dispose of it later.
now as a finnish, I actually don't hate smokers, there are many downsides to smoking, but I suppose if you are ok with that then smoking is your choice.
so it's ok as long as you show me the same ammount of respect by not smoking in my direct vicinity.
BTW. don't smoke when walking down a crowded street that is like THE most stupid thing you can do, pretty much 2nd hand smoking as many people as possible, I'm always amazed at these kinds of acts.
Yes, if we want to trade minutes of our lives for stress relief it's OUR FUCKING BUSINESS unless a smoker is an asshole and smokes around you even when you politely ask him to stop I see no reason to hate them, hell I see people showing burgers down their throats at mcdonalds all day every day, slowly killing themselves but they get much less hate than smokers. You could argue that second hand smoking is killing you and everyone else around smokers but car exhaust does that anyways + the tax on tobacco probably results in enough money to cover all the medical expenses of smokers, second hand smokers and many many more people.
Here in North Carolina (a state with tobacco farms as far as you can see), they recently outlawed all smoking indoors. It gets into the food and the air and causes health problems to people around them. I have no problem with smokers outdoors, and while I have been friends with smokers, I could never be with one.
--Male smokers, even if they smoke outside and change when they come in, are more likely to be sterile
--If a baby breathes in smoke from your clothes, the risk of SIDS is increased.
--As people mentioned before, the smell gets everywhere. Have you ever stayed in a smoking room at a hotel? Gotten into a smoker's car? Some people are highly allergic.
--I agree with "kissing a smoker is like licking an ashtray," as well as the other physical drawbacks people have mentioned (leathery skin, yellow or brown teeth, lung cancer)
--Male smokers, even if they smoke outside and change when they come in, are more likely to be sterile
--If a baby breathes in smoke from your clothes, the risk of SIDS is increased.
--As people mentioned before, the smell gets everywhere. Have you ever stayed in a smoking room at a hotel? Gotten into a smoker's car? Some people are highly allergic.
--I agree with "kissing a smoker is like licking an ashtray," as well as the other physical drawbacks people have mentioned (leathery skin, yellow or brown teeth, lung cancer)
I think thats because most of those people don't like the smell that follows them around. I'm friends with plenty of smokers, I don't smoke myself, but their car, their house/apartment, and just them in general smell of stale cigarette smoke. To a lot of people that smell is just horrible and repulsive doesn't matter the person. It can even make some people sick and give them headaches.The Red Bastard said:
Maybe on the internet, but in real life nobody ever complained to me about the matter except my asshole neighbour who quit smoking 3 months ago and now hes giving me crap for smoking in the same spot that he used to do it since i was five, but whatever, i agreed, now i use my balcony where it only bothers mosquitos.
In my personal opinion, this hate towards smokers got alot worse after Smoking indoors was banned (At least in england)
Think they smell bad, then they don't look after themselves, it's not hard to carry around some spray or gum to sort that out (And it 100% can).
Angry because it's dangerous? Drinking nightly like alot do is actually alot worse..
but eh
Think they smell bad, then they don't look after themselves, it's not hard to carry around some spray or gum to sort that out (And it 100% can).
Angry because it's dangerous? Drinking nightly like alot do is actually alot worse..
but eh
