Are people too hard on smokers?

[DaMullet]

I was recently reading a thread that asked the question: "what are your deal breakers?" I noticed there was a very large amount of people who claimed smoking was an instant deal breaker, no matter the person, some even going as far as saying they would not even befriend someone who was a smoker.

Now I don't smoke myself, but am I the only person who thinks people are way too harsh on smokers? I find it shocking that so many people are willing to shun someone over one habbit. It seems to me smokers are one of the relatively few groups people are willing to openly hate.

What are your thoughts on the topic?

My thoughts?

I have a bad asthmatic reaction to cigarette smoke and ash. It shuts down the bronchiole in my lungs which stop my ability to take in oxygen.

So if I hang around smokers too much I'll suffocate to death while trying to hyperventilate. Not exactly the way I would want to go.

Even just one lung full of smoke is enough to have my chest hurting for hours, and its real because sometimes I don't even smell the smoke and the pain just appears.

So no, people are not too hard on smokers, because smokers are a life threatening problem for me. I always suggest, if you're stressed, have more sex cause that doesn't kill people!!

 

[JET1971]

i wouldn't like it in a romantic partner though, since kissing a smoker is like licking an ash tray

Ever lick an ashtray? serious question because I have heard the lick and kiss with ashtray many many times and i find it to be quite funny. the flavor of an ashtray is completly different from the flavor of smoke residue on a partners lips. one tastes horrid and the other isnt bad just different but might not be to your liking like some people despise mint.

 

[funguy2121]

Yes, people are too hard on smokers. Reading the content of the OP, though, this question is posed in a two-dimensional way, so I have to qualify my answer.

If you work at a health facility, and can't smoke on your break, get over it (I'm a smoker, and I work at a health facility). If you can't smoke indoors at a bar, go out on the patio.

Everyone else: stop approaching strangers in stores when they cough and asking if they smoke and telling them that they're killing themselves. You are a douchebag, and when you drive with headphones on you're going to kill more than just yourself.

Smokers need encouragement to quit, but not harassment. People who have to fuck with other people while convincing themselves they're really helping aren't actually doing ANYONE a favor. So, to all of you out there who do this: S H U T U P.

That is all.

...and 15 minutes later, I finally got past the captcha.

 

[kickyourass]

Sometimes yes, sometimes no, if someone's simply standing on a street corner smoking, unless they're doing it in front of a school or something I say leave them be. But if someone continues to smoke in your home or business despite being told to stop, I say you should be free to (Verbally) go to town on the asshole.

"I don't know why people smoke."

A common phrase uttered by the befuddled outsider with a simple answer. Because it makes them feel good. We don't shun people for having eating fast food but we do shun this sort of behaviour? Ridiculous. As long as it doesn't affect anyone else, I'm fine with it.

If you can bring me a situation where someone ate fast food, and that caused someone else to develop cancer, that will be a valid comparison. Cause last I checked, eating fast food affected you and only you, whereas second hand smoke can actually give other people lung cancer.

 

[M01070X]

I'm a smoker and I'm fine with people who complain about second hand smoke, as long as they're living in a yurt, burning peat for warmth, eating nothing but tofu and green beans and jogging 15 miles a day. what I'm trying to say is, there's plenty worse things out there for you than second hand smoke so don't be all up in my grill over a cigarette. hell breathing in manhattan at rush hour is probably worse for you than secondary smoke inside.

 

[M01070X]

also google jim fixx

 

[EtherealBeaver]

Smoking hurts the person who smokes just like cakes hurt the person eating the cake - I dont mind one bit what people do to their own bodies.

What I do mind however, is what they force on me. Smoking within 10 meters (30 feet) of other people means that those people will also be affected by the smoke and risk lung cancer, cronically obstructed lungs (COL) and whatever problems absorbing the over 20.000 different substances which are in cigerettes.

I think people should be free to do with their body as they please and thus, I think that people should be free to smoke. However, setting the freedom to smoke of the smokers (30% in my country) over the freedom of the nonsmokers to not be affected by what is essentially forced on them is ludicris.

If that was not enough there is also a more intricate matter which comes with passive smoking. When a smoker smokes, the smoke is filtered, to a degree, by the filter in the cigeret. That does not apply to the people around the smoker which means that people will not primarily get the "cleaned" smoke which the smoker gets.

ON TOP of that, smoke from cigerettes partly consist of microparticles too small for normal breezes to blow them away in less than 2 hours. In other words, a person who smokes in a parking lot will cause every single person who happens to walk past within 10 meters of that place the next 2 hours to be affected by it.

Furthermore, many people suffer from astma and allergies to the many substances in cigarettes. These people did not choose said ailements and I see no reason why a person should be able to actively make other peoples ailements even worse. I have allergic astma but no major problems with smoke - I do, however, know quite a few people who simply cant breathe if there is a person near them smoking and they have to use inhailers to be able to breathe at all after that.

There is no social reasoning at all for allowing smoking. It is not some ancient tradition like alcohol is, it is not something which is nessecary for society to function like cars is and the only thing smoking contributes to society is bad health, worsening of medical conditions, and an extremely unplesant odour - oh and ofc money to tobacco companies.




TL;DR I am strongly against it and would be thrilled to see it completely banned - including all outdoors places. It is definately a deal breaker.


Edit: That said, if people found some way to enjoy cigarettes without affecting people around them at all, I wouldnt mind it one bit. Just like I dont mind people who have other habits which only affect themselves. Some people say that vapourizers can be used so I guess that could be an opening.

 

[finalguy]

i realize this post is going to be buried on the 7th page and maybe 5 pple total will read it, but i feel i need to point out a few errors on the non smokers part, atleast imo they are errors.
1. second hand smoke kills. when pple bring this up to me i tell them to look at it this way 1 cig=1 shot of 200 proof alcohol, while unless in a very small closed space the second hand smoke from send cig is equal to a swimming pool with that shot poured in it. what i mean by this is that i(the smoker) am taking the lions share of the smoke into myself in an undiluted form, where the pple around me are maybe getting 1/1000th of it altho atomized. if it takes me smoking 40 years at a pack a day to get cancer,etc then it would take 1000 times that for a non-smoker to do the same. i know thats not hard fact but its more truthful then second hand smoke kills.
2. this whole there are no benefits to smoking and there is no pleasure derived is also complete ignorance on the part of the non smoker. how can you know if you've never done it. its great how half the non smokers in the thread are experts on smoking and how it effects my body. nicotine is a very sophisticated chemical that works of serotonin levels in the brain, much like prozac,pacxil,and meaning anti-depressants do. its effects may be more short term, but its almost exactly the same in how it works. because of me smoking many MANY jerks have not gotten punched out, and i have been able to push thru crucnchs ,deadlines, and tough situations at work. just because i dont get "drunk" or "high" per se with a cig doesnt mean it doesnt give me a pleasurable feeling.

3.theres no denying health risks for a smoker, but what the ads dont tell you is carcinogenes are in EVERYTHING. fireplaces,tons of prepared foods,car exhaust,clothing,the list goes on and on. that doesnt make smoker "ok" or better, im just saying u could spend ur whole life never meeting a smoker and still get cancer.

im not saying u have to be friends/date a smoker but atleast dont hunt them down to berate them, not without better facts.

 

[Jodah]

I can be friends with a smoker. What I will not do is date a woman that smokes.

 

[Jimmy T. Malice]

I'm perfectly fine with people smoking themselves to oblivion as long as they don't blow it in my face.

 

[EtherealBeaver]

Addendum to my post above: I do not completely reject smokers but I would never date one - and people are not allowed to smoke in my home (not even out the windows). If I can avoid it, I prefer not to go to smokers homes unless they make sure never to smoke indoors (which most of my smoking friends luckily do). It is, however their own home and if I choose to visit a smoker in his own home, he sets the boundaries on what is okay regarding smoke.

Smoking outside in public is an entirely different matter because often people can not just choose not to be close. Bus stops, train stations, entrances to hospitals and shops, busy market streets - the places are endless and why the hell should 30% of the population have more freedom of movement than the other 70% if the reasoning for not wanting to be where the 30% is, is that the 70% actually appreciate their health?

Oh and it smells like crap but I guess that goes without saying. Its just sad that smoking also blocks up to 80% of the smell receptors, making smokers unaware of how much it actually stinks. If you are a smoker, try stopping for just a week, then light up and smoke and note the smell - by then, your smell recepters will be almost in full working order again and you should be able to smell almost what non-smokers smell.

Edit: In the end it comes down to wheter you want to respect the freedom of the 30% to smoke where they want or the freedom of the 70% to not be affected by things they are not interested in. 30% or 70% - how is there even a question of which is more favourable?

 

[VanTesla]

I have no problem with smokers for I have friends and family that smoke. I do however think it's a terrible addiction that will only cause more problems down the road. Many well educated geniuses smoke, but that's because we all have flaws and no human is above those flaws, that I know of. I once knew a man that was 102 years old that smoked since he was 14 and never had one physical problem, that is because of good genetics, the majority of human population don't have that privilege. I hope for a day that all of humanity will stop smoking "not going to happen".

 

[Garrsus]

i hate smokers, i can smell them a mile off, im not hard on them unless they are near, its kinda their fault for getting into it, so let them have it i say.

 

[M01070X]

you ever heard of the great smog? it was a result of heavy industry, car exhausts and natural weather conditions in london, 4000 people died and smoking barely factored in, put it this way if you own a car (evien if its a hybrid) you are putting out as many carcinogens hell probably more than any smoker could if he was smoking like a chimney his whole life. but you don't hear me crying over people using cars. the world's a dangerous place live with it, second hand smoke is the least of your worrys.

 

[GodofDisaster]

I actually get on better with people who do smoke than people who don't, all of my friends are smokers and it's never bothered me at all.

 

[EtherealBeaver]

I have no problem with smokers for I have friends and family that smoke. I do however think it's a terrible addiction that will only cause more problems down the road. Many well educated geniuses smoke, but that's because we all have flaws and no human is above those flaws, that I know of. I once knew a man that was 102 years old that smoked since he was 14 and never had one physical problem, that is because of good genetics, the majority of human population don't have that privilege. I hope for a day that all of humanity will stop smoking "not going to happen".

So you have no problems with them forcing potential health problems on you, feeding you with this many substances: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_additives_in_cigarettes (many of which are deadly) without your concent or even a chance for you to avoid it at all?

you ever heard of the great smog? it was a result of heavy industry, car exhausts and natural weather conditions in london, 4000 people died and smoking barely factored in, put it this way if you own a car (evien if its a hybrid) you are putting out as many carcinogens hell probably more than any smoker could if he was smoking like a chimney his whole life. but you don't hear me crying over people using cars. the world's a dangerous place live with it, second hand smoke is the least of your worrys.

First, in I lands at least cars produce less and less pollution and there is active legistration (sp?) which forces manifacturers to make that even smaller. On top of that, cars are a nessecary evil because without them the world as it is would just not function. Neither can be said about smoking so what you are comparing it to doesnt make sense.

 

[Doc Theta Sigma]

As Bill Hicks put it:

"If I don't smoke there's gonna be secondhand bullets coming your way."

Everyone has their vices. If they're smoking outdoors I really couldn't give two shits.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Yes, Ex-smoker.

For some reason, people think it's perfectly acceptable to attack, demean and abuse someone using a legal product in the way it's intended.

Don't think you'd ever find someone walking up to any other sort of junkie and screaming at them.

What other drug do people attack the junkie but not the dealer?

 

[M01070X]

what I'm saying is that with everything else that causes cancer the only argument you can really hold on to is the smell, yeah smoking causes cancer but you know what so does that hamburger you ate for lunch today, aswell as the fact that the rate of diffusion for tobacco smoke is tremendously high so unless they're purposely blowing it in your face your not getting many more carcinogens per breath than any other time your walking down the street, so why take it out on some guy you don't know just because a portion of is disposable income goes to marlboro.plc