So, every week or so, I see yet ANOTHER thread about how my being a smoker kills babies, makes kittens cry, shatters lives, will cause plagues of locusts to descend upon the earth, and generally will cause the universe to divide by zero. While I don't mind people having an opinion of my habits, since I'd be a hypocrite to claim I didn't judge the habits of others, I'm getting tired of people that insist that they have some reason to feel morally superior to me, because they don't smoke, and I do.
Fine, I get it, your body is a freaking temple, and you're the first of a new, perfectly healthy generation of humankind, and it's obvious that my weak-willed, slavering, smoke-tainted genetics wouldn't even be compatible with your obvious superior ones. Great, I'm evil, and I'll forever be damned and made a pariah, reduced to shambling about the edges of society, with a giant red letter S pinned to the shoulder of my shirt.
Could we get over this whiny shit sometime soon? Seriously, I don't like it when people like the Westboro Baptist Church start screaming and frothing about whatever their cause of the month is, and all the non-smokers on these forums seem to behave in a dangerously similar manner: frothing fanaticism and neurotic hatred. None of us like to have things jammed down our throats, and yet, just like a psychologically damaged, doom-screaming street-preaching, so many of you seem like your ready to start screaming obscenities, casting stones and tearing out your own hair, because I choose to smoke.
So, I've decided to be (relatively) adult about my growing disgust at this assumption of moral superiority that I see at LEAST once a week here: I challenge any of you to PROVABLY demonstrate that you have a minimal environmental and moral impact, by going down the following list and PROVING that:
I could make that list go on for pages, but I hope by now you've started to notice that a ridiculously small percentage of the people that insist on crying about how 'smoking condemns everyone around the smoker to a slow, painful death' aren't nearly as 'morally superior' as they've convinced themselves. Lots of people have a much greater environmental impact that any smoker, let alone a group of them.
Yes, you're all shining beacons of self-control and virtue, and you'll all lead exemplary lives, but I really don't give a shit if my smoking offends you; the chances are that if you meet me while I'm smoking, I'm outside, and you're perfectly free to just move away from my terrible exhaust products. That said, if you're willing to be at least reasonably polite about your distaste concerning my habit, I'll generally be courteous in return; hell, I might even stub out my cigarette to talk to you, or refuse to smoke while you're in my vehicle or home.
But leave your self-righteous, ignorant, and self-congratulatory proselytizing at home, because I will just tell you to take your offensive and bigoted hate-mongering elsewhere. I'm already in a minority, so don't imagine that my bad habit is actually that cataclysmic, or that your whining will accomplish anything more than getting me mad at you.
Fine, I get it, your body is a freaking temple, and you're the first of a new, perfectly healthy generation of humankind, and it's obvious that my weak-willed, slavering, smoke-tainted genetics wouldn't even be compatible with your obvious superior ones. Great, I'm evil, and I'll forever be damned and made a pariah, reduced to shambling about the edges of society, with a giant red letter S pinned to the shoulder of my shirt.
Could we get over this whiny shit sometime soon? Seriously, I don't like it when people like the Westboro Baptist Church start screaming and frothing about whatever their cause of the month is, and all the non-smokers on these forums seem to behave in a dangerously similar manner: frothing fanaticism and neurotic hatred. None of us like to have things jammed down our throats, and yet, just like a psychologically damaged, doom-screaming street-preaching, so many of you seem like your ready to start screaming obscenities, casting stones and tearing out your own hair, because I choose to smoke.
So, I've decided to be (relatively) adult about my growing disgust at this assumption of moral superiority that I see at LEAST once a week here: I challenge any of you to PROVABLY demonstrate that you have a minimal environmental and moral impact, by going down the following list and PROVING that:
you don't drive
you don't buys things that have to be transported to you by non-green vehicles
you don't pay taxes towards road and transportation upkeep
you don't get your power from a coal-burning power plant
you don't (knowingly or unknowingly) support clear-cutting, the oil-sands, or resource-harvesting corporations
you don't eat fast food
you don't buy cosmetic products or consumer good that are made of, tested, or otherwise harm animals
you don't have a dwelling that remains weather-proof due to oil-based products
you don't produce any sewage or waste that goes into the river and lakes, or must be transported to a landfill
you don't maintain your dwelling, or allow it to be maintained using gas or electric landscaping methods, or non-natural products.
I could make that list go on for pages, but I hope by now you've started to notice that a ridiculously small percentage of the people that insist on crying about how 'smoking condemns everyone around the smoker to a slow, painful death' aren't nearly as 'morally superior' as they've convinced themselves. Lots of people have a much greater environmental impact that any smoker, let alone a group of them.
Yes, you're all shining beacons of self-control and virtue, and you'll all lead exemplary lives, but I really don't give a shit if my smoking offends you; the chances are that if you meet me while I'm smoking, I'm outside, and you're perfectly free to just move away from my terrible exhaust products. That said, if you're willing to be at least reasonably polite about your distaste concerning my habit, I'll generally be courteous in return; hell, I might even stub out my cigarette to talk to you, or refuse to smoke while you're in my vehicle or home.
But leave your self-righteous, ignorant, and self-congratulatory proselytizing at home, because I will just tell you to take your offensive and bigoted hate-mongering elsewhere. I'm already in a minority, so don't imagine that my bad habit is actually that cataclysmic, or that your whining will accomplish anything more than getting me mad at you.
