Zeithri said:
I'm going to address the attempt to debate my point about outside, first: Cars. Trucks. Industry. They all produce more airborne pollutants than I do, or than any 100 smokers, all madly puffing away do. I'm not going to have a major impact on the health of most people around me, in an outdoor location, relative to other sources of pollutants, or at all, if you consider the rate at which any airborne particulate disperses into the air. We're not talking about sarin gas, which requires a minuscule ppm count to kill, we're talking about something that's already in the ppm's, before it even comes BACK from my lungs.
Also, if second hand smoke could cause instantaneous cancer, natural selection would have instantly prevented a lot of individuals from passing on that problematic gene.
And then there's the 'smokers only smoke when they're packed in with non-smokers like sardines in a can': I actually try to avoid those situations, in that if I REALLY want to have a smoke, I'll move to a downwind position, so that the smoke doesn't even carry towards the non-smokers.
Ultrajoe said:
But I am better than smokers because I don't smoke. It's not really a difficult concept.
It's your choice, but don't rant about how you don't like being treated poorly because you're dependent on inhaling poison for your chemical balance. If I told people I need to spray asbestos into the air so I could deal with, like, how freaking hot it is around here, man... yeah, I'm not going to be surprised when I get sneered at.
Smoking is a choice. With that choice comes some downsides. One of those is a sense of immense moral invulnerability, I have no doubt I am about to witness it.
How about people that require medical marijuana? Marijuana has been proven to cause many of the same respiratory conditions as tobacco use, but I'd like you to look at a terminal cancer patient entitled to medical use, and tell them that they can't have it. How about you suggest that their family members can't be with them while they fade away, because THAT second-hand smoke might contribute to cancerous lesions?
Also, you should pick a little more plausible example, since even when asbestos WERE used, they weren't sprayed on. In fact, the cancers associated with asbestos are mostly linked to cutting it, which introduces the fibres in the air, and with sharp little ends that stick into the soft pink tissues in your lungs.
And no, lack of a bad habit doesn't make you better than anyone else. Does you or I not having been a member of the Khmer Rouge, the Nazi Party, or Stalin's Communist Party make me better than you? No, but my ability to be adult and conscientious makes me morally superior to 90+% or North Americans, instantly.
viranimus said:
/applaud.
I would give your diatribe a 10/10... had it been a verbalized speech instead of coming onto a message board where basically no body is effected by your smoke. Otherwise 6/10.
I used to smoke and I have been a smoker for over a decade, and ill say this. Yes its your right to do what you want to with your body. It does adversely effect your health. I hope for your sake you come to that realization of your own accord and quit, because I do know first hand the hell struggling for air can be.
One thing though ...
"None of us like to have things jammed down our throats"
I hope you do at least understand that smoking is crammed down everyones throat. I challenge you to go into any gas station in this country and not see at least one display of smokes 8x10 or larger, displayed prominantly right at the counter so it can readily be seen, in a location that if you plan on making any sort of purchase, you will be exposed to. If it hadnt been for regulations, you would still see tobacco advertised on televsion, but anywhere else people might look you can guarantee youll see it. Im not saying its wrong.. im just saying that the notion of buying tobacco is just as crammed down peoples throats, if not more than individuals self serving opinions. It all boils down to marketing. Tobacco companies are beyond mastery with it, because really when you whittle it down to the absolute lowest common denominatior (NOM!) they have managed to illicit this level of fervor in someone to have people pay for the privilege of extremly slowly poisoning themselves, and get bent out of shape and rant on how they are discriminated against for it.
So again.. I do understand where your coming from. And there is a proactive discrimination against smokers, especially with the new bevy of laws that have came up, like public smoking bans, bans on smoking in bars, the absolutely excessive taxation of it or any of the other regulations surround in. It is your body, and if you want to screw it up, that is absolutely your right. But venting to strangers you dont know, on a subject they have never been face to face with you about, is more than a little misguided, but hey, we all need to vent some time.
Which country? I live in Canada, and tobacco advertisements are illegal, so I don't see ANY giant signs displaying tobacco products, and all the smokes I buy have graphic warning on the pack that take up HALF THE PACK. For example:
Also, if you like, I have audacity, so I could actually record this sort of thing, quite handily. In fact, I did, for the Escapist Radio podcast, although they haven't used it, since it's obviously a somewhat agitating subject.
Then there's the fact that every one of the threads over the last month that have concerned smoking have been filled with 'people I don't know. who've never been face-to-face with me' telling me that my habit might cause the universe to divide by zero.
