I think that his anology is a good one because I personally find the smell of cigarette smoke as terrible and disgusting as having an air horn blown into my ear is deafening and annoying.

Have you ever had an air horn blown into your ear?

Yes I have. Do you remember how terrible cigarette smoke smells?

People that talk about politics, science and history and yet don't know anything about those topics.

I have to side with the Anti-Smoke crowd here. The smell revolts me, and it dries my eyes. If you smoke and someone around you doesnt, the least you can do is smoke outside or in a well ventilated area. At this point, if I have to be in a room with a family member who smokes, I put the shirt over my nose and mouth, is it 'offensive' to the smoker? Yes, but their smoke is just as offensive to me, so why should I [censored] foot around with their feelings?

@Styles- You must HATE todays politicians then.

I'm not going to assume every healthy individual who walks by me is going to get deafened by my addiction of blowing an air horn into their ear. That's just an abnormal reaction, just like the common reaction of bronchitis (especially chronic bronchitis when exposed to enough of it, and even more-so in the earlier years) in perfectly normal/healthy people to you is an abnormal reaction. The view from this horse looks pretty good. Too bad some are too drown in their own silly and dangerous addictions to see the effects it has on others.

Thankfully in Ontario, and plenty of other places now, the old, common proverbial (sometimes literal) middle finger smoker gets slapped with a nice fine or worse for their effort. Unfortunately they couldn't responsibly handle their own addiction and had to have laws made to hold their hand like a five year old.

That I do, that I do lol.

As for the smoking thing. I don't smoke and never have but my parents do, my mom always and my dad off and on for years. I know the smell can be bad. I visit my parent and I notice it, but it goes away after an hour or so. I don't mind smokers, if they want to smoke let them.

Only thing I ask of those that smoke is ask me before you light up in my place. Be respectful. After all they have been driven out of every public building and can't smoke in most if not all privet places. Some place they can't smoke in parks and where I live they can't smoke in cars if kids are in it. Soon they won't be allowed to smoke in their own homes.

If governments passing all these "can't smoke here" laws really thought smoking was really bad for people that would just ban it out right, but they don't because they still make billions in taxes.

I also find it funny that some people have no problem with people smoking a certain weed but are against tobacco smokes. Just seem hypocritical to me. Anti-smoking groups like many of the human rights groups out there already won their major battles, and are now just trying to find reasons to stay employed and are starting (if not already have) to infringe on people's rights.

Anyways end of little rant sorry if its to political.

As a smoker, I feel it's all about respect, you know?

Don't smoke where non-smokers vacate, don't smoke somewhere if you are unsure of the rules for smoking and so on. However, that passive smoking crap is crap, you're not going to end up with any permanent damage from being around a smoker for five minutes or less, every once in a while. Especially not if you're outside. But that smoking is not healthy, is very, very true.

I love being a hypocrite.

Passive smoking is far from crap. I'm not sure where you derived this line of thinking from, but it sounds like passive smoke denialism which is unfortunately more common than I'd like to think, but not surprising given the amount of disinformation being spread about.

In my case as a child I didn't know better and I was around people who did smoke, people who would smoke in their garage while playing cards, in the house, standing outside next to people smoking, it does add-up, and even with chronic bronchitis I was still a healthy kid who regularly played sports, but a friend of mine wasn't so lucky. It's not to say that one who passes by cigarette smoke is guaranteed to get [insert respiratory disease/cancer here] but certainly can be the catalyst which helps bring it on. The complete disregard for the health of others is what has brought legislation around the world against second hand smoking. While I would certainly hope no one is banned from smoking in their own home (unless they have kids and it causes adverse effects upon them in which case some type of child protective services gets called) unfortunately far too many smokers have shown virtually non-existent restraint in consideration for the health of others (for the ones that have, bravo), particularly in public, so at some point people are forced to do something about it -- no brainer there. Everyone has the right to be healthy and to not be exposed to this nasty [censored], just like I couldn't get away with blowing an air horn in people's ears due to the debilitating effect it has upon their ears, smokers here can't get away with smoking in building entrance-ways forcing others to partake in their addiction.

I'm not saying passive smoking isn't dangerous, just the the effects of it seem highly exaggerated, to the degree that it's just as dangerous as being a smoker. That is [censored].

And smoking around kids? Open a window or two, or go outside on the porch, it's not that difficult.

Are you as adamant against vehicle exhaust as well, 3rd eye, or just smokers? I'm asking because one of my [censored] psychotic hatreds (I don't have 'pet peevs') are non-smokers who are as vocal as you are, but then drive a Hummer. It's not for nothing that they say you're better off smoking a pack a day than bicycling in New York / London cross town traffic.

Get my drift?

While I agree with the 2nd smoke argument I feel it's one sided.So many things in our society are extremely harmful yo our health, but the smoker seems to be singled out as the anti-christ of it all.

The way I view it, so long as someone who smokes at least makes some effort to avoid having their second hand smoke inhaled by other people then it is okay. But smoking right in the middle of a public entrance is not okay. Just a wee bit off to the side is fine though. Children do walk through there after all. And it is the law to be 20-30 feet away from public entrances is it not?

The smell of [censored] smoke.
Loud noises after a peaceful silence.
The dog barking and interupting said silence.
When I go out to buy my mum something and she drags me into shops to get stuff for me when I'm not interested in me.
Lag
Public transport
Crying babies

Crusades about smoking, and smoking and public places.

If you're going out in public, you're going to have to deal with a certain amount of obnoxiousness and disregard for your person. To expect anything else is unrealistic.

I should probably avoid debate with you since you clearly have a sour disposition toward smokers, but hell, I should at least make my case.

Precisely. Blowing an air horn into someone's ear, however, is not an acceptable action. In that respect, it's nothing like smoking.

That is not the "common reaction". I've never had someone walk by me smoking and contract bronchitis. It's quite obvious that walking by someone who's smoking outside will not affect the most people's health in any significant, permanent, or noticeable way. That's just the way it is. If you don't believe me, go to a bar and watch people walk by a person smoking outside.

As for the law bit, well I guess we're all children for having driving laws, employment laws, or any laws at all.

Oh god yes. This, a thousand times this. It's just so excruciatingly unnecessary to drive this way. I mean, these tailgaters won't get to their destination any quicker by driving so close. And if they are in a hurry, then why not overtake?

All it's doing is creating the possibility of an accident where one need not exist. If a deer/child/car/mole rat jumped out in the road ahead and you had to slam on the brakes, they are giving themselves absolutely no chance to avoid going straight into the back of you.

Damn, that felt good

That I let myself get svcked into threads like this, and then my disposition turns sour...

People that regret stuff they've done
People that agree with my views
People playing music that loud I can hear it [-] seats away on the bus, no need.
People who shout down the phone.
Foreigners that shout down the phone in their language
Neds
Gays that feel the need to speak in high tones when no one kicked their balls.
People that ask for an opinion then get offended by it.
People that get offended by opinions about certain issues that don't involve them.
Spending money.
Slow bus drivers.
Time.
Mental deterioration.

Toward the immature ones. It's obvious who they are.

Since they don't contract it in front of your face, I doubt you followed them to their house or the doctor's to find out.

People walking into a bar generally don't care about smoke, either smoke themselves, or expect it. Horrible anology to any public building, but you conveniently ignore at the very most insignificant some do have allergy-like reactions to it which are instantaneous, it's called coughing, I doubt your concern is what it does to their lungs, therefore it's not my concern who blows an air horn into your ear. A healthy person can take it. That's just the way it is. If you don't like this combative logic, perhaps consideration of others and their health will take you much further. You aptly show why we unfortunately have smoking laws. Hand needs to be held.

Or straw man laws?


I've heard the argument concerning vehicles countless times and while I dislike how polluting vehicles are they do serve people a common, positive purpose, which is transportation. Sometimes good or extremely useful things do have a by-product or a downside -- now here's the awesome part.. what's the useful or necessary thing about person A breathing all the [censored] in cigarette smoke from person B, pray tell, that necessitates the comparison to a vehicle? Translation: How are cigarettes as useful to another person as a vehicle is or can be? Really it should be blatantly rhetorical.

Unfortunately smokers are everywhere, not just New York, people smoke in their house in front of children, before laws were made to curb this, people smoked in buildings in front of children, in a car with children (contrary to popular belief opening the window doesn't expel the smoke so the child breathes in none of it or some insignificant amount, they are in fact breathing quite a bit of it), didn't give a rats ass or gave the middle finger when asked to put it out with consideration of others' health so it's not the same thing as avoiding going to New York to reduce the amount of air pollution that goes into my lungs. The disrespect for others health due to that one person's own addiction, which serves absolutely no physical benefit to another, is to the contrary unhealthy for them to breathe, has necessitated smoking laws due to the inability of the smokers to care about the health of others. Note that this is not about all smokers before someone comes charging in armed with a straw man sword, there are some good smokers who keep smoke away from others, kindly walk outside, away from entrance ways, where they know they're subjecting others to any decent concentration of it. Those people I respect, and those people unfortunately in some cases suffer to do their disrespectful smoking counterparts' lack of due diligence.

Agreed.


Edit: I regret that...

I'm a light smoker who has no issue with public anti-smoking laws and tries hard to be polite (I don't even smoke in the house because it's bad for my cats & I carry out butts in my pocket if I have to) but the day they tell me I can't smoke in my own single-family backyard (I'm not talking side-by-side touching condo-patios here) is the day I may start being less polite about it.

repeat questioning

when my asnwer becomes a script it's gone on too long.

+1

I have chain-smoking relatives and I literally cannot be in their house for more than 20 minutes at a time. And they have a kid.

People that stop at round abouts even though there is blatantly nothing coming from the right, why stop? Then they wonder why they got rear ended.

Chavs.

Members of the public that complain and become very emotive about trivial matters when I'm at work, I suppose its the fact that they actually think I give a flying [censored] about whatever it is they are pissing on about.

Lazy people.

Face book.

I don't like walking in or through crowds, because people never match my pace and they always seem to just cut me off, or turn around, or some other dumb thing.
I also don't really like it when someone complains extensively about something they don't like.
Or when people try to pass off their beliefs as what you should also believe in, or how someone else s beliefs are wrong or dumb.