Do you smoke?

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I have only smoked a single cigarette in my entire life. Besides being nasty as all hell, it caused one of the worst asthma attacks I've ever had.

Asthmatics who smoke are just asking for trouble.

 

Its nice to see that so many of the board members don't smoke or have already quit smoking.

 

No, never. Even though I'm still underage, it's quite easy to get hold of cigs around here. but I'm not intending to start.

 

Sorry, but I've found that most fanatic 'anti-smokers' are utter hypocrites that create all manner of air pollution in other means - gas-guzzling vehicles, extravagant waste of electricity (which is all too often generated by burning oil or coal) with air-conditioning, scores of lights on during the day, TVs, radios and computers on when not in use, etc.

No different than an anti-fur protester that had a nice hearty omelet and coffee with plenty of cream for breakfast before pulling on those Doc Martens and hiking on down to the protest march...

Yes, sticking a burning wad of shredded tobacco in your mouth and sucking on the smoke is bad for you, just as ingesting the juice of rotting fruit and taking a poison into your body that will act as a depressant, as well as a behavior modifier that will permit you to do things your better judgement would normally prevent.

How many automobile deaths are listed with smoking as the primary cause?

How many domestic disturbances have police had to investigate where one person was on 'cigarette buzz'?

Yes, smoking (and I'm throwing MJ in there; you're still doing the same general action, so don't think you're off the hook ) is, when looked at rationally, a very stupid thing to do, but so is EVERY vice.

And before you have to bring up the tired old 'second hand smoke' issue, a) your lungs are already filled with more smog than you'll experience unless the 'offender' happens to be looming over your shoulder in an elevator, b) so many places are already 'smoke free' (really cigarette free since they don't make you go through an airlock at the front door to get rid of those diesel fumes from the bus that passed you on the street outside) that basically the anti-smoker has to go LOOKING for the poor cigarette addict to be 'assaulted' with their nasty, vile, evil habit.

In short, I'm on the side of the smokers (even though I don't) because I'm seeing some quite clear PERSECUTION going on here - society always has to have a group that it can hound and stone without any feeling of guilt, and throwing a group of addicts (yeah, they're *hooked* and have a lot of difficulty stopping, remember?) into that role seems more distasteful to me than smelling the results of burning a dried plant.

Don't get me wrong; congrats to all those who have never gotten hooked, or did manage to throw off the addiction, and I'll provide all manner of support to any smoker that wants to stop, but I'm not going to disavow someone simply because they have one habit that society feels comfortable in vilifying.

Just remember to 'hate the sin but love the sinner' if you don't want me coming down on you like a ton of...tobacco leaves.

Yup; usually they are; usually by stress that they fall to grasping at a known legal relaxant. Or similarly the first time they get drunk...


But on a lighter note,

Ouch; how did you hold them up to your mouth? Or carry a package of them around with you without a forklift?

(Yes, I know, but these sorts of jokes always pop into my head whenever someone mentions the brand )

Seriously, MoN/Old One, glad you stopped (don't think of it as 'quitting' since there's such subconscious negative connotations with that word) and think of all the money you'll save (in laundry as well as just the cigs themselves )

[ May 21, 2007, 22:29: Message edited by: jaded empath ]

 

JE while going down your rant why didn't you bring up the issue of health care? Smoking related illness cost the US over $100 billion dollars per year. Yeah, that was billion -- $100,000,000,000.00 per year. Approximately $20 billion in medicare and medicaid. Do you realize that everyone, even non-smokers, are paying that price?

I'm not at all concerned about the pollution caused by smokers -- that's small potatos in the scheme of pollution. I am concerned about the costs of the health care. Give me a checkbox on my tax form asking if I want to pay $1000 to keep a smoker alive -- as far as I'm concerned it was their choice to start and they should pay for it (or die without the care). Persecution? Fine. If someone makes a choice to be stupid, let them pay for it.

Let's talk about littering and wildfires. Every DAY I see some pinhead throw a LIT cigarette out his or her car. Every day. How many wildfires do you hear about being started by a lit cigarette? I hear about them every year -- thousands of acres of State and National parks destroyed by cigarettes every year.

As far as smoking as primary cause of death, it's call being a distracted driver. From the numbers I've found approximately 0.25% of all automotive crashes are caused by smoking. While that is nowhere near the whopping 20% caused by alcohol it is still quite significant (approximately 2,500 accidents per year). And yes, there are fatalities listed for this category.

Domestic disturbance? How about FIRE? Nearly 1,000 people die every year in residential fires caused by smoking. Police show up to those, as does the fire department -- which everyone pays for (not just the smokers).

Yeah, I'm biased against smoking and smokers. But there are a lot of very valid reasons. There appears to be some culture around smoking that makes people careless about the whole thing -- it's as if they put the cigarette in and turn off their brain. Change that culture (and make the cigarette companies fund medicare) and people may not be so biased.

 

Lol @ JE.
Imagine the troubles I had with getting the package out of the automatic.

If anyone wants to smoke, than that's oke with me. Just don't expect my sympathy for any of them charging Philip Morris for millions because thet didn't know it would be bad for your health. And I'd rather give my lungs to someone who treats them respectfully.
If my neighbour's house goes up in flames and mine along with it, because of a sigaret, I don't blame him for smoking. I blame him for his lack of attention.

 

i smoke around 10-20 a day.

around 50 if i'm clubbing

 

oh, I'm just shaking in my shoes, j_e's gonna yell at me!

Your rant was ridiculous. You've completely lost the scope of the argument by nit-picking the details. The issue here isn't whether or not any individual makes more pollution or litter than any other person (even though smoking is a source of both and the non-smoker automatically has an edge, however small it may be), it's the fact that the non-smoking majority is forced to endure the detritus and fallout of the filthy habit of a small minority. You're right, in a way - the world is already so dirty that the contribution of any one smoker is negligible. But my point is this - it's also VOLUNTARY. We are forced to accept enough unavoidable sources of pollution that we shouldn't have to worry about those that CAN be stopped, and that are not balanced out by an overarching societal benefit. Smoke comes out of a factory as a side-effect of producing an element of commerce. Smoke comes out of a cigarette as a side effect of self indulgence.

If someone wants to smoke, fine - just keep it out of the public space entirely, and don't expect ANY public money as assistance when it's finally time to pay the price of your own stupidity.

[ May 22, 2007, 11:04: Message edited by: Rallymama ]

 

Hear here!

I personally don't enjoy getting an asthma attack when I have to walk through a cloud of smoke just to get in to a building...and one can only hold his breath for so long.

 

You know, you non smokers can always go around us smokers. There are other ways to get somewhere other than plowing through our haze.

 

@kuemp: Why should we? Why should we have to be inconvenienced to accomodate your selfishness?

 

I smoked for half of my life: I started when I was 13 and then quit at 26. It took me a long, long time to quit, and much personal reflection. Nicotine is a blight upon humanity. I think it is hard for a non-smoker to imagine the degree to which the perception of a smoker is warped. Addictive drugs have the ability to prevent a very unhappy person from 'knowing' that they are unhappy. It is truly awful to behold, and very confusing and demeaning to experience first-hand.

I think the 'curing' of the capacity for human beings to behave addictively is going to be the next medical breakthrough that will rival antibiotics in its complete alteration of the average life; significantly increased well-being for the average person will result. I'm not saying it is going to happen anytime soon...but still, I can dream.

[ May 23, 2007, 06:04: Message edited by: Late-Night Thinker ]

 

@ Kuemper: Well, there are plenty of times that the smoke is unavoidable. It doesn't help that smoke is gaseous so its gonna diffuse into a large area.

 

Old joke --

First guy: You mind if I smoke?
Second guy: I don't care if you burn.

kuemper: Actually, now that second hand smoke has been linked to cancer it really seems more a responsibility of smokers to ensure others are not affected. To do anything less is simply callous and irresponsible. Plowing through the haze is often the only way into a building -- which is why many communities are adopting no smoking zones around entrances.

 

Funny. My charming species always struck me as a particularly self-destructive, irresponsible, callous one.

What has changed to make these characteristics appear reprehensible in smokers all of a sudden?

 

I smoked a pack a day of Marlboro reds for a good long time. I've now moved down to Marlboro Lights, and have cut my cigarette consumption to about 8 per day. The baby is due in August - I have three more months.

 

You can do it, Aldeth.

 

You can still smoke and have children, course you can. Just go outside for 5 minutes to have a crafty drag, that's all.