another smoking ban

[voerman]

I too find that non-smokers have become more intolerant of smokers as result of some bad apples but far more than they should be. It seems a whiff of smoke is enough to set off some of the more rabid non-smokers. I recall last year (or maybe the year before) a young girl being castigated by another woman for smoking in a side street, bleating that the "stench was unbearable" to her and all she wanted to do to go to work "without being poisoned".

I was nearby (just waiting around for a friend) and I interjected, candidly pointing out to the women that her tirade was about her anti-smoking zealotry and not about clean air. The fact was there was a foul stench of the garbage, car exhaust in the side-street and other unidentifiable smells. Evidently, she had no problem with these sources of pollution, however, this young girl's smoke was an issue, which I made a point of focus.

It seems people are willing to put up with all sorts of noxious fumes until the source is found to be a cigarette and then the become embolded enough to stop their travel and publicly rebuke strangers. Perhaps I should have minded my own business at the time but the hypocrisy was to much for me to bear and I felt I had to say something. There was some satisfaction, however, as the women left in a huff and the girl smiled and thank me.

Did it occur to you that the woman's tirade against the girl's inconsiderate smoking habits might have encouraged the girl to quit smoking and allowed her to live years longer? Also your "helping" her might have negated this admittedly unlikely but possibly happy outcome.

Pure speculation.

Lou

 

[wolfmanxiii]

Did it occur to you that the woman's tirade against the girl's inconsiderate smoking habits might have encouraged the girl to quit smoking and allowed her to live years longer? Also your "helping" her might have negated this admittedly unlikely but possibly happy outcome.

Pure speculation.

Lou

Yep, let's completely ignore huge warnings plastered all over tobacco products, billboards, magazines, television, and radio and blame others for people smoking or not smoking rather than the person who is doing it...did it occur to you that the girl knew the risks and didn't care? Did it occur to you that her unhealthy habits are her decision and not up to somebody else to try and "correct"? I knew it was bad for me when I smoked cigarettes, but pushing it in my face and preaching to me did no good at all. In fact it only irritated me in turn causing me to crave another smoke. I quit for my own reasons on my own time and with nobody else' help and it was a decision I made myself.

Just speculation, but I would think that by now anyone not living in a third-world country (and maybe even they know) knows the risks of smoking and continue to make the decision to smoke. If the girl wanted to quit she would be asking for the help you believe the woman was giving her. However in this case the woman was harassing the girl, making a scene, and acting completely out of turn while imposing her own beliefs onto her.

The following statement is a bit of a long shot and exaggeration admittedly, but still something to think about: Isn't that kind of treatment received from that lady part of why we came to America in the first place?

 

[instpasr]

Unfortunatly the bottom line is that as a people both smokers and nonsmokers we are very inconsiderate of each others feelings. Smokers just want there nicotine fix and the nons don't want to have to even see the smoke from a mile away. The bad apples have ruined it for everyone.

 

[wolfmanxiii]

Well stated.

 

[DFrancis]

While I do detest the smell of cigarette smoke when I'm out walking downtown, that does not mean that those people should have to butt out. It's outside, a lot of friends of mine that smoke are very courteous and stand downwind, they also properly dispose of their butts. A few jerks of both sides of the debate are making everybody look bad.

 

[DE Shaver]

Did it occur to you that the woman's tirade against the girl's inconsiderate smoking habits might have encouraged the girl to quit smoking and allowed her to live years longer? Also your "helping" her might have negated this admittedly unlikely but possibly happy outcome.

Pure speculation.

Lou

However in this case the woman was harassing the girl, making a scene, and acting completely out of turn while imposing her own beliefs onto her.

Bingo! It seems some people get it.

 

[wolfmanxiii]

While I do detest the smell of cigarette smoke when I'm out walking downtown, that does not mean that those people should have to butt out. It's outside, a lot of friends of mine that smoke are very courteous and stand downwind, they also properly dispose of their butts. A few jerks of both sides of the debate are making everybody look bad.

I admire your tolerant attitude being someone who doesn't like cigarette smoke. I don't like it so much either since I stopped smoking them and can smell it even when someone is smoking in their car in traffic and happens to pass by.
That being said I apologize if I went overboard at all and was being one of these jerks. This is one of those things I feel strongly about and understand that this can cause one to be rude and not think things through completely before stating their argument.

Bingo! It seems some people get it.

Thank you for defending that girl and displaying compassion for another in need of defense.

 

[MickToley]

I smoked cigarettes for 10 years, I feel much better without and don't really like to be around them.

Tobacco products kill, they are just LEGAL DRUGS

 

[DFrancis]

I admire your tolerant attitude being someone who doesn't like cigarette smoke. I don't like it so much either since I stopped smoking them and can smell it even when someone is smoking in their car in traffic and happens to pass by.
That being said I apologize if I went overboard at all and was being one of these jerks. This is one of those things I feel strongly about and understand that this can cause one to be rude and not think things through completely before stating their argument.

I don't think you went overboard at all and in no way thought you were being a jerk. I was more referring to people who litter their butts everywhere, and non-smokers who think that just because they don't like something they have a right to belittle smokers for smoking. I do enjoy walking by people smoking a nice cigar or a pipe and I smoke shisha myself on occasion.

 

[voerman]

Yep, let's completely ignore huge warnings plastered all over tobacco products, billboards, magazines, television, and radio and blame others for people smoking or not smoking rather than the person who is doing it...did it occur to you that the girl knew the risks and didn't care? Did it occur to you that her unhealthy habits are her decision and not up to somebody else to try and "correct"? I knew it was bad for me when I smoked cigarettes, but pushing it in my face and preaching to me did no good at all. In fact it only irritated me in turn causing me to crave another smoke. I quit for my own reasons on my own time and with nobody else' help and it was a decision I made myself.

Just speculation, but I would think that by now anyone not living in a third-world country (and maybe even they know) knows the risks of smoking and continue to make the decision to smoke. If the girl wanted to quit she would be asking for the help you believe the woman was giving her. However in this case the woman was harassing the girl, making a scene, and acting completely out of turn while imposing her own beliefs onto her.

The following statement is a bit of a long shot and exaggeration admittedly, but still something to think about: Isn't that kind of treatment received from that lady part of why we came to America in the first place?

But different people are motivated by different stimuli. A woman yelling at you for polluting the air she is breathing possibly would not make you think more deeply about quitting. But certainly you can conceive of the poor girl waking up that morning thinking of quitting a habit she knows is most likely killing her. Maybe her family has been "on her case" to quit. Maybe her boyfriend broke up with her because he could not stand the smell. And just maybe the woman yelling at her could have been the final impetus for her to take the all important first step to quit.

Public smoking is an exceedingly emotional topic which effects different people in different ways. Perhaps this was the fourth cigarette the lady was forced to breath in that morning and she finally chose to exercise her first amendment right to free speech - something valued in the US.

As an aside: One of the coolest nonsmoking signs I have seen was mounted just above the fire extinguisher in a kayak store. It said:

"If we see you smoking we will assume you are on fire and take the appropriate action".

If the lady had extinguished the girl's cigarette with a fire extinguisher then she would have indeed been imposing her beliefs on another.

Lou

 

[DE Shaver]

Perhaps this was the fourth cigarette the lady was forced to breath in that morning and she finally chose to exercise her first amendment right to free speech - something valued in the US.

I think you are missing something here. Free speech is one thing, which is to speak without censorship and/or limitation. However harassment is another, which is intended to disturb or upset someone using a hostile or aggressive manner. What the woman did is clearly harass someone, which is not a condoned or acceptable practice and in a more severe context illegal. Harassment is not valued in the United States as there are laws in place to prevent this form of verbal abuse. The exercise of free speech is something someone can do without chastising strangers.

 

[voerman]

I think you are missing something here. Free speech is one thing, which is to speak without censorship and/or limitation. However harassment is another, which is intended to disturb or upset someone using a hostile or aggressive manner. What the woman did is clearly harass someone, which is not a condoned or acceptable practice and in a more severe context illegal. Harassment is not valued in the United States as there are laws in place to prevent this form of verbal abuse. The exercise of free speech is something someone can do without chastising strangers.

Yes but blowing cigarette smoke at someone is considered harassment by some people. Also in the woman's opinion you may have harassed her. Do two "harassments" cancel each other?

So let's see, in the broadest view of the definition of harassment, the girl harassed the woman, the woman harassed the girl and you harassed the woman. I think the woman came out behind if you count harassments.

I will stop harassing you now.

Lou

 

[DE Shaver]

Yes but blowing cigarette smoke at someone is considered harassment by some people. Also in the woman's opinion you may have harassed her. Do two "harassments" cancel each other?

Clearly, you're just trolling now. Defending someone from harassment does not constitute harassment.

I will stop harassing you now.

Thanks. I think this thread has run its useful course.

 

[wolfmanxiii]

Yes but blowing cigarette smoke at someone is considered harassment by some people.

I have reason to believe that if the young woman was blowing smoke directly at the lady on purpose the situation would have unfolded a little differently than it did. The lady walking down the same alley that the girl happened to be smoking in is entirely different from what you're making it out to be.

Also, if I'm ever sprayed with a fire extinguisher and am not on fire, I will consider it a weapon and therefore the person wielding an attacker intending to harm me and act accordingly. It would be funny to see someone stop, drop, and roll because they actually thought they were on fire.

 

[instpasr]

I don't believe smoking out of doors constitutes harassment as it's not covered in the clean air act or the general duty standard. People need to become more tolerant all the way around. Those of us that don't smoke no longer have to work in smoke filled work places, be thankful. I think the company could provide an accommodation that is not right at the entrance to a building after all they do provide an accommodation for those of us that are caffeine addicted, it's called the lunch room.

 

[wolfmanxiii]

It would be nice if employers would do something like that for smokers...I worked for a casino once that had a small enclosed room within the break room with a special ventilation system for smokers and that was quite nice. I worked at a restaurant one time that would not allow you to smoke on the grounds at all, not even in your own car.

 

[_JP_]

I too find that non-smokers have become more intolerant of smokers as result of some bad apples but far more than they should be. It seems a whiff of smoke is enough to set off some of the more rabid non-smokers.

This is actually a result of a cultural change that is going on here in the U.S. It has become acceptable for non smokers to speak up about smoke in their faces, where it used to just be tolerated by them a few decades ago. And there are those who get militant about it. I can think of other things where people react the same way because of it becoming socially acceptable to be against something.

The same thing happened with doggy-doo. When I was growing up everybody's front yards were literally littered with that crap. So bad that everywhere now has laws about picking up after your dog. You rarely see that crap anymore, but it took legislation to bring about change. And people do speak up to irresponsible dog owners about it. Now, it's happening with smoking. We're still at the beginning of that change.

 

[steveclarkus]

I'm going camping in a National Park this week. I'm taking my pipes and a pistol and I am going to smoke.

Nannies are in season this month too.

Have you noticed there are generally more sick looking people in health food stores than in tobacco shops? Speaks volumes about hypochondria doesn't it?

There was a new study out today saying all the old studies are as wrong as this new study will be as soon as a newer study comes out.

I was born in America and I don't recall moving but it seems I must have as I'm certainly not in the same place any longer.

 

[instpasr]

Is there a limit on nannies or can you take as man y as you can bring down?

 

[DarthFlader]

I
I was born in America and I don't recall moving but it seems I must have as I'm certainly not in the same place any longer.

Well, non-smokers needed a reason to ban smoking, since "I don't like it" doesn't really suffice in the USA (or at least, it didn't used to.) So the myth of "deadly" second hand smoke was cooked up by the political left, and here we are twenty five years later.

Folks, if you do a little research, there's no evidence to suggest that walking past a smoker is more dangerous than walking past a farter. Before you start gagging, coughing and screaming "OMG the poison!", perhaps you should re-examine the evidence. You may be surprised how duped we have become as a society.