Sunday, October 09, 2005

Hate Smoking, Not The Smoker

Let me get something off my chest. I hate smoking. I hate coming home from a night out smelling of smoke. I think that public smoking is a selfish and incredibly rude habit. Tell me something Dear Constant Reader, why do people think they have the right to smoke around me? Because Dear Reader... they do. I hate to say it but if obnoxious people have the right to stop me in the street just to say "God you are tall aren't you?" and if I have the right to get stupidly drunk and irritate others then why don't smokers have the right to be selfish and rude??

The idea of banning smoking is so illiberal it hurts. I loved the fact in San Francisco I could go out and come home still smelling fresh. But is that worth someone else losing part of their freedom? No it's not. This Government has done quite a few good things, especially for us moxes. But it has down far more bad things... plans for ID cards, ASBOs, a massive increase in police powers and caused a panic in the face of a terrorist threat from inside our country (despite the fact this country has a long history of fighting internal terrorism and hasn't had to panic before...). Banning smoking is just another sign of this behemoth of a Government taking our freedoms away "for our own good".

If people didn't like people smoking near them they should turn round and tell them that. If your friends smoke around you without taking your feelings into account dump them!! We don't need more legislation... we just need to be a bit more proactive.

6 comments:

  1. Hey Jae..it's a conspiracy I tell you! they are slowly taking everything away from us.. anyhow I understand what your saying. It's been over 2 weeks now since I kicked the habit and am feeling all the better for it.
    Thanks for droppin by!

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  2. Anonymous10:46 am

    I was a super smoker.... I hate to admit it.. Its been months since my last smoke, but I dont like it when others smoke around me. I think designated areas for smoking in public areas should be a must.

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  3. Why is it that non-smokers are always to be considerate and tolerant of smokers in public places. Smokers are the ones fouling the air?

    Smokers need to get over themselves. Their habit stinks.

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  4. Thanks all... but I think you're missing the bigger picture; so we ban smoking in public places as it's unpleasant and harmful. Surely we should (in the interests of being consistent and not hypocritical) then ban cars in public areas as they are smelly and polluting? And alcohol which causes death through direct and indirect action everywhere it goes?

    If we are aguing for a smoking ban, then stop driving as I hate cars getting in my way on the way to work, and I hate them polluting my air and slowly killing me. Why should us pedestrians have to be tolerant of cars when they shamelessly drive down the road I live on every day!

    I know this argument sounds silly but really I hate inconsistency... either you want a perfect world in which your desires are paramount or you compromise with the people around you who might do things you don't like but you let them so you can do things they don't like.

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  5. Anonymous7:00 pm

    Jae

    Your blog writing has been top drawer since you left Live Journal

    Kev
    x

    ReplyDelete