Posted on 11/19/2004 5:35:36 AM PST by SheLion
Today is the day we set aside each year to badger, harass and pester that marginalized subculture of Americans, the Doorway People.
You know the Doorway People. They stand in doorways at work or at the mall smoking cigarettes because lighting up in mixed company has become as distasteful as nose-picking.
Yes, today marks the 27th anniversary of the Great American Smokeout, sponsored by the American Cancer Society, where modern incarnates of pinch-mouthed prohibitionists attempt to further ghettoize smokers.
Now, it's not that I think smoking is good. I have friends who smoke. I wish they didn't. On average, they will trade 10 years of their lives to enjoy their habit. But we're all grownups. Smoking is their demon and I have enough of my own demons to wrestle with.
But, unlike anti-smoking zealots, I sympathize with smokers.
That's because I was a smoker. When I quit for good in 1996, I was burning through 2 1/2 packs a day. I ditched the habit because each time I coughed, my lungs rattled as if someone had backed into metal trash cans.
Still, I loved every puff. I still miss it. In fact, I still have nicotine cravings.
So I'm sympathetic to smokers and believe they should be free to enjoy their addiction, which, last I checked, remains legal. Which is why I dislike the anti-smoking scolds. They are trying to criminalize smoking.
From New York City to Dallas, from Toledo, Ohio, to Eugene, Ore., anti-smoking zealots have racked up successful campaigns to ban smoking in bars and restaurants, the last bastion of peace and acceptance for smokers.
Eventually, the anti-smoking "movement" will have won enough smoking bans in enough cities in enough states to introduce national no-smoking legislation, said Zoe Mitchell, co-founder of Ban the Ban, which recently defeated efforts to enact similar no-smoking legislation in Washington, D.C.
"Ultimately, their goal is to make it a national issue based on their success at the local level," she said.
Anti-smokers say they're acting in the best interest of public health.
They say all those smokers burden the healthcare system with their cigarette-related maladies. It costs all of us more in healthcare premiums, they say.
Nonsense. Smokers die sooner than most of us nonsmokers, never collecting a cent from Social Security, which they've paid for decades.
Also, smokers pay outrageous cigarette taxes on each pack of smokes, which pours billions of dollars annually into government coffers.
At best, the money argument is a wash.
When an anti-smoking nut steps into a place like the Puss N' Boots Tavern in Fairless Hills, all they see is the blue-gray cloud of smoke hovering over the patrons crowded around the bar.
When I walk into the Boot, I see it differently.
I see a local cop who's seen more than his fair share of tragedy.
Or an emergency room nurse who was up to her elbows in blood just a few hours before.
Or a construction guy who's sacrificed years of Saturdays to work overtime so he could save for his kid's college tuition.
Or a middle-aged father worried about his son, who's fighting the war.
These are the good people the anti-smoking zealots want to stigmatize as public health leeches.
And if they accomplish their goal, they won't go away.
They will persecute the overweight, stigmatize SUV drivers and haul into court those who don't recycle.
They've got the money and the time and the lawyers.
Day late and a dollar short minnie - YESTERDAY was smoke out day.
They say if a lie is repeated enough, it will finally be believed.
Many of us in here do research before we believe those lies.
Because the Tobacco Settlement Money opened Pandora's Box. Which is paid for 110% by taxes paid for on cigarettes. Big Tobacco isn't paying for this settlement and neither is the state governments. But the SMOKERS.
The highly paid professional anti smoking zealots have turned the general non-smoking public against us with all their lies and spin.
Smokers are actually pretty considerate people. Believe it or not, smokers are a lot more considerate than nonsmokers give them credit for.
Truth is an impediment to revelation in society.
Being forced to stand outside in inclimate weather isn't good for anyone.
Rise in health care costs? For who?
That's why individual research is a must. Read some of the links I have provided.
I'm sorry to hear that. But just another example that even non-smokers can get emphysema and cancer. It's one of the plagues of being human.
Good for you!! You go, Friend!!
Now, come on.....you've been being reasonable, but this is a bit much.
Cigarette smoke is no more deadly to someone without a pre-existing health condition than perfumes. There are numerous things including perfumes that can cause strong and immeidate reactions, at times life threatening, in people with sensitivities to them.
Do we ban all those things, just in case? Or should it be the responsibility of the person with the problem to avoid exposure to those triggers?
I was there, too, but my recollections are a little different. I don't recall anyone complaining. I think it is the antismoking campaign that has made people such wimps when it comes to cigarette smoke. When no one complained about it, no one noticed it. We used to have a live and let live society. Now we have a society of people where everything offends somebody. I don't think smokers can go far enough away not to offend somebody with their smoke. I think the sight of someone smoking or just the knowledge that they smoke is more offensive to people then the actual smoke.
I think whether or not a person wears a seatbelt should be their choice, too.
I'm sure there are a few bad people in every group but I wish you wouldn't paint everyone with the same brush. For one thing, there are just as many smokers as nonsmokers. When my husband and I go to a restaurant, we always go to the smoking section and you'd be surprised how many people bring their small children into a smoking section. Even if we are in smoking, if there are kids there, we wait till we get outside to smoke.
I was quoting someone else regarding smokers flipping cigs out the window.
I find all forms of littering to be disgusting whether done by smokers or non-smokers.
Lots of things smell. Are we going to have laws against smells. I hate strong perfume, especially that musk stuff. I also hate the smell of cabbage and lots of things. I wonder if breaking wind in public is against the law yet.
That about sums it up. I wonder how many of these antismoking nazis benefit from the smokers tax dollars. I worked with a woman who used to leave articles about smoking bans on my desk. One day I came across an article that said if cigarettes were banned, it would cost every man, woman and child in America so many more dollars in taxes a year to make up for the lost revenue. I never heard another word out of her.
I think the arguement is about second hand smoke.
California is not like the rest of America anyway.
Carcinogens cause cancer. They are in cigarettes and also in a great big list of other things. You can get cancer from a whole list of things.
I never smoke around someone with asthsma. I always ask people around me if they mind if I smoke. And processing plants have to be built somewhere. We have a garbage recycling place in our town. And if you live in the country, watch out for the fertilizer they put on the fields. PEWWWW!
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