Did I mention how much I loathe and detest cigarette smoke? Even worse, I’ve been witnessing the “smoke and toss” response on the streets of lovely DC. Let me just say that every time I see an (by definition) obnoxious smoker finish his/her fix and then toss his/her butt on the street, I’m sorely tempted to just smack them.
Here’s enumeration of my wrath at smokers in general, in case you were wondering:
1. You are not smart. Anyone who purposely inhales that carcinogenic muck needs his/her head examined.
2. You are not sexy or cool. Sucking desperately on your death stick like a junky is not attractive. Ditto for the smoker’s cough.
3. You stink: your hair, your clothes, your breath. Even though you can’t smell anything anymore, the rest of us can.
4. You are not environmentalists. Polluting the air and city – think about it.
5. You are selfish assheads who make healthcare costs go up.
6. Don’t ever whine about how poor you are – smoking is an expensive habit & you know it; quit and put that money in the bank.
7. You support Big Tobacco.
8. If you’re a lib, you’re also supporting Big Business.
9. If you have kids and smoke around them – it’s child abuse. Not to mention a bad example.
10. Don’t whine about how hard it is to quit; there are only about a bazillion products on the market to help you.
End rant…for now.
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2 comments:
o.k renee, I had to bite. As a smoker, I have to agree with you on your initial point. It pains me to see fellow smokers ditch their butts on the street or out their car windows. It is simply littering and shows bad manners.
However I have issues with other points. First, smoking is expensive, damned expensive. Of course this is primarily due to taxes. The actual cost of production for a pack of cigarettes is less than a dollar yet the consumer pays a couple of hundred percent in taxes. These taxes fund state medicare systems most of which went bankrupt, not due to smokers, but politicians. The price went up when the feds decided they wanted thier piece of the pie. for an intreresting perspective, here is something from the Cato institute http://www.cato.org/pubs/handbook/hb108/hb108-16.pdf.
Also, cig. companies are big business, your right. On the other hand, let's look at the smoking bans that have become popular. I have heard government statistics that say the bans do not hurt business. Oddly all the business owners I talk to in Montgomery county disagree. The oldest continuously operated pub in Silver Spring is no longer. Smoking banned, smokers gone, income lost. The owners of the second oldest liquor licence, as told by the proprietor, may go out of business if there is no rebound over the next year. They say that they have lost about 30% of their ususal business. At least we can get a seat on friday nights for the best burger in town....for a few more months. We have almost stopped going out in the county favoring PG or DC instead.
There are replacements for the mom and pops who still care about quality and the customer. These are Applebees, TGIFs, Outbacks, etc. Also big business. But there food sucks. They do however offer tasteless and nutritionally insignificant salads dripping in mayo, deep fried onions (half of one exceeding the weekly RDA for Fat, etc), and 32 pound steaks which ravenous costomers shovel down. all of which, like smokeing, contribute to heart disease, still the #1 killer in the country.
You hate smoke and I respect that. There used to be segregated areas for smokers, and that was fine. Now they are gone. In Montgomery they even attempted to pass a law saying one could be arrested for smoking IN THERE OWN APARTMENT if someone bitched. Fortunately someone realized this was unconstitutional on several levels. I understand that people don't like smoke. Fine. Go somewhere there is no smoke like any building, restaraunt, bar...make that anywhere inside and some outside places.
There is no better example of governments regulating behavior than in smokeing. How is it that so many 'small government' conservatives support government dictation of individuals personal lives that results in nothing more than big government. I want you to have smoke free places to enjoy; I want smoker friendly places where I can have a smoke after a meal or with a nice beer. I want you to have places to be comfortable. I don't want the state dictating that private establishments CAN NOT allow smoking, thereby endagering the viability of these businesses. If a place chooses to appeal to a non-smoker clientle, great. But it shouldn't be mandated.
BTW, the final bit of irony is that is usually the utlra liberals who are the loudest anti-smoking voices. I guess I am both an anomoly and the object of your greatest vitriole: a confessed liberal and smoker.
Your Brother
Chris
Chris,
Had a feeling you would be moved to respond. A few comments:
-re high cigarette taxes: agree that the political goings-on regarding the use of these taxes are ridiculous. However, I'm can't be that simpathetic because 1) cigarettes are a luxury unlike let's say groceries (ie, you don't have to buy them if you object that strongly to the taxes) and 2) smoking is damaging to one's health. The correlate in my case is liquor - yeh it's more expensive because of the additional taxes, but I have the wherewithal to buy it, so I do. If I found myself in straits, that's the first thing I'd do away with.
-I see your point about small businesses going under because smokers can't live without cigarettes for a few hours while they eat or drink. However, there is a middle way - Ireland's 4 Courts in our neighborhood took advantage of an empty adjacent space to expand their business. Guess what they're doing? Making half smoking and half non-smoking with REAL barriers to inhibit smoke drift. Because as you know, smoke doesn't observe non-smoking signs.
-re Applebees, etc. - agreed that they are less than nutritious & healthful. Nutrition, like drinking or smoking is a personal choice. I'd love to see smokers, alkies, the obese pay the medical costs for their habit-related ailments. The thing about smoking, of course, is that smoking directly affects other people, not just the smoker.
-in general, I do agree with you that govt regulation goes overboard in this issue. One's home should be off-limits. However, I hate walking down my apt hallway, assaulted by cigarette smoke from someone's apt. Perhaps there should be smoking/nsmoking wings to apts. About restaurants/bars: it should be at the discretion of the establishment what kind of clientele they wish to attract. We're consumers, we can decide what kind of place we want to patronize. A smoke-toxic bar will not benefit from my patronage. That said, it was so nice not to have to deal with smoke drift while eating out in Key West (they have a ban).
-I think the push toward regulation (in general, but here specifically)comes about because people won't police their own behavior, ie, show consideration for others, pick up after themselves, etc. Just sayin'.
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