Acrisius said:
*pulls out shears and clips away this wall of text*
Phew... well, luckily for me, it's only 10 PM, so I'm wide awake to read through it. And before I start, thanks for setting that straight (dopamine vs seratonin). Again: I always get those two mixed up...
In any case..
(Note: I'm going to paraphrase what I quote here... that way I don't have a giant wall of text, or at least less of one)
By smoking around other people, you force them to smoke too.
I don't believe I ever mentioned this in my post... although, 5 AM, I can understand that. And yes, if you were being held down and forced to smoke something, or had to stay in a closed room with someone smoking a cigarette and weren't allowed to leave, then I'd completely agree with you; it would be not only disgusting but inhumane. However, this isn't the case; and before I started smoking I hung around smokers all the time and was exposed to quite a deal of second-hand smoke (a friend even hot-boxed his car with cigarettes, locking me inside to grumble curses at him). However, standing down-wind, or even just in the proximity of a smoker never bothered me; the most it ever did was give me the smell of cigarette smoke, and thus... nothing... really... happened? Honestly, that's the worst that ever came of it.
Again: a smoker shouldn't have to go outside, but they should have the ability to know when smoke bothers people and do the service of maybe opening a window so as not to bother them.
Antidepressants are completely different than cigarettes. Better relate them to a harmful narcotic.
My point apparently once again escapes you. And truth be told, antidepressants tend to work a lot like cigarettes, really... they make you happy and make life livable for some folk.
Comparing them to heroine, cocaine, et cetera is just demonizing a (
in comparison) relatively harmless indulgence some take. Heroine, crack, et cetera are thousands of times worse than cigarettes will ever be, and thus they are illegal.
Let's take this to another, more neutral analogy. Say you have a little trinket that you hold dearly and it's one of the few things that keeps you happy and makes life bearable. Then, have someone who you trust take that trinket and shatter it against a wall, destroying it and telling you that it causes cancer in some people and therefore shouldn't be used by you ever again. You would be mortified and probably never speak to this person again. If it was your kid, chances are you'd ground him for a long time because he destroyed something valuable to you.
Do you see where I'm going with this?
Warning people once or twice with known facts is one thing, and keeping people from doing things that not only will harm them, but
also make life unbearable for anyone else, and reduce them to not being able to function is a different story than smoking a cigarette.
The "gansgsta rapper" stereotype doesn't work in this situation.
Alright, let's take it to another example then. I don't particularly like the idea of people going out for one-night stands. You can agree with me that this has the potential to be just as dangerous as smoking due to STDs, accidental pregnancy, et cetera.
I don't think that I can, in good conscience, start poking holes in condoms of the person involved, just because I don't like them doing it, because I know it has the potential to hurt them. Or, to fit better with your idea, hiding the condoms completely so they won't be of use.
The guy smoking next to someone else, who can't move, and the perfume argument doesn't work!
I highly doubt there's many instances of people being trapped in a room with a smoker. In these cases, I agree, a smoker should ask politely if the person minds. If they do, they can wait, or move, to a spot that doesn't force the person who is uncomfortable with the smoke. However, this just blatantly doesn't happen. A smart smoker will keep a window open to let smoke out, or make sure to smoke in somewhere the smoke doesn't build up and bother people who don't want it.
In the case of the asthmatic, it really depends on necessity. It's not that hard for either one to move from the spot, so chances are it'll come down to circumstance.
And on the subject of the perfume/cologne, I've never in my life heard an asthmatic complain about strong scents. So, I suppose that's also something I can chalk up to circumstance.
Refer to above statements in "Being around smokers..."
And I can remain skeptical, because I've never seen conclusive evidence of such a study; only bullshit claims that front that "fact" from anti-smoking zealots. Show me numbers, then I'll believe.
Again; this is possibly just something I've found locally, and it's not the only group of dipshits who think that beating the crap out of someone for doing something they don't like is a perfectly reasonable means of getting them to stop.
Little Boy: "Daddy! I just had a sip of wine!"
Father: "YOU LITTLE SHIT, HOW DARE YOU DRINK!"
Father proceeds to beat the little boy into submission.
That's essentially what I've observed around here, but between peers instead of families.
See "Second Hand Smoking" and "Being around Smokers"
I finally agree with you on something. Hearing this
once or twice is understandable; like signing a waver before going bungee jumping. However, in today's society, we get bombarded with constant reminders that aren't even guaranteed results from smoking. The way the media paints it is "Smoke once, and you'll be hooked and your lungs will shrivel up and you will DIEEEE!" when it couldn't be farther from the truth. Most folks who have reasonable self control can realize when they're starting to get addicted to something, and will tend to hold off on that for a while until they feel the budding addiction fade. This is the appeal of social smokers, like myself, who can enjoy a smoke every now and then, but never
need a smoke. Giving honest information is one thing, but going on a crusade to alienate anyone and everyone who even occasionally indulges in things is a completely different matter.
Kids and Parents; hereditary smoking
You do have a point here, I'll admit. But the thing is, many kids who grow up hating the smell of their parents smoke because it made them miserable as a child tend to avoid smoking themselves because they know the harmful effects. So, again, it's another victim of circumstance argument that is hard to really prove much with. Example being the kid (apologies, I forgot your name) who posted earlier about his parents smoking. It's highly unlikely that he's going to go on to smoke himself, because he's seen it first hand.
Someone might care about you smoking!
Well, pardon me for being so callous, but they should accept that I'm going to do what I like, and given that the side-effects aren't terribly debilitating (smokers can still function just as well as non-smokers) it's not exactly something that they should bother themselves with. Example: my boyfriend knows I smoke, and he doesn't care. He knows that I only do it so often, and it's not going to be something to spiral out of control and ruin my life, so therefore, there's only the downside of very slight health problems very far down the line
if even that. As an added plus, he kinda likes the smell of cigarette smoke. "Reminds me of the city."
Sorry to continue to keep you up with my long posts, but I share an equal and opposite disgust and anger towards people who tend to think that by making dramatic metaphors and using only the power of pathos, and think they have the right to tell people to be different than what they are. Not saying you did this, explicitly, but your post had the most content and you seemed to be someone who could actually argue back without a whole bunch of "Well... ur an idiot!" So thanks for setting up my soapbox.
P.S. Holy damn! Why are you still up, man? Sleep deprivation can be worse than cigarettes, you know. ;D