A Smoking Rant

[Greenday]

You can always ask politely for them to move, or move yourself. Sadly, I find that a lot of nonsmokers tend to take the ruder way to ask, which makes me feel less inclined to do so. Either that, or they start doing the stupid pretend cough I mentioned earlier.

Usually, when people do something stupid, like smoking next to a Do Not Smoke sign/smoke in front of the entrance of a building which is illegal/smoke at the bus stop on campus, which is illegal as smoking is banned on state college campuses in this state/etc., I feel the person is already being rude. You can't claim ignorance. My right to clean air shall always take precedence over your right to smoke. If someone is too stupid to follow such basic laws, even when it doesn't involve smoking (say texting/making phone calls in class), I have no problem treating them like the ass they are being.

Sadly, it's been my experience that the idea of even asking the smoker to move is taken as an insult, no matter how nicely it gets phrased.

Exactly. The majority of smokers I've encountered, when I tried to be polite, acted like I asked them to chop their own head off instead of not smoking in my face.

[Lace Neil Singer]

The rules are different here; smoking is allowed in bus stops. Therefore, If I'm sitting in a bus shelter smoking and you plop down next to me and give me the stink eye, then you can go fly a kite as far as I'm concerned.

[DrFaroohk]

And people are gonna get pissy if a stranger comes and asks them to move anyway. Even if it wasn't smoking. If you just walked up to some dude at a bus stop and said "Excuse me, but the bright colors on your jacket are really hurting my eyes. would you mnd taking it off?" I don't care how polite you are, you're gonna get some attitude out of it.

[Fryk]

As a smoker, Greenday, I agre with you. Your right to breathe, hell people's right to not smell it if they don't want, they do trump my right to light up. It's just the passive aggresive people like my Sister-in-Law (*cough*cough*ahem*) that get on my nerves and make me stubborn.

[DrFaroohk]

As a smoker, Greenday, I agre with you. Your right to breathe, hell people's right to not smell it if they don't want, they do trump my right to light up. It's just the passive aggresive people like my Sister-in-Law (*cough*cough*ahem*) that get on my nerves and make me stubborn.

I wish I was given the right not to smell bad things. Oh wait, I do. it's called I can step away if I smell something offensive!

[telecom_goddess]

I wish I was given the right not to smell bad things. Oh wait, I do. it's called I can step away if I smell something offensive!

Yeah that works IF you aren't trapped on a packed commuter train with someone stinky...then you have no options...and that aint' fair

[McDreidel09]

My right to clean air shall always take precedence over your right to smoke.

Thank you! This is why I am glad that my school said no smoking in any of the buildings and have markers where you can start lighting up.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Yeah that works IF you aren't trapped on a packed commuter train with someone stinky...then you have no options...and that aint' fair

However, you're more likely to meet a stinker than a smoker on one of those... and honestly if I were a nonsmoker and given the choice between standing next to a smoker or someone reeking of BO, I know what I'd pick. X_x

[Greenday]

However, you're more likely to meet a stinker than a smoker on one of those... and honestly if I were a nonsmoker and given the choice between standing next to a smoker or someone reeking of BO, I know what I'd pick. X_x

The next train.

[Lace Neil Singer]

There's an axemurderer on the next train. So now you're dead.

[Daskinor]

Its the same old argument.

Should a smoker smoke around non-smokers.

-or-

Should non-smokers accept that people will smoke around them.

Who is right and who is wrong is a culture battle that has been going on since the 50's. Are smokers are going to lose, in my opinion most definitely.

It comes down to the individual answer to these question. Is it OK to smoke in close proximity to people? If five people are around in the same spot and a sixth comes along, is it OK for the sixth to start smoking? Is it OK to smoke around children? If someone has the freedom to smoke and does, does the person next to them have the freedom to say no I do not want to be exposed to it?





Does smoking cause cancer?
-Yes

Does second hand smoke cause cancer?
-Maybe, getting cancer is like playing bingo. Buy enough cards and you will have a better chance of winning quickly. But even with 1 card you will eventually win if the game goes on long enough. If your body absorbs one carcinogen. It has the chance of damaging a cell nucleus and causing that cell to become cancerous. So second hand smoke can most likely cause cancer. The question is, if you sit in a room full of second hand smoke for 20 years is that enough to raise the chance of you getting cancer by 1%. That, we do not know.

Does the smoke in question cause people to get sick or feel ill.
-Yes, however this answer falls deep into the realm of your mileage will vary.

Vasomotor Rhinitis is going to be the word here. It is caused by your body reacting to something you breathe in. It is triggered by your bodies nervous system, and causes your body to what you breathed in. The response is generally a learned one.

So here is what happens. Your body has a nervous response to when you breathe in smoke through your nose. Chemicals in the smoke, especially ones in burning green plants, will bind to receptors in your nose. This will cause a reaction in some people that is like allergies but no amount of allergy medication will make it go away. In some people this can cause the tightening in their face as blood is pumped to the area and almost instant headaches. Their noses will run, and thier throats and broncular tubes will tighten. People with respiratory issues can have those problems triggered or aspirated. Also your immune response can be primed sending what it has to the area, only to find nothing then go hog wild on some pet dander that comes along causing more discomfort.

The mileage may vary part falls into 4 groups;

1. Smokers
2. People in constant exposure to second hand smoke
3. Non-smokers
4. People who where in groups 2 but now live in smoke free environments

Its a nervous reaction so if your in constant exposure it wont be so bad. However people in group 4 have it the worst. Because going from non to some can cause your body to send out tanks when sticks and stones will work. Smokers almost never has this issue because the structures that trigger them are highly damaged or destroyed after a few years.

After smoking the smell attached to smokers does not cause any issues?
-Nope.

Strong smells of any sort can cause Vasomotor Rhinitis symptoms to appear in almost anyone. However the contamination you pick up while smoking is not a scent, it is actually a dust. This dust is special because it contains aerosolized tar. The tar will act as a dust until it gets wet. Then its the most annoying substance ever.

Smokers who smoke in a room of thier house. Run a humidifier in that room for a few days. Take a dry cloth and wipe down the walls. that red stuff on the cloth is tar. Its the reason why smoking smell is impossible to get out of fabrics. Its the reason you can fowl up electronics with moving parts.

Breathe some in, the tar sticks to your nasal membranes triggers a response and then makes you feel Bad. Since it will basically stay there because those membranes are wet the symptoms can last a while. This is one of the main reasons for smoking bans in hospitals.

[Daskinor]

Since I am so very bored at work today.

1) Smoking is currently not illegal. So right now it's just a disgusting habit that you don't like. Stop acting like we smokers are responsible for 9/11 and dead kittens.

Oh 9/11 if you fall into it was done by pissed of muslims, was an act of terrorism to maintain an ideology. In the most simplest terms its to stop contamination of thier ideology by our external influence. This goes all the way down to the goods we export. The 3 biggies are Entertainment (movies), Foods (mainly coke) and cigarettes. Because Americans apparently have the best packs of smokes. But I will agree its a stretch.

2) There's a huge difference between smelling something and ingesting something. I realize that to smell something there are molecules in the air, but its a miniscule amount. Just because you smelled cigarette smoke on my jacket doesn't mean you're breathing in all the smoke. Just like there's a difference between walking into a smelly bathroom and actually eating a bowl of shit.

If you breathe in mercury vapor its much more deadly then drinking it or handling it. So it depends on substance.

3) COUGH COUGH COUGH! If the smell of a puff of cigarette smoke caused an asthma attack, you got way bigger problems than cigarettes. You need to get to the hospital and have yourself sealed in one of those bubble-rooms.

General smell wont do it, but walking out through the main entrance of a building and getting a puff in the face most definitely can cause one.

4) Cigarette smoke is not that monster from Lost. It doesn't take on a humanoid form and stalk through the area seeking out those who are vulnerable to especially bad air quality, like young children or adults with lung problems. It doesn't know how to open doors and windows. It's not going to stalk around the parking lot at Target.

Its just sticky, very very sticky.

5) Yes I realize it stinks. Guess what else stinks? That perfume you bathed in, the Axe you drenched your clothes in, your farts, your BO, and your car exhaust. These are all things in the air along with cigarette smoke, and some of them are as bad if not worse, so get your priorities straight, huh? I realize that some are things we can't do without - that doesn't magically make them less dangerous.

Sticky enough to embed itself in a smokers lung and the smelling organs of non-smokers. There is also a reason they tell you never to burn green plants in a fireplace. Some things smell and your brain just knows about it. Some things smell and trigger responses.

6) Being in a sealed room full of smoke all the time is very, very bad for you. Expect to die in a matter of weeks. Walking by me on the street and catching a stray whiff of smoke is negligible and should be treated as such. Don't act like I just gave you cancer. Because I didn't. Get over yourself.

Nope no cancer.

7) Second hand smoke: Remember, the smoke has been drawn through the length of the cigarette and through a filter. Then its gone into my lungs which have further absorbed much of it. Then by the time it's reached you it's gone through the air and been further diluted. Unless you're standing right in front of me, with your lips pressed to mine as I exhale, you're getting an extremely minor dose. Again, you get more toxins from car exhaust.

Your lungs will absorb some of compounds in smoke but your lungs are not filters. So they amount is negligible. The main difference is concentration in the air.

8) The "I'm allergic to it!" excuse is getting old. I know some people are genuinely allergic to cigarette smoke and they're easy to spot because they walk around in gas masks. The rest of you are just trying to find excuses to justify being bitchy and crass. And you're easy to spot because you don't throw a fit until you actually know its cigarette smoke - if you really had a problem you'd start sputtering and coughing before you even really smelled it. Get over yourselves and move on with your life, or get some serious medical care because you need it.

It is almost impossible to be allergic to cigarette smoke. Most people who claim to be allergic have bad cases of Vasomotor Rhinitis. The initial trigger can even cause a unpleasant tightening sensation in the sinuses and throat. Then comes symptoms very simliar to allerigies.

9) Cigarettes are NOT more or as addicitive as heroin. If it was, you'd see people out giving handjobs in dark alleys for a cigarette.

Does it really matter. Cigarettes are legal so people can easily get thier fix. It is kinda rhetoric because so many factors go into addiction. So it can not be measured. I do know however have stories from my brother when he worked at a gas station during a blizzard. Ran out of smokes and the smokers got highly upset.

10) Hey remember last night at the restaurant you saw your waiter go outside to have a smoke and you were totally disgusted? Well guess what - if not for that cigarette he would have beaten the shit out of you. Which would you prefer?

Good waiters know better then to let anyone see. My brother is a smoker. he however has 3 rules;

Never smoke indoors
Never smoke around kids or let them see him smoke
Never smoke while Eating, Preparing and serving food

Whats with the last one. Its the relation between smell and taste. He does not want his food to taste like what he smokes. He refuses to let anyone else deal with that. Last thing he wants is the sticky sent of cigarette smoked attached to the food he eats.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I keep to those rules too; however, I must stress again that no-one owns the outside. Don't like the smoke? Then move down wind. Just as anyone should move if they object to screeching brats/loud music/noxious bodily odours/strong perfume or aftershave.

t comes down to the individual answer to these question. Is it OK to smoke in close proximity to people? If five people are around in the same spot and a sixth comes along, is it OK for the sixth to start smoking? Is it OK to smoke around children? If someone has the freedom to smoke and does, does the person next to them have the freedom to say no I do not want to be exposed to it?

Let's put this another way. If there are five people outside and a sixth comes along with a child that immediately starts screeching, or playing loud music on a ghetto blaster, or reeking of nostril searing perfume/BO, does the person next to them have the right to tell them to leave? Answer is of course, no. You might argue that none of those damage health, but strong perfume, loud music or even someone with TB sneezing into the air are all health risks to people. If you don't like it, and you're outside, then move.

If however, you're in your own home, or in a situation that hands you the higher ground, then yes, you do have the right to ask the smoker to move. However, you don't have to be a snotty bitch about it... and trust me, I've met a lot of nonsmokers like that.

[Daskinor]

Let's put this another way. If there are five people outside and a sixth comes along with a child that immediately starts screeching, or playing loud music on a ghetto blaster, or reeking of nostril searing perfume/BO, does the person next to them have the right to tell them to leave? Answer is of course, no. You might argue that none of those damage health, but strong perfume, loud music or even someone with TB sneezing into the air are all health risks to people. If you don't like it, and you're outside, then move.

They have that option. But it happens enough times and new laws are passed that puts more limitations on where and when a smoker can smoke. Having that kind of attitude only makes situation worse for other smokers. Around where I live it used to be legal to smoke at a bus stop. Now its a 200 dollar ticket. Those kind of attitudes only make smokers more of a social pariah. When that happens freedoms get even more restricted. I know a few state parks that you now can not smoke in because its against county ordinances.

All it takes is a few inconsiderate smokers and the wrong people and another freedom is gone. The attitude that you can change public opinion in smokers favor by simply smoking in situations you know your going to annoy someone is counter productive at best.

Smoking is never going to be nearly as socially acceptable as it once was. Every year it just gets worse and worse. I know non smokers can be passive aggressive jerks, dishing it back out only serves to cause more issues. In the end non-smokers will always win simply because they did not physically do anything. The smoker walked into the public space with people around and lit up.

This happened at my place of employment. The smokers would crowd around one of the entrances to the building to smoke. People complained that they dint want to breathe in smoke exiting and entering the building. So they got moved all the way to the side of the building to an area with no protection from the elements. Bosses are all non-smokers, so they don't care at all. If the smokers would of shuffled off down one side of the steps to the edge of the awning they might of gotten away with it, but no it was 2 feet from the door.

[Lace Neil Singer]

*shrugs* I'm never that bad mannered and aggressive; and it might just be my area, but I've never seen any smokers that badly behaved, either. Often it's the nonsmokers fanning, fake coughing and making little snippy remarks.