Perhaps you could bugger off back to your gentlemen’s club now and never darken the doorstep of a boozer again.
Context:
- Nigel Farage threatens to never go to the pub again if outdoor smoking banned
- Smokers ‘heroes of the nation’, says Nigel Farage as he lights up cigarette near Downing Street pub
And sundry other tomfoolery.
Broader context (on here):
Smoker hate is just another form of classism. Smoking could have been eradicated decades ago, but instead, they allowed these companies to continue to peddle death to the disenfranchised while placing all the blame (and tax burden) on the users. Now, governments and private entities continually restrict the spaces that people can smoke while still allowing the sale on every street corner. This is just another case of class warfare, poison the poor and blame them for the situation.
or maybe people just hate it because it fucking stinks.
Then why is the hate directed at the addicts and not the companies who produce the product or the governments who allow these companies to flourish?
strawman argument.
tobacco companies and governments are widely hated.
You know banning smoking would never work. Just look at how ubiquitous weed and cocaine use is. Also if smoking only affected the person smoking then it would be fine, but second hand smoke is a health issue and it just fucking stinks.
Smoking can be reduced without banning smoking. Unfortunately, mitigation methods like vaping are treated the same as smoking, because fuck poor people trying to quit. Additionally, massively taxing the producers would put them out of business, and there would be less of a black market because there really isn’t a “high” from nicotine and the crop isn’t really practible on the small scale.
I still don’t want to have to deal with people smoking in pretty much any area where smoking is banned. It’s smells fucking awful and we know full-well the second-hand dangers. Other than allowing the sale of the things I seriously do not get the appeal of it.
So yea, while I agree with the spirit of your last sentence it’s ultimately a fully voluntary and objectively stupid thing to do so I don’t have a tonne if sympathy, if I’m honest.
Most adult smokers in the West start as children in poverty. By the time you are looking down at another adult with disdain, they have been addicted for quite some time to a readily available carcinogen. This is a societal level issue that has been dumped on the poor/developing countries. Some countries, such as New Zealand, are making good progress by doing things like raising the smoking age incrementally.
I started smoking when I was 13 because it was the only way one could take their shift break without being interrupted/called back into work. Before I smoked, my breaks would constantly get interrupted and I’d be called to do work but after I started smoking? No one dared to break the sacred rule of “don’t fuck with someone’s smoke break”.
20+ years later and I’m still smoking 😎 and hopelessly addicted. I hate it.
I was a bit older, but that’s the same reason I started. Somehow an accepted break that doesn’t get rushed, and a bit of daylight.
Yea see that’s where I get on board with the classism issue. Everyone is overworked and for some reason smokers get breaks that nonsmokers don’t but should.
Smoking was banned in public buildings because 1 smoker could negatively affect a lot of people. If you want to poison yourself, that’s your choice.
There’s just 2 provisos,
I should be able to avoid being affected by it.
Any costs it created (e.g. medical costs) should be rolled into its tax.
I’m not advocating for indoor smoking. I’m pointing out the trend of smokers being pushed out of outdoor spaces, which will have the effect of actually creating greater conflict with nonsmokers.
I seriously don’t get the smoker hate. But I live in Canada, maybe that’s more of a UK thing.
It’s not really an issue here. You can’t smoke inside bars like anywhere here, but you go outside and smoke and it’s fine. Not on patios or anywhere they serve food but usually you just go smoke outside the bar. If you don’t want to be around the smoke you just don’t hang out where the smokers are smoking, and like… why would you anyway?
If you can’t even smoke outside then like… where do you go if you smoke? Can you just go across the street or is it like a street wide ban?