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tomboy4good
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29 May 2011, 9:37 am
Tequila wrote:
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Smokers or people smoking? Big difference in that of course, not all smokers are smoking at that time.
Obviously when people are smoking...smoking aggrivates my asthma.
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How old were they generally when they lost their lives? If they were in their 70s, say, it might not actually be that but natural causes. The way I see it is that in most cases, they chose their lifestyle and were happy with it more or less. They had a good life when they were around and weren't languishing in care homes for the rest of their lives.
I know a lot of elderly people locally and a lot of them are very depressed because they know that the time's near but they can't do too much.
I know a lot of elderly people locally and a lot of them are very depressed because they know that the time's near but they can't do too much.
Smoking cuts *most* people's lives short. The smokers I knew who died from it, probably cut their lives short by at least 20 years. It's their choice, but watching someone suffer because of a choice they made (be it smoking, drinking, sky diving, etc) doesn't make it any easier on the survivor. I once had a French teacher who was into hang gliding. He was in his 50s & very energetic, very much into living. However, he was mortally wounded in a hang gliding accident that eventually took his life (after lingering on life support for weeks). Not fun for his family....there's an example for you of how something that he was addicted to changed not only his life but the course of his wife & children. It wasn't a typical accident since this was something he did on a regular basis. Before my mom passed away, she mentioned to me that she regretted smoking. She & a girl friend could smoke an entire carton of cigarettes in 2 days.
Towards the end of her life, her lung capacity had been affected by the heavy smoking. She also spent a great deal of time surrounded by smokers in her later years when she frequented casinos. It probably didn't help her out any. Some of the people who died were only in their late 40s or into their 50s. That's not very old really.Quote:
This can be applied to a huge range of behaviours: drinking, eating too much (or "unheathily"), unprotected sex, extreme sports, football, boxing, running, lifting weights. The list goes on.
See my examples above.
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I think there should be designated areas for smokers that has good ventilation.
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Like outside? Smokers have already been banned from all bars, cafés, cinemas, shops, government buildings (and the car parks of government buildings!), even vans where the owner uses it for a business. Even if the general public are never going to take a ride in this van, it's illegal to smoke inside his own property. In Holland where this has happened café owners have rebelled at ordinances like this as they understand that it directly affects their livelihoods.
There are indoor ventilation systems that can help filter out smoke. Even outside, I've gone places where smokers' smoking have caused me breathing issues just because they were doing their thing standing right outside an entrance to a building. Apparently you feel that if non-smokers don't want to be around smokers (even if it's them polluting the air), we should just never leave home. I also was working at a job where 2 guys would smoke in the warehouse (illegal too), & if it caused me problems breathing, they thought it was funny. Yeah cigarette smoke makes me cough. It's not fake either. Nor is breathing an option.
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I also think if people are non-smokers, they shouldn't have to be subjected to such a harmful substance against their will.
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But they should also know when to quit complaining with the fake coughing if there's a guy sat two tables away with a cigarette, in a pub garden, in summer, outside. A lot of that is psychosomatic. They're whipping themselves up into a frenzy. They full well know that in summer, outside a pub, there are going to be people smoking. They have the entire pub to themselves. That they choose to sit outside and be offended - usually not for any real health reason, but just because they believe their right to dictate other people's actions is paramount - looks suspiciously like wanting to control people to me. They've bullied that smoker out of pubs, telling the government that there would be an influx of non-smokers to make up for smokers. That utterly failed to materialise. In fact, all that happened was that, while the pub got a few new customers in they were generally of a "two Cokes and a salad" sort who would very rarely go into pubs anyway. When faced with a huge number of your normal customers that drink day in, day out deciding not to bother, you're knackered. You can't set up proper smoking areas outside, because it's illegal and punishable by heavy fines. You can't let them smoke in your pub because informers are everywhere, there's a huge fine and it's illegal. So you offer food. In fact, that's the only way a lot of pubs today are really surviving - by offering food. So it's degraded pubs from being a place where locals would meet to enjoy a pint, a fag and conversation into vulgar "restaurant that serves beer" rather than "a pub that serves food" or in many cases closing down altogether or becoming Indian restaurants. In many city centres, a pub chain called JD Wetherspoons has capitalised on this, offering cheaper beer than in regular pubs to pensioners and aggressive younger men and women out on a night on the town. Later on at night, these tend to be very tense places.
I'd like to know how you can tell if someone is faking coughing. I cough when I am subjected to any substance that irritates my lungs. Just doing yard work makes my lungs react. I also complain when it happens in areas not designated for smoking. Been doing that since I was a little kid, when my dad or other family members smoked around me. My dad used to burn me with his cigarettes & laugh. So is that funny to you? That someone would burn a toddler with a cigarette? I have a natural aversion to them, & have many reasons to detest smokers due to the abuse I endured as a kid. As I said, breathing is not an option. I don't enjoy breathing in cigarette smoke, it's painful...it also causes me serious distress. So do think about the fact that not everyone reacts just to be mean. For some of us, our (non-smoking) reactions have to do with us just trying to survive. In this case, I'd either sit inside, or choose a place where people weren't smoking. I do not bully people smoking outside. That said, I find it ridiculous that some smokers must smoke right outside an entrance to a building & the only way to enter is through the heavy haze of smoke. I don't go around sucking off of tailpipes from buses or cars, why would I want to inhale someone's cast off smoke from their cigarettes? Also why is it some smokers will hold their cigarettes at arms length away which subjects non-smokers to more smoke? That's just rude!
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n Britain, the anti-smokers are perfectly fine with leaving the pub garden to the smokers, frequently elderly and infirm, in November or December when it's absolutely freezing and no-one wants to go out for a pint but come the time when any sane person actually wants to sit outside, they sit, fake coughing at the ready, whingeing about the "selfish smokers".
Trust me, smokers complain about the high cost of cigarettes, their health, the fact that they can't light up where they want anymore. It's just a sign of the times. Smoking is something that became hip since the discovery of the new world. Prior to that, smoking in Europe was pretty much unheard of. It's a nasty habit that should have never started in the first place.
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That's the other issue: in Southern European countries the smoking ban isn't such a big thing because smokers can be outside on the terrace pretty much all year round. That's not true of the UK.
Bad weather occurs in most places. Britain may not have wonderful weather year round, but other places have even harsher winters. If you want to smoke, you'll have to put up with poor weather conditions. I'm sorry, I don't feel sympathy for smokers. As I said, it's a voluntary affliction. Yes it's addictive, & yes the body has to have its nicotine fix or withdrawals can be really nasty. That's just one of the prices one pays for choosing to smoke. Smokers also run the risk of upsetting non-smokers. That's a bummer too!
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As I say, this has vastly increased the speed of the decline of the British pub. The traditional beer campaigning organisation supported this ban, and many of its members support further rules towards "irresponsible drinking". They can't see that, to anti-alcohol 'charities' (government mouthpieces in all but name - when the state funds them to the tune of 98% of their entire income, what else could it be?), they're considered the irresponsible drinkers. They wish to bring about a new temperance age.
Funny you should say this. I can remember when the smoking bans 1st started here in California, & people said much the same thing about bars & restaurants here too. It used to be you could smoke anywhere in California, & even workers in grocery stores & restauarants would be doing their job handling produce or meat or making meals with cigarettes hanging out of their mouths. Actually just the opposite has occured, since non-smokers have become the majority, & they are more likely to frequent places where they don't have to involuntarily inhale cigarette smoke. Your arguments are somewhat flawed unfortunately. Many people, some smokers included, recognize the fact that hanging out in a smoke-hazed area is unhealthy. I choose to avoid places like that at all costs. But it's sure a lot easier living in a place where smoking has been banned in most public establishments since the early 90s.
One other thing that repulses me about smokers. Why is it that smokers feel that it's ok to toss a lit cigarette onto the street when they're finished with it? I find it disgusting & revolting, it's also a form of littering.
Tomboy
