Anti-Smoking maniacs

[Seanholio]

Low and behold, the first girl to take the stage made the argument that "Smoking should be banned in ALL public places." Needless to say, being a tobacco smoker and user, let alone working at a tobacconist, I tore into her following her presentation. I'm an economics major, and presented viewpoints from small businesses all the way to personal freedoms. She tried to justify it by saying "It's a democracy, and the majority rules." This pissed me off, so I intervened by saying "The majority rules to protect the minority vote and opinion."

Also, should it come up again, we live in a constitutionally-limited republic, not a democracy. Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what's for lunch.

 

[Benjamin Button]

A good thing to point out is that there are thousands of things that can impair your health, and in today's world, cigar smoking is at the least of my worries.

This statement resonates with me more than anything. Coming from a household where 95% of the food we eat is all organic, farm raised, non-antibiotic, no hormones, no artificial sweetener (hardly any sugar for that matter), and 90% non-dairy I can attest to the amount of crap that average people ingest on a daily basis from the education I have received and through living this lifestyle.

My girlfriend has a lot of food allergies so this limits the type of food she can eat. She can not have dairy, wheat or any sugar due to these allergies. She has educated herself so much on this lifestyle that it has played a huge (beneficial) impact on my diet and knowledge of the horrors of what the food industry does to the things we eat. She still respects my right to enjoy my pipe, and once in a great while will have a clove or hookah smoke as a treat for herself.

Next time one of those parents complains about the second hand smoke hurting their child, tell them that simply because their body exhibits an immediate negative reaction to what you are doing does not make it a problem. Maybe they should second guess their child sucking down those sodas and juice boxes because the long term negative reactions will be far worse for them.

Also, here is another fun little tid bit of information to share with these potential "anti-smoking nazi's". Next time someone complains about your smoking due to health concerns, ask them this..."Why is it that I could smoke ALLLLL day long in my garage and be fine, but if I ran my car for even an hour in my garage, I'd be dead. Maybe you should be an advocate of what REALLY causes health problems in this country, and think about that next time you start your car with your kids around."

Sitting in heavy traffic for 10 minutes, you will inhale more noxious fumes than you would from second hand smoker all day.

There is a lot of hypocritical people out there and A LOT of factual ammunition to fight them with.

 

[SyrLinus]

There is a lot of hypocritical people out there and A LOT of factual ammunition to fight them with.

Same people that feed their kids McD's 3-4 times a day and think it's healthy. Uh-huh.

But you have hit it on the nail. People focus on the wrong things in life. George Burns smoked what, 10-15 cigars a day and was booked right up to his 100th. There are so many factors that can determine how well we live our lives. And really, it is about how we live our lives. We have a choice to not really live it or to enjoy it fully. I could get hit by a bus tomorrow but I know that the life I've lived, particularly in the last 5 years or so, has been lived to the fullest.

And I'd rather die smilin' than miserable.

 

[SmokinInCanada]

Theres so much stuff in this world that COULD kill you or have a negative effect on your body it always makes me laugh that people choose to target smoking. I guess it has to do with the fact it's more of a public image..well I guess not anymore and that everyone sees someone smoking on a daily basis that it is easier to target then fast food, pollution, pharmaceuticals and stuff of that nature.

I think of it this way. I'm a volunteer firefighter for going on three years and also a volunteer EMS worker for close to two years. I go into situations that can harm/kill me on somewhat of a weekly basis and I cant be worried about could this and could that. I've gone into houses that were almost to the point of being fully involved because we knew that the home owners were still alive and inside..thankfully we were able to get them out with no major harm outside of a few burns and some smoke(the bad icky kind) inhalation. But if I sat there going "Oh well me going into this house COULD hurt me"...well then I wouldn't be a good firefighter now would I?

I do what I do in life, fire fighting, EMS work, smoke my pipe and the occasional cigar, drink, have some fast food from time to time, be by todays "standards" out of shape and over weight and other things I'm sure that people say "could" lessen my life because I life my life that way I want too.

I would rather die at 65 knowing I lived a life that I enjoyed then die a 85 living a life determined by other peoples "rules" of "heatly living".