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krikket -> RE: Smoking Ban - When is it too much? (1/20/2007 7:45:10 AM)
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i just moved out of a rented condo where no smoking inside was allowed. Yes i was miserable, but there were too many reasons to go into here, and i didn't have any other option at the time. There were 3 advantages, however. First, my smoking went waaaay down..lol, but i smoked outside during hurricanes (not a bad one), a couple of blizzards, hot and humid, etc. Second, it sure saved me money, and third -- i actually got my entire deposit back, a first for me, since the walls, windows and air were clean.
About a month ago i moved into another apartment where i am allowed to smoke. There are disadvantages: first, my smoking has increased, second it's costing me more money..lol.. and third, because it's not in a good part of town i'm now dealing with rats outside and mice inside, very few neighbors who speak English and the crime rate is higher here.
Would i go back to the old place? i honestly don't know, but i doubt it. i had a killer commute (3 hours each way), extremely poor public transportation, and i was damned lonely.
Having said all of that, i'm careful when and where i smoke. However, just by smoking in my home, my sister-in-law "can't" come over (not necessarily a bad thing..lol) because the smoke is in the air, whether i smoke when she's around or not. i don't even smoke outside at the bus stop unless i have the room to move away from others waiting. Yes there are those who aren't careful, who don't care, but the actions of a few haved damned the rest of us as undesirables and sometimes as criminals. Perfect strangers think they have the right to rush up and lecture me about my "habit", but never once has someone approached my girl friend who's morbidly obese about her "habit". i don't know what the answers are, but i do resent it when people approach me like that.
<pushing my soapbox back into it's corner..thanks for the opportunity to rant..lol>
quote:
ORIGINAL: Mercnbeth
Freedom us usually given away. First other people's soon enough yours.
This was the latest new frontier for the anti-smoker crowd. In Seattle soon landlords will make entire apartment buildings non-smoking quote:
Spurred on by nonsmoking tenants and public-health leaders, more private landlords are considering restricting smoking inside their rental units. And local public-housing agencies are also looking at banning smoking in the units of some buildings Source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003526616_smoking16m.html
But its "just smokers".
We are only at the beginning of other frontiers. Fat and fat people are next on the list. We not only surrender to, but support laws restricting certain types of fat. In the UK there is no outcry for prohibiting ads for fattening products. Hell, on this site there were advocates for relinquishing access to information rationalizing it wasn't a surrendering of freedom. We are at the point where the anti-fat group is where the anti-smoking group was in the '60s. It will be faster this time, because they have a path to follow. Start with "protecting the children".
Who know, in 10 or 15 years there will be special "donut zones" in the workplace.
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