Wednesday, January 10, 2007

On smoking

With the smoking ban in place for 8 days now, I, as someone who once enjoyed smoking a great deal and now still does on occassion (although less and less frequently now), I am a fan of the smoking ban. Waking up the morning after a rough night out and having my room reek of cigarettes ON TOP of the nasty stale beer smell that most bars have was never fun--now if I stink like smoke its because I was smoking. And I'm fine with that. I understand all the bitching about secondhand smoke and the like, the complaints about this affecting small businesses (don't raise the revenue loss to 15% that's fucking ridiculous--and can mean the difference between paying your workers and not for a small business). The only arguments I wholeheartedly agree with are those against the paternal state as I generally think this is an area where the state is overstepping its bounds.

HOWEVER I really really really REALLY mind the self-congratulating holier-than-thou bullshit I keep reading from non-smokers about ever damn 'victory' they win over the horrible people who smoke--obviously just to piss off and inflict harm on the non-smokers. Get off your high horse for christssake. Anyone who smokes knows it--non-smokers don't like to be around smokers 99.999999%, if not all, of the time. Smoking is bad for your health. Smoking smells bad/makes kissing gross/harms those around you. We know; everyone know. No one is denying it.

But just like I don't rub in to the fat girl I went to high school with that I've lost weight since I last saw her, the kid who dropped out of high school that I recently finished my MA, or the friends who are still living with their parents in bumblefuck no-where that I moved out and now live in a metropolitian area, would you please stop posting about how great the smoking ban is and how wonderfully healthy everyone who doesn't smoke will now be? Seriously. It's really annoying.

1 comment:

Carrie M said...

one word: amen.