The international jihad against tobacco. - By William Saletan - Slate Magazine
A very interesting article. While I don't smoke, and most of my friends do not, some of my family does. And there are times when I really do feel kind of sorry for the segregation they have to cope with. While I support the ban on smoking in bars (and soon casino's) here in Colorado this article does bring up an interesting point. Which casues more actual harm and damage: secondhand smoke or drunk drivers and/or alcohol related violence? Both drinking and smoking are voluntary activities, both are addictive, and both can cause the user serious damage. So why do people accept the smoking prohibition but not alcohol prohibition?
(This actually came from my Mom)
ReplyDeleteAs you probably know, both your father and I smoked heavily as teenagers.
We were probably going through a pack a day each. Cost wasn't much of a
problem back then; I remember going to some store on 8th Street where we
bought a CARTON for $2.
In our very first apartment, which was on North Nevada and is still there,
we smoked all the time. I'm sure the place was clean when we moved in; in
particular, the windows had been washed. When we moved out 9 months later,
the windows had brown streaks on them from smoke condensing on the windows.
Of course, I hadn't cleaned them for 9 months, so there was dust too, but
they definitely had more smoke residue than anything else. Tarry, ugly
brownish-yellow gummy stuff.
When you smoke, you don't notice the smell. When you don't smoke, you do
notice it. And smoking is just plain stinky! People who smoke have very
bad breath (ever kissed anyone who smokes?). The smell is absorbed by
clothes, hair, and any fabric. So if someone smokes in your house, or your
car, it stinks up your house, or car. I think that is the number one reason
why smoking is so objectionable. I always hated sitting near a smoking
section when I ate in a restaurant that had a smoking section, back in the
old days. It felt like trying to eat in, say, a skunk den or somethiing.
The taste of food is mostly smell, you know, so smoke really does interfere
with it.
The reason people really ought to smoke outside, though, is because smoking
is bad for your lungs. Why do you think I have a coughing problem? Both
Grandmother and Grandfather Ruch died from smoking-related ailments.
Granted, Grandmother had lived a long life. But Grandfather Ruch was only
around 60 (Pete and I will be 69 on our next birthdays; James was born after
our 60th).
I'm certainly against alcohol, don't get me wrong. Pete may say that
getting married too young was the reason our marriage failed (I don't know
whether he does or not - just guessing), but I think that wasn't a mistake.
The mistakes we both made were choosing to drink alcohol when we had
problems we didn't know how to solve. I certainly don't recommend drinking.
But the country tried making alcohol illegal and it didn't work. Making
drugs illegal isn't working either. The best we can seem to do is to
control when and where people can buy or consume alcohol, and try to keep it
from the young. Smoking too.
So anyway, I don't think we as a society condone either smoking or drinking;
it's just that the immediate consumption of a cigarette affects the people
surrounding the smoker, whereas the same is not true of an alcohol drink.