<p>joev: You are the same age as my husband and yet, based on your posts here, you seem like you are ten years younger. Maybe if you had been studying your SAT prep book and not trying to glorify smoking and act as if it is "uncool" not to party or smoke, you wouldn't be, at 27 years of age, in the same place and frame of mind as many teens.</p>
<p>chalk: you rock; you make me laugh out loud! Thank you for your comic relief along this thread.
To all you saying that those of us speaking out against smoking are intolerant...
This is a sight that has a much higher percentage of teens than adults, for an adult to start a thread that indirectly glorifies smoking when he/she knows there are many teens on the sight is not illegal, but in my opinion, is irresponsible and unethical.
Second hand smoke does harm our lungs, there is empirical evidence of this, though the extent may or may not be exagerated by the government. It is not so easy to just "not hang around with smokers" when it may by family members you dearly love, or in public places that you want to be able to patronize. Why should the burden be on the non-smoker?
And, once again, to babybird: If joev didn't want us anit-smoker cry babies bugging him, he shouldn't have started the thread. His disclaimer itself shows he knew he was asking for this. He has every right to ask the question and start the thread, and we have every right to reataliate. Get over yourself!!!</p>
<p>Harsh words from grammy.</p>
<p>It may be true that the majority of the posters here are young, but a lot of teens smoke. I think at least half of my school does.</p>
<p>That's certainly not a reason to condone or encourage it.</p>
<p>I know that continuing this argument is probably pointless, but I don't want to do homework, so here it goes:</p>
<p>I understand there are people who live with smokers who can't help it. I have a friend whose parents smoke, she doesn't, and she comes to school every day and you can smell her before you see her. I realize that this isn't fair. But you know what else isn't fair? Living in an African country with a distended belly and being so malnourished that you can't even stand up. But I don't think I've ever read a post here about the gluttony of America and how much we could help other people, but don't.</p>
<p>Well, my point is that you can't change how people raise their children. If parents smoke and their children are harmed because of it, then that's tough s***, but really none of our business. I'm sure there are worse things going on behind closed doors, but because of the rights of Americans there is nothing any of us can do about it. That's the price of America, and frankly I'm willing to pay it.</p>
<p>And if you choose to date or marry someone despite the fact that they smoke, then it is YOUR CHOICE. You can try to get your significant other to change, but in the end, like all things in life, you may have to COMPROMISE. That is life, that is the pain of living. Complain about it all you want, but don't try to change other people just because you don't like what they're doing. I think that's called prejudice.</p>
<p>Secondly, I think there is a thing as second-hand drunkeness. It's called being killed by a drunk driver, which, unfortunately is a bigger problem in our country than people admit. If you're going to gripe about the slight possibility that you develop cancer or emphesema from second-hand smoke, please don't exclude the thousands of people who die in car crashes involving drunk drivers.</p>
<p>Go ahead and defy me, I dare you. Haha, sorry I like arguing.</p>
<p><em>claps hands</em> wonderful. Brilliant.</p>
<p>
[quote]
That's certainly not a reason to condone or encourage it.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I wasn't condoning or encouraging it, I was responding to someone who said something like "why are you posting this here, people here are all teenagers, we don't smoke" I'm quite against smoking myself, having suffered 18 years and counting of second hand smoking. I was just pointing out that it is an issue for teenagers because of lot of them do smoke.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Complain about it all you want, but don't try to change other people just because you don't like what they're doing. I think that's called prejudice.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Hmm...because I don't like that my best friend's dad goes home and beats his family every night I am prejudiced against drunken wife-beaters? That's interesting. I should be ashamed of myself.</p>
<p>Yeah. I was taken to the hospital in September because I had an asthma attack and stopped breathing. I suppose I was lucky. Perhaps not...</p>
<p>Anyway, I just hope that for all of those that do decide to start smoking consider how they affect people around them. Second hand smoke does kill people.</p>
<p>Dude... all this guy did was make a simple thread, asking a simple question. It does not constitute a need to start lecturing. You don't go into bars and start telling people not to drink.</p>
<p>Also, with regard to second-hand smoke- I have actually read that there is no credible scientific evidence that it is dangerous. The government claims it has, but their studies were quite biased, as is their reporting of them. Of course, I'm not going to take this report at face value- perhaps someone could edify me by pointing me to an article that supports the idea that second-hand smoke is a serious health hazard?</p>
<p>And no, I do not support smoking. But I do support not getting in people's faces about something when they didn't ask you to...</p>
<p>wait, wait, wait. second hand smoking kills?</p>
<p>"Science writer Michael Fumento testified how the threat of secondhand smoke has been greatly exaggerated. Claims that secondhand smoke causes as many as 65,000 early deaths in the U.S. each year have been debunked as junk science. Studies by the Congressional Research Service, World Health Organization, and U.S. Department of Energy all failed to find secondhand smoke to be a significant health risk. In 1998, a U.S. District Court ruled against the Environmental Protection Agencys attempt to classify secondhand smoke as a known human carcinogen."</p>
<p>from the National Business Review</p>
<p>The fact is, I despise smokers and make it a point to cough and gag everytime I pass near one of them. You all SUCK! And you smell like rancid ass.</p>
<p>lol! ^ classic</p>
<p>feuler: But I do support not getting in people's faces about something when they didn't ask you to...</p>
<p>What were you just doing in your post? Nagging the people discussing the harmful effects of second hand smoke on this thread. Did we ask you to do that...........?</p>
<p>uc_benz, you quoted me and then misinterpreted what I said. I DON'T LIKE SMOKING EITHER. I said that on the last page. But I'm not going to go out and start some coalition against smokers, because it's not up to me how people spend their lives. I never said thinking that something is wrong is prejudiced. That is simply opinion. You just shouldn't alienate people for making a different choice than you, especially if it's not necessarily "wrong". Drunkenly beating a family up is not something you do to yourself, it is putting other people in danger. When that is the case, yes, you should intervene. Allow me to quote myself from one page ago:</p>
<p>I think everyone in this country, and this world would be a lot better off if they stopped worrying about the bad things people do to themselves, and start worrying more about the bad things people do to eachother.</p>
<p>I do not consider smoking, nor any drug use for that matter, putting anyone besides yourself in immediate danger. Just let people live their lives. Education is key of course, we can't have the tobacco industry educating us on the dangers of tobacco, but in the end, it should be up to the individual what to do. I truly do not believe it is the right of the government to impose any laws on the things we do to our own bodies.</p>
<p>Don't get me wrong, the lines on this issue are very gray at times. For instance, an argument for proponents of the drug war would be a pilot under the influence of drungs or alcohol flying a plane and putting all the passengers in danger. Or even letting your drunk friend get behind the wheel. It's hard to determine sometimes, which is probably why drugs are still illegal. But seriously: I think we should be more concerned with a father beating his family, and putting their lives in danger every night, then a few college-age kids getting high on Friday and talking about philosophy or whatever. What seems more dangerous to you?</p>
<p>death sticks</p>
<p>anijen:1)This is not a thread about drunk driving, it is a thread about smoking. It's ridiculous to say that because we are talking about one harmful thing that we are required to talk about all harmful things at the same time.
2) Yes, drinking can lead to drunk driving can lead to death. The difference is, drunk driving is illegal; it still happens, but it is illegal. It's not illegal to smoke while you are pregnant, or smoke right in your baby's or children's face when you are putting their jacket on or putting them in their stroller.
3)So yes, we should spend more time worrying about the bad things people do to each other, like exposing their children to a quarter life time of second hand smoke which, despite other claims on this thread, is harmful. Maybe it hasn't been proven to cause death, but it absolutely has been proven to cause asthma in people who otherwise did not or might not have had it before. Asthma can be a very debilitating ailment, as I know, having it since I was about 19, and having grown up with a mother who constantly smoked.
Who, anywhere on this thread, said anything about college kids getting high? We're talking about the risks of smoking and the risks of second hand smoke. And yes, the anger I feel when I see a mother smoking in her baby's face, or a pregnant woman smoking is just as viable as the anger I feel at a mother hitting or abusing her child.</p>
<p>Ugggghhhh...This thread is so annoying.</p>
<p>The point isn't whether cigarettes are bad or not, or whether people should smoke or not. The point is that this is a stupid, stupid, stupid post.</p>