Smoking, your views on smokers

[Screaming Gecko]

Mum smokes ... has since she was 11 ... She can't stop ... has it in her head that the smoke is actually surpressing the cancer ... so if she stops, it will become less dormant ... she knows its already there or suspects ... and game over.

She is well educated (to the hilt actually ... 4 Masters, finished uni when she was 17, after under grad and Master 1), Dad died from cancer over 25 years ago ... she has grand kids now ... so plenty of motivation to stop, but she can't / won't.

The World's Governments aren't doing enough as this is a global problem ... They should be taxing it like no tomorrow ... and pumping the dollars into health care and research for the addicted.

Insurance companies aren't doing enough ... they should be suing the tobacco companies for losses, pumping the proceeds into education and healthcare along with the government.

These two things, along with public outcry, should make it uneconomic to sell tobacco, and or provide adequate assistance to those that got themselves addicted. Overtime, I'd hope the addiction rates would drop and or the tobacco companies would fail.

 

[Macr]

Ok, heres a scenario for ya:

You see a smokin' (no pun intended) hot chick in a club (the the street, wherever) and your like DUUUUDE! But then she lights up a fag.
Do you still 'persue' her?

Only for an overnight meaningful relationship. I wouldn't kiss her, but she can continue practising her smoking skills . I detest smoking and generally cannot cope with the fumes. Maybe hotshots of nicotine would fix the problem, like hotshots of heroin for the druggos!

 

[Gekigengar]

i've never been addicted to a damn thing, even though i've been told many times i would be by "now".

what about riding bikes

 

[t]

Ok, heres a scenario for ya:

You see a smokin' (no pun intended) hot chick in a club (the the street, wherever) and your like DUUUUDE! But then she lights up a fag.
Do you still 'persue' her?

Nope. I pretty much find smoking chicks like fat chicks, if you've got that little self respect for yourself then fuck off

So many fat chicks in the world these days. YUCK.

totally agree with Alec: Fattys, smokers or thick bogan accents are all massive turn-offs

4. Disagree. Tobacco is a drug of addiction. Spend some time with me on a typical day and witness how utterly despondent patients with end stage emphysema and terminal lung cancer are. Most have stopped smoking, or want to stop but can't for a myriad of reasons. Most are pensioners with no health insurance. I disagree with the growing opinion amongst health professionals that prioritise therapy away from smokers. Typical of this is the advertisement that goes "Doctor I can't stop smoking"......."Well I can't operate". Whilst it is true that smokers have higher risks of post operative pneumonia and other morbidity, to deny treatment ignores several important issues. These include it is a drug of addiction, the proportion of guilt that tobacco companies must take (see "Thank you for Smoking"), but most importantly for me - the issue of compassion for a fellow human.

I dissagree completley, our medical system is streched to the hilt and there is 4x higher likley hood of a smoker getting post oprative complications than a non smoker. If you prioritise smokers lower it allows the fixxed number of staff in a hospital to deal with more patients over the same period of time. I get it that smokers are human beings to but if they really cared about their health they wouldn't do it.

today on radio national (yeah, I'm over 30 so I'm allowed to listen to RN so shut up...) they (the electoral commision) were saying how much Phillip Morris had donated to the major political parties. Makes you nearly as sick as lung cancer!

Mabey theu should just build a Phillip Morris wing on every major public hospital, stick all the smokers in there and get the cynical doctors that don't give a shit to treat them.

 

[Meat Pie]

just reading through this thread makes me want a smoke. hell its a free country. just like our freedom of speech we have the right to do many things, smoking being one of them. comparing herion to tobaco is like comparing bannas and apples. i enjoy my smoking but as a rider tend to try and not do it so often, still i find it nice and relaxing. there have been harsher laws coming in to regulate passive smoking such as banning it on beaches and in pubs wich i totally agree with. im sure eventually smoking will become a thing of the past with every generation producing fewer smokers.

i can understand anyone who hates smokers in general, like i hate emo's in general, but to each there own, which is why i love this country.

now im off to light up

 

[The Paperboy]

just reading through this thread makes me want a smoke. hell its a free country. just like our freedom of speech we have the right to do many things, smoking being one of them. comparing herion to tobaco is like comparing bannas and apples. i enjoy my smoking but as a rider tend to try and not do it so often, still i find it nice and relaxing. there have been harsher laws coming in to regulate passive smoking such as banning it on beaches and in pubs wich i totally agree with. im sure eventually smoking will become a thing of the past with every generation producing fewer smokers.

i can understand anyone who hates smokers in general, like i hate emo's in general, but to each there own, which is why i love this country.

now im off to light up

Agreed.

I smoke regulary and as DHD and Renegade said. If you haven't been a full blown smoker you don't know the addiction. I ahve tried many times but can't control my temper when quitting. I get very and anbry and distracted really easy.

I play tennis, football(AFL) and ride my bike all day with-out the need for one. It is the relaxed factor that I love.

As for strangers coming up and asking you to not smoke. I've had plenty of people do it before and will do it again. BUT if i'm in a designated smoking area and you tell me to stop! Expect a verbal bashing. I know smoking is disgusting and smells and blah, blah, blah but I like it.

And that would be my rant.

Thanks.

 

[Techno Destructo]

just reading through this thread makes me want a smoke. hell its a free country. just like our freedom of speech we have the right to do many things, smoking being one of them. comparing herion to tobaco is like comparing bannas and apples. i enjoy my smoking but as a rider tend to try and not do it so often, still i find it nice and relaxing. there have been harsher laws coming in to regulate passive smoking such as banning it on beaches and in pubs wich i totally agree with. im sure eventually smoking will become a thing of the past with every generation producing fewer smokers.

i can understand anyone who hates smokers in general, like i hate emo's in general, but to each there own, which is why i love this country.

now im off to light up

Yeah, that wouldn't be a problem if

• we didn't have to pay shitloads for your medical treatments when you come crying to the hospital about your lung cancer
• you didn't simply drop your butts and cigarette packs wherever you're standing, even if there's an ashtray a few meters away
• have to breath in your smoke just because we're unlucky enough to be standing near you

Let's put it this way... if you smoked and didn't impact on everybody else (such as... smoking in your own house, actually throwing your butts into the bin, and paying for your own medical treatments), then I'd say, sure! Smoke yourself into the ground! Who cares! Because you don't affect me! But your average smoker, as shown earlier, just doesn't give a shit about other people. THAT'S the problem.

 

[Techno Destructo]

BUT if i'm in a designated smoking area and you tell me to stop! Expect a verbal bashing.

Be honest here. Has anyone REALLY ever done that to you before?

 

[cressa]

Yeah, that wouldn't be a problem if

• we didn't have to pay shitloads for your medical treatments when you come crying to the hospital about your lung cancer
• you didn't simply drop your butts and cigarette packs wherever you're standing, even if there's an ashtray a few meters away
• have to breath in your smoke just because we're unlucky enough to be standing near you

Let's put it this way... if you smoked and didn't impact on everybody else (such as... smoking in your own house, actually throwing your butts into the bin, and paying for your own medical treatments), then I'd say, sure! Smoke yourself into the ground! Who cares! Because you don't affect me! But your average smoker, as shown earlier, just doesn't give a shit about other people. THAT'S the problem.

You are stereotyping. I don't want to come out guns blazing defending smoking, because it is a health hazard and frankly, I am not that passionate about it (nor am I addicted). But I am going to defend my right to smoke occasionaly and responisbly without affecting others or the environment. Not all smokers are arrogant and without empathy for others. If I smoke at a party etc. I clear out, when i put one out, I bin the butt - everytime.

 

[Techno Destructo]

You are stereotyping. I don't want to come out guns blazing defending smoking, because it is a health hazard and frankly, I am not that passionate about it (nor am I addicted). But I am going to defend my right to smoke occasionaly and responisbly without affecting others or the environment. Not all smokers are arrogant and without empathy for others. If I smoke at a party etc. I clear out, when i put one out, I bin the butt - everytime.

Well, Shane, I wish there was more like you. I had a good buddy of mine once in Whistler, a Quebecois friend. He smoked too. He carried a little foldable ashtray with him wherever he went. When he finished with his butt, he put it in the foldable little ashtray, and dumped it when he was at a garbage bin. I admired that.

Funny how I can admire something that people SHOULD be doing anyway? That's indicative to the norm with how cigarettes are usually disposed of.

 

[alexdavis]

I don’t smoke but I don’t mind if other people do, but I one thing that I hate is riding at night and seeing little red embers being chucked out of cars. A guy I knew was riding a motorbike through traffic someone chucked a cigarette butt out the window flew strait into his helmet and hit his eye.

 

[Stereochild]

I chew cigars, raddest game ever.

 

[Carlin]

I don't sit in a public place, chew my food up and then spit it into the face of the person next to me.

I don't stand at the doorway of a building sipping water and then spraying it out of my mouth at people.

I don't smoke.

 

[Sewer Cider]

Hey,

For all you guys who do smoke and would like to stop, here's a book I read that changed my life.

I haven't had a cigarette in nearly 2 years, down from 30 a day every day for 10 years.

Allen Carr - The EasyWay to Stop Smoking

Simple, enjoyable book, does NOT concentrate on the health aspects of smoking, and in fact ASKS you to smoke while you're reading the book. By doing that, you have no fear of reading the book, because there is zero risk.

High, HIGHLY recommended.

Let's see:

2 years = 104 weeks
I used to spend $70 a week on smokes

That's $7280 I have saved...and I have a Trance 2 in my bedroom and money in the bank to prove it!

Also...

2 years = 104 weeks
210 cigarettes per week

That's 21,840 cigarettes I havent had

 

[Timbot]

Double standards

Agree completely with that, make em take out a personal loan and suffer from having to pay it back. Smoking is the dirtiest, most disgusting, waste of bluddy money habit alive.

There seems to be a common thread here that thinks it should be the responsability of the smoker to foot the bill for Surgery/treatment that They receive while in hospital as they are all to aware of the dangers involved .Ok.Lets run with this brilliant idea.But what about Mountainbiking?
We all know the risks involved.Its dangerous.Should MTBers also have to foot the bill for something they enjoy doing.Lets chuck in all the other extreme sports as well for good measure .Keeping it really real!!..Get off the moral high horse people!.

 

[Vicious_Fishes]

you are able to mountainbike WITHOUT hurting yourself, you fall off due to an accident. do you go for a ride GUARANTEED that you are going to hurt yourself ? no.

smoking WILL, GUARANTEED, harm your body.

there's a hell of a difference.

you take up mountainbiking knowing that you MAY come to harm. you smoke knowing that you WILL come to harm.

 

[Techno Destructo]

There seems to be a common thread here that thinks it should be the responsability of the smoker to foot the bill for Surgery/treatment that They receive while in hospital as they are all to aware of the dangers involved .Ok.Lets run with this brilliant idea.But what about Mountainbiking?
We all know the risks involved.Its dangerous.Should MTBers also have to foot the bill for something they enjoy doing.Lets chuck in all the other extreme sports as well for good measure .Keeping it really real!!..Get off the moral high horse people!.

Number of smokers: bazillions.
Likelihood of needing medical treatment after a life of addiction: everyone of them is pretty certain.


Number of extreme sport people: 10s of thousands?
Likelihood of needing medical treatment from doing a sport: probably a very small percentage of these people push it enough to need medical treatment for something.

Not a good comparison.

 

[Cave Dweller]

Can't be arsed reading this whole thread, but everytime a smoker breathes their filth on me i fell like coffing all over them in return, it only seems fair. Either that or punching them in the face. I hate smoking, i look forward to less then a years time when i can go to a pub/club and not one smoker will be seen and i can come home without reaking of tar.

 

[No Skid Marks]

Everybody back into single file,look straight ahead,the comforts you've demanded are now manditory.Smoking is annoying because of having to look at looser highly addicted people that are suffering from the chains of scociety and well are just loosers.Take their cigarettes from them and then what do you get,alchaholics?More older loosers?
I hate passive smoke but big deal,it's the colour of living with others,if you walked around smelling roses everywhere you'd be complaining about rosses,hell if there where no smokers you would just move on to the next thing you don't like about others that doesn't fit your mold. I hate polloution,STOP DRIVING YOUR BIG CARS,STOP DRIVING.Oh but drivings so much fun and it's my little vice being up to date with the next plannet killing engines performance,it gives me purpose.
Smoking in clubs and pubs sucks,confined spaces it should be banned.I'd agree with that.

 

[Techno Destructo]

When I'm around smokers and no-one else, I fart with impunity. I usually turn to aim it at them too.

Bonus points for being in an enclosed space.
The smellier the fart, the more bonus points.
Ultimate bonus points for getting someone at face level, while their mouth is open.

I, of course, leave after firing the salvo, so I don't have to endure my own smelliness.