Normally, I don't give a shit when people smoke.
Smokers, on the whole, are more courteous about smoking than non-smokers are about not smoking, and those that aren't are easily avoidable. And if you don't like smoke, do what
K9 says... go someplace where it's prohibited. Like
Fenway Park. Or an
airplane. Or a
government building in
Massachusetts. I'm sure you can find a place. And smokers, I'm sure you've been antagonized more that you need to be, but please don't talk to me about this, "It's my body"
shit.
If it's your body, then I'll make a deal with you. Forty years down the road, you're in the hospital with emphysema, having polyps removed some random part of your body, while you talk to your kids through a voice box, please, please, PLEASE, don't ask for a fucking dime of my money to pay for your medical expenses. It's bad enough that I'm handing over money to Social Security that I'll never see, because the government can't manage a trust fund. I don't need to be giving money to pay for the treatment of other people's preventable smoking-related health problems.
theonomist, I'm picking up your sarcasm, and you should hope so, because you're laying it on pretty thick. What you choose to omit is the fact that some of these things are far more beneficial than harmful. Perhaps I should not feed the well-known
troll, but I will. Athletic activity is far more likely to result in a fitter, more healthy person than it is to result in permanent debilitating injury. People who drive too fast and run red lights are supposed to be taken care of by our boys in blue, as are people who jaywalk. There's absolutely nothing wrong with meat, so don't even start with that, and chewing sugarfree gum after a meal actually helps prevent
cavities. Smoking, on the other hand, has few positive benefits, other than making
dry cleaners and senators from
North Carolina happy.
I might also point out that I have no problem with smoking. Perhaps if you'd like to read the above statement again, it would be clear. I have friends that smoke. I have relatives that smoke. I don't give a shit. But when they feel the need to justify themselves, or as DMan would say, force their smoking philosophy on me, and tell me that they're only hurting themselves, they need to be hit with the clue-by-four.
Mordax, which government is that? Canada? How about some relevant statistics worldwide. Damn, E2 is becoming too Canadacentric.