"Sanctimonious" ex-smoker writes
Bob writes: As an ex-smoker (yes i know we're the most sanctimonious) I think you guys are in denial. Smoking is vile and I don't know why i ever did it. It's an addiction and the only reason people past their early 20s smoke is because they can't find the strength to give it up. Pointing the finger at those who try and legislate against it and denying health problems associated with it, is what people in a state of desperation try to do. they can't cope with the problem, so they pretend it isn't one.
It's a darn hard struggle to give up, but with incentive (a daughter) and will power and theknowledge that the air i breath is now much cleaner and healthier and with the knowledge that although there's an addiction inside me still craving for a ciggie, i feel much better and fitter without the poison weed. get real, tobacco is disgusting, dangerous and those who don't want to inhale it shouldn't have to! I certainly don't want my child inhaling other people's smoke.
posted by Simon Clark @ 18:10
12 comments
12 Comments:
I smoked for 40 years until I gave up over two years ago. Even when I smoked I was not so thick as to not be aware of the damage smoking causes.
I find the attitude of smokers deplorable, I dont want to smoke so I do not want smokers to force me to breathe in their second hand smoke.
I think the smoking should be banned from public places. You are an arrogant bunch if you think that non smokers should have to breathe in your smoke.
You have a right to smoke if you want to. I have a right not to smoke, so don't make me suffer your smoke.
I agree that smoking should be a personal choice as it is my personal choice not to have to smell the sickening second hand smoke emitted from your cigarettes, etc.
I am an ex smoker of 30 years and cannot believe that I was crazy enough to smoke that long and smell the way that I did. Everyone that wants to smoke should be able to do so but in it should be in an area where it does not come in contact with me or others who prefer it not to. I actually start coughing when I smell second hand smoke whether it is the actual smoke or the smell of smokers clothes.
If this is an issue of personal rights then you should be understanding of my personal rights and not smoke around me.
How can these anti-smokers insist on a supposed right to not have people smoking around them in every part of every pub, bar and restaurant in the country and still pretend they're being reasonable?
Oh, er...Bob, yes, let's get real about all these toxins and sickening smells and your child breathing them in.
I take it now then, and in order to be consistent, that you're involved in campaigns to ban cars and aircraft -- mmm, all that carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide: yes tons of it - lovely!
And then, how about all those barbeques, bonfires and smoking chimneys? Yup all pretty ghastly and toxic. Then, there's gas cookers. Well, the average one of those chucks out as much formaldehyde as 100 cigarettes in just 15 to 20 minutes - so let's ban them as well and I hope your are making the same fuss about preventing your child breathing in those fumes too!
Do I hear you say "no". Oh, now why's that? Oh yes, let's have some cod psychology, could it be now because you've convinced yourself there isn't really a problem with any of those things?
Dear PC,
Quite right too. Let's have smoking and non smoking venues then everybody can be happy. Outside they can put a huge neon sign so there is absolutely no confusion and you will then know which pubs/restaurants you will feel safe entering. Don't be surprised if it's a bit quiet in there though, but you shouldn't have too much trouble finding a place to sit.
"I certainly don't want my child inhaling other people's smoke"
How does banning smoking in pubs help here? You sound like a reasonable man who cares for your child so I'd guess there is not much chance of you taking your daughter to my local pub on a Saturday night.
I just wanted to write in because frankly your website is close to enraging me. I have quit for two weeks now and intend to never smoke another cigarette.
Did I feel pressured into doing this by those dreaded anti-smoking 'fascists'. No, I did it because I have a mind of my own and my mind was telling me that it was a dirty habit. I stank, I irritated other people by blowing smoke into their face, I was consistently anxious about when I was going to smoke the next cigarette, I couldn’t afford it, I wanted to be able to breathe properly, I didn’t like being controlled by nicotine.
I frequently want to smoke still and there are numerous situations every day where I think “This is the perfect moment for a cigarette.” But I can’t think of one good reason for any individual to carry on smoking. In my experience, it’s not relaxing. It’s not an enjoyable habit. It’s something that I have done for the past 4 years because I have become psychologically dependent on nicotine. But no more!!
So there’s the rant, I imagine you deleted this after the first sentence, but I really had to express my views and believe that, while freedom of choice is of course a perfectly valid argument, I’m irritated by the completely unbalanced nature of all your pro-smoking ideas.
And really, Anthony Worrall-Thompson, starting smoking at 41!!! What a tit.
Avid smoker for 25 years just quit. I've visited your site before when I was one of the yellow fingered stinky brigade and it's only now that I read your material today that it strikes me how deeply and desperately in denial we all are/were about dying with our lungs choked with brown jelly and froth. It's really reinforced my determination to give up but not to become an anti nutter.
Nicotine abstinence is very rewarding but also alters your perceptions of things very subtley. For instance, did your site always go for the ambience and prose of a sixth form common room at a minor public school? Very funny but also very odd....
Having been a smoker for 30 odd years (and content to continue to be so), I find it disturbing that so many ex smokers feel that they have to comment so forcibly on the subject. Live and let live I say. If my local pub landlord wanted to re-introduce the bar/snug/lounge arrangement in his pub and allow smoking in the snug (regardless of whether he serves food or not) then he should be allowed to do so.
FOREST appear to be basing their latest campaign on "freedom of choice".
So what "freedom" and "choice" is that then?
Is it the choice, as I had, of losing a father, father-in-law, two grandparents, an aunt and an uncle prematurely as a direct result of diseases or illnesses caused by smoking?"
Or is the choice of seeing your loved ones die an agonising death whilst being completely spaced out on a cocktail of paliative drugs?"
Having experienced that lot, can any smoker explain to me the pleasure that they get from partaking in their filthy habit?
martin G,
I sympathise with regards to your family however, my grandfather died from alcohol poisioning before I was even born. My father was just 17 when he had to go and identify the body. My grandfather did not drink alot.....in those day's the working class simply could not afford it but he would go to the pub once a fortnight. One night he went over the score passed out and the alcohol in his system killed him.
However, I would never preach to you or anyone else about the dangers of alcohol consumption.
If my family,friends,etc want to chastise me for smoking then that's fine...that's THEIR choice....my actions may at some point affect their lives. I could go on to try to explain the "pleasure" I derive from smoking but to be honest I can't be bothered.
Whether I choose to smoke or not has absolutely no bearing on YOUR life whatsoever.
Martin G
My first husband died of lung cancer and the care he received from the NHS was bordering on negligent. I cared for him 24 hours a day as well as my teenage daughter, 3 pet dogs and a home. He smoked and enjoyed it right up to the day he died. I smoked then and still do now and have no intention whatsoever of giving up.
I have relatives who have smoked and lived long and healthy lives. I have had relatives who have not smoked, nor been subjected to it by the likes of us smokers, but have, neverhtless, died of cancer.
What I really want to know is this; if lung cancer is caused by smoking what causes all the other cancers that people die of?
I have not yet been convinced that smoking is as harmful as some would have us believe, certainly no more so, probably less so in fact, than the fumes from the cars we drive and the aircraft we travel in for our holidays and business trips along with other forms of transport - and don't forget the aerosols and chemical cleaning agents we are all so fond of.
As I have mentioned in other comments, I work in an office of around 30 people and only 3 of us smoke, yet it is us smokers who are hardly ever off sick. The non smokers however are off quite frequently. Not a week goes by when there isn't someone off sick.
And before you or anyone else says anything about the dreaded secondhand smoke - we do not smoke in the offices, we have to stand outside, whatever the weather and we are still fitter and healthier!
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