Take It Back, John
June 18th, 2007 by Nancy ClevelandI’m sitting here listening during the 9-12 spot this morning and hear John Mixon wax eloquent on cigarette smokers. Now, in part, I agree that tossing a cigarette butt out of a car window is an annoyance, a fire hazard, even an injury waiting to happen to the occupants in the car behind but to say that all cigarette smokers are just “inconsiderate” is wrong. Okay…John first said “99.1%”, talked about the militant smoke’s web-site being ”something of a dichotomy” but then continued his harangue that all smokers were considerate.Â
Hey…I’m a smoker, been one for thirty-one years and, frankly, find myself to be more considerate in my “bad” habit than most who believe themselves to have no bad habits…particularly of the sort which would irritate others. But I’m curious about one thing…how is it that all smokers were lumped together as inconsiderate nincompoops (that last my word, not the host’s although the implication was there) yet when a caller moved over to beer (or even soda) drinkers tossing their cans out car windows into roadways and fields, it was passed off as juvenile misbehaviour? Not so! Here’s another one for you…diaper chucking. And those disposable diapers are as non-biodegradable as a cigarette filter.  Take a drive along any tree-lined road in the county and try to count the plastic grocery bags hanging on the underbrush, waving from tree limbs or snagged on long grass. Bet you can’t! (Count them, I mean)
Look, inconsiderate factions effectively removed smoker’s enjoyment of an evening out dining, enjoying an after dinner drink…even though most places had already segregated the beautiful from the ugly in seperate areas. We get the rude, inconsiderate sneers and comments even when we smoke outdoors…where smoking is NOT banned, YET. At a certain hospital in the area you canot smoke on their campus..you can’t even smoke in your own car, in their parking lot so, if…God forbid…you have a loved one going through surgery or very ill you can’t go destress to take a couple of puffs in the privacy of your own vehicle unless you drive somewhere else and if, hallelujah, you are a new Dad forget the celebratory cigar on the birth of your son or daughter until you get home.Â
I think throwing anything from a car window is repulsive and wrong; I think dumping one’s ashtray in the corner of a parking lot is disgusting and wrong; blowing smoke in someone’s face is rude and wrong but if we are going to talk about “inconsiderate” let’s not lump every smoker in there. You know what…as considerate and deferential a smoker as I am and always have been I’m more and more tempted to push those natural tendencies aside and join the rest who “just blow smoke” with or without a cigarette in their hand…or mouth.  Â
June 18th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
Take it back?
I’m in Pasadena, Maryland as I type this overseeing a brand new Team Trivia event in a little restaurant/bar called Fibber McGee’s.
Smoke abounds. Smokers without a care in the world are puffing and huffing all around me as well as men, women and children who came out to enjoy some food, drink and TRIVIA.
Do the smokers care that non-smokers are actually annoyed or bothered by their habit? NAAAAAHHHHH! “Dude,” they say emphatically, “You’re in a bar!” Well, ya have me there, Einstein! Absolutely, since I’m in a bar I must give up the desire for clean, fresh air while you enjoy your habit.
If smokers were truly considerate, they wouldn’t smoke indoors in public places, but they are not. They are not bothered by their smoke, hence there is no reason for ANYONE to be bothered. All this behavior did was cause the government (which can certainly stink in it’s own way) to step in a create a police state concerning the desire for clean air in bars and restaurants.
There are some (less than 10% in my estimation) “semi-considerate” smokers who do not smoke in friend’s homes or blow smoke in children’s faces. But if that many smokers were truly considerate, they may have been able to influence the inconsiderate smokers over the past 200 or so years, but they have not.
Back in the day, I couldn’t even begin to count how many times I was walking in a mall and strolled smack into a freshly exhaled cloud of carcinogens from the ‘gentleman’ or ‘lady’ walking in front of me. Beautiful, huh?
So I am forced to go home and change shirts, and perhaps wash my hair in the sink because of your RIGHT????? PLEASE!
Smoke is a residual effect of your (smokers) enjoyment (cigarettes). I also have an enjoyment,…. beer. How would you like it if I jumped up on a table an loaded your hair, clothes and mouth with the residual effect of my enjoyment? (Think about it.)
You wouldn’t. That’s why beer drinkers are far more considerate than smokers when it comes to the residual effect of our enjoyment. Smoke gets all over the clothes, chairs, walls, carpet, glasses and every other surface in a restaurant including the patrons nearby. Whiz gets flushed, purified and benefits society in many ways.
No, Nancy, I will not retract my statements. As much as I acknowledge your right to smoke cigarettes in this country, I am also acutely aware that if someone (much less a large corporation) was to introduce this as a new product today, anyone with an ounce of reason would vote against it. Therefore the onus is on smokers to become more considerate or they may cause their own enjoyment to become banned outright.
June 18th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
John, I didn’t ask you to take back your opinions on smoke or smoking annoyances…but that you don’t generalize and stereotype. I’m sorry but, you said yourself “in my estimation”, in mine you’re being rather chintzy with the numbers of “considerate smokers”. Hey, I could have offered my opinion on beer (or other alcoholic beverage drinkers), said all drinkers were obnoxious…among other things…but my opinion is only that and why call every drinker obnoxious when I know full well they aren’t? Mind you, it has to be said that a drinker who drives under the influence and causes an accident, injures or kills someone makes the paper somewhere, almost every day but I’ve yet to read a headline stating “Man drops dead from diner’s smoke” or “The three car accident is believed to be smoking-related”. (And I would put a smiley here if it weren’t that DUI accidents are nothing to even joke about).
But…I say again…there are many more considerate smokers out here than you propose and I’m sorry you’ve never met at least one.
June 19th, 2007 at 6:41 am
One thing (frequently overlooked) with throwing a still-burning cigarette out a car window is this…
Certain vehicles (I’ll drop the Saturn logo) have polymer-made body parts (hoods, fenders, etc.). A burning cigarette will put a melt mark on these parts…and it is not fixable other than by replacement. They put those parts on for fuel economy, but there is that one “little” downside.
In Ohio, we are smoke-free. When we Ohioans went to the polls to vote on this, we were led to believe that there would be exceptions - private clubs like VFW and Eagles Halls, private bars, etc. - but that is not the case at all. EVERY building in the state has a sticker or sign on it, stating that it is smoke-free and provides a number to call for violations.
I am an ex-smoker - the worst kind of non-smoker. I voted “no” for the smoking ban because I believe it is not the right of government to tell a private businessperson what he or she can or cannot do or have their patrons do or not do, so long as the action is within the law (for example, smoking tobacco is “theoretically” legal in Ohio).
June 20th, 2007 at 6:07 am
About the smoking thing___I hear from a friend of mone that when this smoking ban iis enforced at the certain hospital, you cannot even have a hint of smoke on your body or you will be sent home if you are an employee!!! You are allowed to take a long walk down the street if you can be out of the hospital for your break or lunch time. You are also allowed to smoke when you take your walk, but you better had not smell like you have had a smoke when you take your stroll!!! I guess there will be people hired to “sniff out” the working people and make sure we are not offending anybody…I do agree that butts should be placed in an ashtray, and not thrown out the window. I enjoyed John’s segment that morning, very controversial and interesting.
June 21st, 2007 at 1:53 pm
Hey Nancy & John, why don’t you too debate each other on WGMD’s 9-11:30 a.m. & settle it? I’m willing to listen.