It has been a crazy week for me and I have been smoking like a chimney, which incidentally is the topic of my essay this week. You know, I pride myself on being a considerate smoker. I never smoke in non-smoking areas. I never smoke in a non-smoker's home, even when they say I am welcomed to. All of these things I have done because I am aware of others right to not smoke, even though I choose to.
Being that I have tried to be considerate to the NON-smokers in this world, it really pisses me off to NO end when they turn around and tell me I cannot smoke anywhere! Pardon me for stating the obvious here, but I have just as much right to smoke as they have to NOT smoke. I am a consenting adult and feel that if I choose to suck on a cigarette then that is my prerogative. BUT NO!
They started off with no smoking in government buildings. Then it was no smoking in PUBLIC buildings. Now the only place I can smoke is in the miniscule smoking section that roughly 70% of the restaurants still maintain. There is proposed legislation in congress now to keep smokers from smoking in ANY public place including restaurants, nightclubs, and bars. Well, if I owned a bar, restaurant, or nightclub, I would be fighting this to the death. Alcohol and cigarettes go hand in hand for the most part. A smoker is not going to keep drinking if he/she cannot smoke. Subsequently I think that their business will suffer. Besides, what fun is it to be in a nightclub that isn't smoky? It is part of the atmosphere.
I read in the paper the other day that parts of California are trying to make it illegal for people to smoke in their own homes and cars. Their rationalization is that their kids will be traumatized. Spare me; most parents do not sit around and blow smoke in their children's faces. Many step outside and smoke. This is total bullshit. Telling people what they can and cannot do in their own homes is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE. And the government and these assholes that believe their fear-monger statistics have no business telling me what I can do with my body. The Pro-choice people have been screaming this very same thing in reference to abortion rights for years. The government has no problem getting behind the Pro-choice crowd. It seems choice in this country only applies to ending the life of a fetus, not to adults smoking cigarettes.
I listened to some government mouthpiece spouting statistics about some preposterous number of people dying from secondhand cigarette smoke every year. You are going to die from secondhand cigarette smoke faster than if you smoked the cigarette yourself. Well this just doesn't really work for me. If that were true, and 60,000 people a year die from lung cancer and heart disease caused by smoking, those people would have buried their entire family years before. The numbers just don't match. The thing is, that certain people are going to smoke for 60 years and never get cancer, and others may smoke for far less and get the disease. It is a gene, you are either susceptible to it or you aren't. [Editor's note: Remember George Burns?]
And what the hell is this cigar shit? It seems while cigarettes are BAD BAD BAD, cigars are just fine. In the last year thousands of Humidors have popped up across the country. Why is it okay to smoke cigars?? They smell worse! They have no filter! Why is it better?? Some say, "You don't INHALE a cigar." Bullshit, many people do. Not inhaling will simply lessen your chance of lung cancer, but the instances of mouth cancers is higher in cigar smokers.
Want to target the tobacco industry?? Why don't they target the makers of chewing tobacco and snuff? Let's talk about cancer!! Cancer of the tongue, mouth, mandible! Parents don't give a shit that their 15 year old son dips, but if he lights a cigarette he is in trouble. These people should be shown pictures of what he will look like when he loses half of his jaw bone or the entire thing to cancer. It is just entirely to hypocritical for me to stomach, this entire issue.
Basically, I live in a FREE country. If I want to smoke I should be allowed to smoke. I won't smoke in YOUR house. I won't smoke in NON-Smoking areas. But don't tell me I cannot smoke in my home or in my car. Don't try to run me out of a restaurant or nightclub. I will be considerate of you, as long as you are considerate of me. Why don't these people sinking all their money and effort into anti-smoking legislation direct those resources to an issue that really will do some good. How about Education, Medical Research, or Crime in this country?? Wouldn't you rather see your child better educated? Wouldn't it be more rewarding to find a cure for AIDS or Cancer? How about trying to get some of these degenerate losers off the street? Leave me and my fucking cigarettes alone!!
Well that is all I have for this week. Next week I think I am going to scream about the idiots in society that say I should not be allowed to own a handgun. I am a Texan, so watch out!