Are smokers really that bad? (Or SMOKERS vs CARNIVORES.)?

Question

I just came across a question from "returnofkarlos", asking "Will the smoking ban in England make you kick the habit?".

"elaine692981" commented:
"...We now have to breath in smoke when entering and leaving buildings. It stinks!
Why are smokers devoid of consideration for others? It is a strange phenomenon but smokers really don't seem to care about what they are doing to themselves or others."

I would like to tell "elaine692981" that she can easily avoid breathing in the smoke by not going into pubs/bars/clubs.

And I would like to raise a question. If you are a smoker, you MIGHT die because of it. Somebody else MIGHT die because of it. BUT IF YOU EAT MEAT, THE ANIMAL OBVIOUSLY HAD TO DIE. AND IT DIDN'T HAVE A CHOICE (e.g. not to go to the slaughterhouse). And there are people who suffer seing animals being eaten. So what do you think about that?

I yearn to see the day when eating meat is banned from public places! Same for dairy. People kill baby cows to drink their mother's milk!

Please do not miss the point of the question. A vegetarian/vegan does not die if they see another person eat meat, but the animal on the plate has been slaughtered.

Also, don't give me the crap that "people eat meat to live" - so all vegans are zombies or what?

SURPRISINGLY MANY PEOPLE HERE CANNOT READ.

Answer 1

No, smokers are not that bad!
Drinkers..........some drive their vehicles whilst under the influence of drink,causing harm to others.
Car owners/drivers............
pollute the air,causing many people problems.
Drug Addicts...................some commit crime to support their habit.
Fox Hunting......................
killing of innocent animals.(down right cruel)!!!
How many people are willing to give up their cars to stop making others suffer their pollution??????????????
You get the idea????We all have vices.Wonder how many of the people who complain about smokers would also complain about huge tax increases if everyone that smoked quit? I suggest they would STILL find something to complain about !!!!!! Perhaps many of them should take a look at their own life before condemning others!!!

Answer 2

Would you like to ban Alcohol then?
It costs money when people miss work with hangovers, It costs money when people have to take time off because some stupid drunk has caused an accident. It costs all taxpayers money for policing bars clubs and roads, It costs the health service to treat the drunken louts in A & E every weekend and it KILLS user and innocent alike. It destroys lives for the innocent too.(Try asking anyone with an Alcoholic relative)
No the ban wont stop me smoking just make sure I stay away from Stupid Paranoid Idiots who don't have any idea what they are talking about.
I'm already considerate enough not to smoke in public!
For you > As for being a Vegan Man is Omnivorous and designed to eat meat. In nature there is always a food chain! Death comes to all eventually and most of the animals you are so concerned about would be slaughtered if eating meat was banned. Why keep sheep etc!!! I doubt my eating meat in public will ever kill anyone!

Answer 3

I think you have a real bee in your bonnet here. I do not really understand how your comments link with what your question is. Everyone has rights, including smokers and non-vegetarians. Elaine 692981 makes a valid point about walking through the smoke in doorways. It does stink. Not that a smoker would know that, and I say that as an ex smoker. Smoking does stink, and that was partly the reason that my quit was so successful. People who suffer after seeing animals being eaten need to eat in veggie places so that don't happen (perhaps).
You need to remember that the animals you are talking about are bred for the purpose, and would become extinct if we all gave up eating them . Yes people kill calves to drink their mothers milk. Were we all breast fed? If your Mum couldn't feed you, and the calves didn't die do you think you would still be here?

Answer 4

Im a smoker and yes I do care what Im doing to myself but Im also an ADDICT. I do care about the well being of those around me which is why I go outside to smoke, and dont even smoke in my car. HOWEVER, if I am in a public place that allows smoking, I will smoke there, if the people in the building dont like it they can kindly leave and go to a place where smoking is not allowed. Having said that lets throw this into the mix, people freak out about smokers killing themselves and others, but what about abortion? In this country its legal to kill your baby if you dont want to take resposibility for your actions, but we flip out on the smokers. Dont you think that is ridiculous? These days something like 1 in 3 babies is aborted. You cant show me those stats when it comes to people dying from second hand smoke, this comapison here is simple, the baby had no choice, just as those who inhaled someones smoke did not make the choice to smoke themselves. Come on people lets look at the real issues here or this world will be filled with people who dont have to take resposibility for anyting. I like the way you think, and this is a good question, however I would rather use the baby comparison to the animal one. Both work though.

Answer 5

some animals are bred for food. well, domesticated ones. and if hunters didnt shoot deer every season (with in reason of course) they would over populate the US in just a few years. while i dont really agree with hunting as a sport, sometimes its necessary to keep the balance. and while they dont have a choice most of the time, that is one of their purposes in life- to be food. however, smoking causes cancer, birth defects, heart attacks- not just for the one inhaling but for all of us. they also contribute to air polution. it causes emotional damage as well. and "elaine692981" has just as much right to go to bars and pubs and anywhere else she likes because she has the right to breathe clean air- breathing is a privlidge- its a right and a necessity for life! and if it were that cigarette smoke only affected the smoker, then i'd say, smoke on brother! but since it affects everyone, not only those around the smoker, but the environment- yeah i have a problem with that. and what about the people who arent in the bars and pubs?
what about the people simply standing on the street corner waiting for the light to change? or walking into a building? or eating outside on a sunny day? are they not allowed to enjoy life because they dont want to polute the air and their bodies?

and fyi- you dont have to kill a baby cow to get the mother's milk- the mother has to be milked no matter what or they will die- its like not allowing someone to pee ever! their balder would burst. nursing mothers do the same thing! they pump because their breasts being to swell with milk and if the baby isnt hungry at the time, the breasts start to get very sore.

and seriously to one of the other "answerers"- to talk about abortion- you think its wrong for rape victims to be forced to keep their fetuses and then put them up for adoption where they get lost in the system or have the chance of landing in an abusive home? well arent you just ms self-rightous of the year!

Answer 6

Well if you would like to tell non smokers that we can avoid smoke by not going to pubs etc, I'd like to ask you why we shouldnt go to pubs etc. If you're going to be so **** and bull about it, I'd say that amounts to an unlawful restriction on our freedom of movement, that we havent got the chance to escape from, and therefore is False Imprisonment.

I'd like to rephrase your question from 'If you are a smoker, you MIGHT die because of it' to 'If you are a smoker you WILL die because of it, unless something else gets you first.' I feel that is a more accurate representation of the 'might'.

What do i think about that? I think your comparison of smokers and meat eaters is rubbish, to be perfectly honest. The animals that we eat are bred for the purpose of what? Thats right, eating. What are humans bred for? Well, thats debatable but i can tell you what we're not bred for; giving lung cancer to.

Eating meat is part of the circle of life. What would vegetarians like to do about lions and tigers that kill antelope and eat them? I can sure as hell guarentee that when the lions munching on the half dead carcass, hes not thinking about whether the antelopes been humanely killed. Yes i agree that we should kill the animals humanely, but just to put it into context. How can people say that humans shouldnt eat meat, when we are designed as omnivores?

Who suffers from seeing people eating the meat? more to the point, who suffers from watching smokers smoke? nobody, what they suffer from are the fumes that smokers create. Eating meat doesnt create fumes, so your likening again is flawed. It is an interesting comparison however and did make me think a bit!

Answer 7

I used to smoke. I quit 13 years ago, cold turkey. I never, not once threw a lit cigarette anywhere. But, I do know that many smokers do just flick their cigarettes onto the ground without a care in the world. Yes, they can start fires and they have!! I was driving down the highway with my sunroof open and my car windows open as well. I smelled a cigarette followed by hair burning when I felt pain on my left shoulder. Someone threw out their cigarette from their car window and it got lodged between my seat and my shoulder. It burned my hair, burned threw my shirt and then to my skin. As I was driving, I tried to reach the cigarette with my right hand over my shoulder. Leaning forward caused the cig to roll down into the gap of my pants in the lower back area. The only thing I could do was grit my teeth while I grinded my back into the seat to put the cig out before it could burn me any longer. While doing so, I crashed into a rock formation on the side of the road. Yup, all because some assaholic threw out their lit cig that blew into my car. My goodness, when will people begin thinking about what their actions cause to others??

Answer 8

No, smokers are NOT that bad. The dangers of second hand smoke are overstated and smokers should not have to shoulder the blame for air polution. Meat eaters are doing what they are designed to do. Vegetarians are often a bit self-righteous. The most self-righteous though seem to be those that quit smoking and stop eating meat and expect all others to follow their "good" example.

Answer 9

No one said anything about pubs. How about entering a restaurant and having to go through a gauntlet of employee smokers out front? And do you eat chicken or fish? The same argument could be made about them.

Answer 10

It's not the smokers who are bad just the smoke. Regarding your other question, people who eat meat only eat it to live. You should save your venom for the people who kill animals for the sport.