Why are people so nasty to smokers?

Question

I can't tell you the number of times someone I've never seen before has walked up to me and called me nasty, or dirty, or disgusting, just because I'm holding a cigarette. I don't blow smoke in peoples faces, I don't even stand near non-smokers without asking if it would bother them. I pick up my cigarette butts. I try my hardest to be courteous about it. Why do people think they have the right to be so nasty to a complete stranger?

Answer 1

Although I agree that people are nasty with smokers they are pretty nasty with many people because if it were not for smoking it be something else. But think about it and watch people as they talk trash about someone who is over-weight or someone who is homeless. look at the gays or the ones who have multi-colored hair.
The truth is we live in a hateful world where most people think they are perfect and if you are not just like them your subhuman but it goes even deeper because if you decide to try and be like them they hate you because your trying to be like them.
People who make rude comments to others are only trying to take the attention off themselves.
If you sit and think about it you could as well find something about anyone that you can use to be rude about.

I personally have never had anyone come face to face upto me and get rude but i have seen it done to many around me and i am sure they talk about me behind my back or places like the Internet where they are hidden from personal contact.

People should learn tolerance and live and let live. No one tells them they have to be around someone they do not want to be around no reason for them to be rude.

Although i would never be rude to you or anyone in this manner I will say i am sorry you had to and have to deal with hateful people like this.

Answer 2

My guess is because regardless of how thoughtful and courteous you are there are just some nasty, self-righteous and ignorant people out there who take a certain amount of pleasure in criticizing anyone else rather than taking care of their own less-than-desirable habits. I don't get quite the same nastiness, mainly because I avoid smoking in public and regardless I carry an old tin mint container to dispose of my butts so I can't even be accused of littering either. I used to be one of the worst anti-smokers that ever existed but I never called anyone names for their habit. It's just too ironic that even though I know all the bad things about cigarettes and my mom died of cancer, I took up smoking after she died. Too hilarious. Be who you are and try to understand that these people are ... just pretty sad folks.

Answer 3

I've probably never met you so please don't think I am speaking of you personally. The smokers I have been around smell like an ashtray no matter how many times they brush their teeth or rinse their mouths out. It gets in your hair on your clothes and comes out the pores of your skin. I can smell a smoker in a crowded room with only one person being a smoker. People that smoke don't think they smell bad until they quit then they talk about how bad other smokers smell. I just smile when I hear that and agree with them. I appreciate the way you say you show how courteous you are. Most smokers aren't like you though. No one has the right to be nasty to you because you smoke.

Answer 4

Because of their experiences with smokers. Most these days are not as courteous as you are. Most just light up without asking, and non-smokers find that rude. Even I find that rude. I don't smoke, and I do have friends, and family who do. However if I give them a ride somewhere - they always ask if they can smoke in my truck. I prefer not to have a vehicle that smells like smoke. And no one is ever allowed to smoke in my home. Not even family - even though they tried one time.

Answer 5

Haha, I'm sure he says he'll quit in December. Good luck with that. Anyways, kissing a smoker isn't good, it's not horrible but I really don't enjoy it that much. I've smoked like twice in my life, it's not my thing and I don't want to put anyone else through the nastiness of it.

Answer 6

They have the momentum of society behind them. Just like with drunk driving in the 80s and 90s, the new sanctimonious Cause for the Greater Good is cigarette prohibition. Laws are passed against the private property owner, limiting the use. Laws ("sin" taxes) are passed to tax, allowing government to financially benefit from their sale. Tobacco companies are sued to pay for the mistakes of the smokers. But god forbid the government outlaw them all together. After all, this is a free country.

I can't wait to hear all of the parrots give their answers. They regurgitate exactly what they have been indoctrinated with. They are outlawing smoking and insulting you personally...for the good of you. You should quit smoking because it's unhealthy. That makes you a marked person. They get to forget about manners because you're smoking. And SMOKING IS BAD FOR YOU.

EDIT: Look at the idiot above me. "You're spreading a dangerous disease." That moron has no idea what he's talking about.

Answer 7

Well, it's a matter of health. If you are inside a building or any other closed area, it doesn't matter if you don't stand near non-smokers, the smoke will reach their lungs. Some people take those things very seriously and even when you are careful, some may think that they are helping you (and other people too) to prevent awful diseases that come with smoking cigarettes.

Answer 8

I have seen this, it is stange how someone will pick on a totally unknown person when they feel their rights to be smoke free are being trampled on. I do not smoke, however, I am not to the point of being ugly to someone. I now see my Mom who has taught me to be nice to everyone jumping on smokers. Too much smoke can make her feel bad, but I still think if someone is doing something I do not like, I can change by going somewhere else or going a different direction.

Answer 9

maybe you don't fit the criteria of a nasty smoker but non-smokers have some preconcieved notions about smokers they include:
smell bad
look bad
unhealthy
poor
uneducated
someone who can't handle stress
just all around gross.
as much as i hate to say it i prejudge people. its weird but when i'm talking to someone who i don't know smokes then i get along with them well but the same person when i find out they smoke i automatically look at them different. i don't hate them but i don't find them the interesting person i did before. this is just me honestly talking. i don't believe someone should just call someone nasty to their face but i can't lie and say that i don't think those things.
also its hard for me to rationalize how people who can't afford decent clothes, a decent place to live, etc. can still afford a pack of cigarettes.

Answer 10

That would be due to the latest advertising campaigns where the government is trying to show smokers as dirty people who are a burden on society, also you may have noticed manners are disappearing and therefore people have trouble keeping there opinions to themselves.
This I am sure of as an ex smoker.
ps i used a book called allen carrs easy way to stopsmoking when i decided to give them away

Answer 11

Because, for some reason, there are people who are dead set on imposing their "morality" on others. The more people who express it to be distasteful (usually because of the smell of the smoke and the long-term health effects), the more these people have wind in their sails and feel confident because they know the vast majority agrees with them.

I smoke, and I find it to be an exercise in shame. I am made to feel guilty even in my own backyard, because windows from two story houses can see me sitting in my backyard. I am an intelligent, hard-working woman who is a married mother of 3 and own a business. Yet I feel like the biggest scum of the earth smoking where I know I can be seen, and think that is just horrible.

The fact that someone can have a bad habit doesn't mean they are a bad person, especially because we do not break any laws and most of us go out of our way to be considerate to non-smokers, yet we will inevitably draw ire from complete strangers to whom we have done nothing wrong.

It is peer pressure, pure and simple, and feels just as bad as if people were backing away and pointing at someone. It just isn't nice.