Perhaps you could bugger off back to your gentlemen's club now and never darken the doorstep of a boozer again.
Context:
- Nigel Farage threatens to never go to the pub again if outdoor smoking banned
- Smokers ‘heroes of the nation’, says Nigel Farage as he lights up cigarette near Downing Street pub
And sundry other tomfoolery.
Broader context (on here):
Smoker hate is just another form of classism. Smoking could have been eradicated decades ago, but instead, they allowed these companies to continue to peddle death to the disenfranchised while placing all the blame (and tax burden) on the users. Now, governments and private entities continually restrict the spaces that people can smoke while still allowing the sale on every street corner. This is just another case of class warfare, poison the poor and blame them for the situation.
I still don’t want to have to deal with people smoking in pretty much any area where smoking is banned. It’s smells fucking awful and we know full-well the second-hand dangers. Other than allowing the sale of the things I seriously do not get the appeal of it.
So yea, while I agree with the spirit of your last sentence it’s ultimately a fully voluntary and objectively stupid thing to do so I don’t have a tonne if sympathy, if I’m honest.
Most adult smokers in the West start as children in poverty. By the time you are looking down at another adult with disdain, they have been addicted for quite some time to a readily available carcinogen. This is a societal level issue that has been dumped on the poor/developing countries. Some countries, such as New Zealand, are making good progress by doing things like raising the smoking age incrementally.
I started smoking when I was 13 because it was the only way one could take their shift break without being interrupted/called back into work. Before I smoked, my breaks would constantly get interrupted and I'd be called to do work but after I started smoking? No one dared to break the sacred rule of "don't fuck with someone's smoke break".
20+ years later and I'm still smoking 😎 and hopelessly addicted. I hate it.
I was a bit older, but that's the same reason I started. Somehow an accepted break that doesn't get rushed, and a bit of daylight.
Yea see that’s where I get on board with the classism issue. Everyone is overworked and for some reason smokers get breaks that nonsmokers don’t but should.