 |
Journal | Friends | Calendar | User Info | Memories |
'My Corduroyed Life' - Mark A's Journal
The age old topic, but my opinions might not be what you think they will be…
This blog stems from a comment made on a similar blog on smoking by my friend Ian on his blog Shooting Parrots. I posted a comment in reply, but as I posted it, I realised that I had a whole hell of a lot to say on this topic, and decided to blog about it myself. Ian’s blog was about the rights and wrongs of Manchester planning to ban smoking. As usual, Ian was eloquent, diplomatic, and put forward his opinions well. However, the respondent was a little less so.
Everyone seems to have an opinion on smoking. It seems somewhat warped and a shame that something that is essentially trivial in comparison to, say, George W Bush's mass murdering of innocent people, is what gets people the most wound up and passionate...
I'm a non-smoker and always have been. I occasionally like winding up smokers, but in general, smoking wasn’t really something that I thought about much. That was until I started going out with Rob. Rob is a relatively heavy smoker (about 20 a day). He also has a heart condition.
When Rob smokes, I know damned well that he's killing himself, but it is not my right to tell him what not to do. Admittedly, it upsets me, and at one point, I brought it up which only caused a pointless argument that upset us both. These days, I keep my gob shut because, having thought about it instead of being my normal rash ‘say what you think’ self, I don't believe I have the right to tell him what to do to himself, and shouldn’t behave like his mother. Similarly, how can the Government justify telling people what to do to their own bodies or behave like a mother to people who have made a conscious decision to smoke because they like it?
I think that the idea of making pubs/ bars/ clubs a no smoking zone is ridiculous and impractical. It’s like saying you can’t have a dance in a club! It’s just the norm, and part of the experience. Can you imagine the grumpiness of smokers in clubs where all they can think about is how much they want a fag, instead of having a good time?! Us non-smokers know that we’re going do a bit of passive smoking when we go to a club, and our clothes are going to smell in the morning, and we deal. To completely ban smoking just seems preposterous to me! Surely smokers are going to stop going out?
Can pubs really afford to lose their smoking patrons? Smokers will stay at home because by not being allowed a fag when they’re out, because it’ll partially ruin the fun. Perhaps making places with over a certain capacity have a no smoking area. It’s worked in restaurants and on trains, so why not bars? Or perhaps certain establishments could go for a non-smoking policy and see how business goes? It seems to me that enforcing a total ban over the whole city is too extreme and rather unfair.
In a nutshell think that the idea should be canned, because, simply put, it’s a silly fuss over nothing.
Have fun (and smoke if you want!)
M