Should Smoking be Banned form Public Places?

The big lie is to represent smking as a "personal choice." The truth is that if you smoke near me (yes, even on the street), I'm breathing in your smoke. It is surely not my choice to breathe your smoke. There is also talk of "compromise." It is tially unreasonable that I should be asked to "compromise" with my health to accomodate your filthy habit.

Today "Big Tobacco," tomorrow "Big Food." As I write this, lawyers are salivating at the prospect of gigabucks to be wrung out of the fast food industry. The reasoning, the strategy, and the line of patter will draw heavily on the rhetoric which has proven so effective in the "moral crusade" against tobacco.

"The truth is that if you eat a Big Mac and fries near me (yes, even on the street), I'm paying for your health care in my rising health insurance premium. It is surely not my choice to subsidize your open heart surgery out of my pocket.

"There is also talk of 'compromise.' It is totally unreasonable that I should be asked to 'compromise' with my hard-earned money to accomodate your barbaric meat habit..."

For the record, I myself have never smoked, I eat fast food maybe twice a week, and I take a Menckenesque dim view of those moral busybodies who are hellbent on "improving" us.

========== In Reply To ========== The big lie is to represent smking as a "personal choice." The truth is that if you smoke near me (yes, even on the street), I'm breathing in your smoke. It is surely not my choice to breathe your smoke.

There is also talk of "compromise." It is tially unreasonable that I should be asked to "compromise" with my health to accomodate your filthy habit.

You know the difference.

You know the difference between smoking and unhealthy food, but I'll state it anyhow. YOUR smoke is a hazard to my HEALTH when i breathe your smoke. Eating unhealthy food in my presence does not adversly affect my health. The fact that I may be subsidizing your health care is a lot less immediate than being forced to breate your filthy smoke. Furthermore, in the U.S., millions of dollars are spent to accomdoate the disabled. A person whose disability is asthma or emphysema has the same right to a smoke-free environment that a person in a wheelchair has to a barrier-free environment. Lastly, "unhealty" food is not unhealthy if you only have it once in a while. Smoking is inherently unhealthy in any quantity. Furthermore, nobody smokes "occasionally."

========== In Reply To ========== Today "Big Tobacco," tomorrow "Big Food." As I write this, lawyers are salivating at the prospect of gigabucks to be wrung out of the fast food industry. The reasoning, the strategy, and the line of patter will draw heavily on the rhetoric which has proven so effective in the "moral crusade" against tobacco.

"The truth is that if you eat a Big Mac and fries near me (yes, even on the street), I'm paying for your health care in my rising health insurance premium. It is surely not my choice to subsidize your open heart surgery out of my pocket.

"There is also talk of 'compromise.' It is totally unreasonable that I should be asked to 'compromise' with my hard-earned money to accomodate your barbaric meat habit..."

For the record, I myself have never smoked, I eat fast food maybe twice a week, and I take a Menckenesque dim view of those moral busybodies who are hellbent on "improving" us.

There is no such thing as an unhealthy food. As long as it gives you calories, it's healthy.

Smoking however only harms you and others.

========== In Reply To ========== You know the difference between smoking and unhealthy food, but I'll state it anyhow. YOUR smoke is a hazard to my HEALTH when i breathe your smoke. Eating unhealthy food in my presence does not adversly affect my health. The fact that I may be subsidizing your health care is a lot less immediate than being forced to breate your filthy smoke.

Furthermore, in the U.S., millions of dollars are spent to accomdoate the disabled. A person whose disability is asthma or emphysema has the same right to a smoke-free environment that a person in a wheelchair has to a barrier-free environment. Lastly, "unhealty" food is not unhealthy if you only have it once in a while. Smoking is inherently unhealthy in any quantity. Furthermore, nobody smokes "occasionally."

Exactly! ========== In Reply To ========== The big lie is to represent smking as a "personal choice." The truth is that if you smoke near me (yes, even on the street), I'm breathing in your smoke. It is surely not my choice to breathe your smoke.

There is also talk of "compromise." It is tially unreasonable that I should be asked to "compromise" with my health to accomodate your filthy habit.