Elizabeth Greenbaum wrote:
Gee whiz ... and thank you for those kind words ...
If turning the tables around who's civil liberties are taken away? Nonsmokers have had civil liberties absent all this time. Wouldn't you agree?
WM: No, I do not agree. Over the last 32 years, the number of restaurants and bar/restaurants in Minneapolis that have gone non-smoking is very long. Scads of new ones have opened up and have been non-smoking from day 1. So, no, I don't agree. How could I possibly.
For us majority of nonsmokers who have been told to work around it all this time. So, I shouldn't go when invited by my brother or a friend see them play in a band in a smoking environment? I come out with my lungs feeling awful - that's okay? Oh - but your telling me I should go somewhere else that is smoke free - but my bother isn't playing "somewhere else". (BTW - as a musician he hated the smoke too.)
If the city had said that all new bar and restaurants and all current bars and restaurants that change hands will be non-smoking under the new ownership, I would have been happy. The tyranny of the majority does not impress me as justification for anything.
I figure we both win - you get to keep your habit, but have to step outside for a few minutes. Cold out? Wear a coat. I would when I needed to get a breath and I survived. Don't want to go out? Chew gum - or put a wad in - whatever you need to do to get your fix. I couldn't care less if you do that - I don't have to breath it.
WM: If you have breathed any of my smoke, I'd be very surprised. We old smoking folks, many having one foot in the grave and the other on slippery ground, would still like to have a few venues to meet our cronies and get out of the house now and again. It's especially important in the winter. Among us we have walkers, canes, pace makers, etc.--all the paraphernalia that aging begets. We get together to smoke, drink coffee, and chat. Notice that smoking is at the top of the list.
Sounds like addiction talking to me not what's best for the greater good, which is the basis of democracy. Seems as though smokers have a really hard time understanding how much of what they do impacts on the health/civil liberties (take your pick) of others.
Yes, of course it's an addiction. So? Folks are allowed to have addictions. I see that this is one you personally don't approve of. If I knew them, I might not approve of yours either.
In general - can we just move on, beyond this discussion. It seems so petty compared to such bigger issues in this fair and wonderfully smoke free city ...
Pious smugitudiousness. You're honked because I am furious about non-smokers smug piety? You just as much as told us smokers to f*** off, but you cannot understand why we should be honked off at that attitude? It's not even the ban itself, it's the attitude behind it that makes me want to pimp slap every one of you all the way around the block.
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