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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!mcnc!decvax!ittvax!bunkerb!mary
From: mary@bunkerb.UUCP (Mary Shurtleff)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: Re: LIGHTING UP
Message-ID: <507@bunkerb.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 23-May-85 13:38:01 EDT
Article-I.D.: bunkerb.507
Posted: Thu May 23 13:38:01 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 25-May-85 12:06:41 EDT
References: <3126@dartvax.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: Bunker Ramo, Trumbull Ct
Lines: 77

>                This is a free, repeat, free country. 

Yes, and that means that non-smokers have rights--you don't exist in a vacuum.
(Maybe you should, that would solve the problem!!!)

> Yeah, and you're
> polluting *my* air. Right. Then just get the hell away from me. 

Most non-smokers would like to, but sometimes it's JUST NOT POSSIBLE.  In case
you haven't noticed, smoke spreads.  That means it fills a room very quickly, 
and there's often no way to escape it.  If my job depends on my being in a room
with a terminal, I can't leave without jeapordizing my job.  That being the 
case, you are not justified in telling me to leave.  What if I was there first?
What if it's MY HOUSE??  The natural condition of the air is to be free of
smoke, right?  Well, what you're doing is not natural.  Since you're the one 
introducing the foreign substance into the air, it is your responsibility to
see that it doesn't bother anyone.  That's what should take place in a POLITE
society.   But I forgot, this is net.flame.

> A five-minute drive puts
> thousands of times more pollutants in the air than one cigarette.

That doesn't make the smoke any less offensive.

> It just bugs the shit out of me when grown adults can't tolerate a habit of
> others.

And I find it hard to deal with people who are so lacking in common courtesy
that they will continue to engage in an action which is either:

	a) annoying to others because of the smell,
	b) causing others pain (headaches, sore eyes and throats, etc), or
	c) all of the above,

even after having been politely asked to refrain from the activity.

Tobacco smoke of any kind gives me intensely painful headaches.  Therefore, if
I ask a smoker to please refrain, it's because I don't want a headache.  Well,
what if I have a habit of bashing people upside the head with a 2x4?  By your
line of reasoning, you have NO RIGHT to ask me to stop beating you about the
head and shoulders with my trusty 2x4, even though it's giving you one hell
of a headache (and me one hell of a rush).  After all, it bugs the shit out of 
me when people can't tolerate a habit of mine.

The point is, people may very well be willing to try to tolerate your little
habit, but it is physically impossible to do so.  Given that you know that,
it's just plain rude if you continue the annoying activity.  It certainly 
isn't going to hurt you, and you'll get a much more pleasant reaction from
those around you than the whining and bitching you're complaining about.

>  You don't
> like my smoke? Get the fuck away from me. 

It would be a pleasure, but sometimes it's impossible.  Why do you have to make
things unpleasant for others?  No, wait a minute, I think I already know why.

> If you're the kind of person who can
> see past the surface at the person behind the cigarette you won't.  
> But if you're the sort of superficial ass hole currently clogging the net who 
> will judge me for the sole reason that I have a cigarette in my hand, I don't 
> want you near me anyway.
>                                               --Ross

Wait just a minute here.  At this point, you are just the kind of superficial
asshole you're complaining about.  After all, non-smokers aren't considering
your rights at all.  Yeah, well YOU'RE NOT CONSIDERING THEIRS AT ALL, EITHER,
BOZO!!  If you're the kind of person who can see past the end of your 
cigarette, you'll see that there are people who may very well be willing to
like you, they just don't like your smoke.  If you're the type of person who
values amicable relations with others, maybe you'll try to be acommodating...
Naaaaaah!  This is net.flame, right?  At this point, I don't think people are
judging you by the cigarette in your face, but by the fact that you're obviouslyrude, boorish, insensitive, and obnoxious.


>                                            Ross Jacobs

M. Shurtleff