Awake;
My father was a smoker for 30 some years and would complain about people who didn't like people smoking, he quit and now complains about everyone that smokes.
Sounds like he stopped being an idiot and realized who's right.
If you don't like smokers don't go around them.
Sometimes you have no choice. When I'm waiting at the bus stop people all around me are smoking-- and even though it's outside you still get hit with a fair bit of 2nd hand smoke. I suppose I could wait for the bus on the other side of the street. I don't mind inconveniencing myself for the ignorant tools who think nothing of BLOWING POISON into the air.
I guess a better example would be my family at Christmas; close to half of my family smokes, and at Christmas the house is absolutely clogged with smoke. Again, I guess I could go eat Christmas dinner on the front porch.
Which brings me to my next point...
Most smokers will respect someone that tells them politely that they would rather they not smoke around them.
This would be true, if by "most" you meant "none at all." Most smokers that I know are more passionate about 'smoker's rights' issues than non-smokers are.
I would never go up to a smoker and tell them "politely" to stop smoking around me. Do you realize the ass-chewing I would be setting myself up for? You sound like a smoker in denial.
Speaking of smoker's rights...what a joke that concept is.
Smoking is not a right. Any activity (ie smoking) that infringes on another's basic rights (ie having clean air) is not a right. It is a
priviledge that people are allowed to smoke. Now that most public places are banning smoking, smokers are throwing a fit about their right to smoke...
I'm sick of hearing smokers say that non-smokers are pushing these anti-smoking agendas in order to get smoking banned everywhere. You know what? In Canada (especially Ontario), bylaws are being enacted left and right to limit smoking in public places. This isn't because non-smokers went whining to the government,
It's because smokers are a burden on society.
I don't know about anyone else, but the idea of MY tax dollars paying for smoker's hospital bed & oxygen tank really pisses me off. Why should my taxes be higher because some nimrod decided to be cool by inhaling toxic chemicals, knowing full well that doing so will kill them?
Not only should smoking be banned in all public places, but when a smoker gets cancer, emphysema, and is barely clinging onto life, they should be left to foot their own medical bill. It's wrong for me to pay for their stupidity.
Of course, there is little chance of smokers actually realizing any of this. They're idiots; that's why they smoke in the first place.