Posted by Bippity10:

Posted by firefly:

Posted by orangeblobman:

Posted by firefly:

What am I, the only smoker here?

I know its bad for me. I know I might die from it. Eh, we all die at some point. At least im happy. And these ads dont do shizzle for me. What you dont think I get enough pressure to quit from my wife? Im not laissaz faire about it, its just my life. Im happy and Ill quit when I want to.

I applaud your strong will. I think if you have a strong enough brain, you will be okay. It seems like you have a strong brain. But smoking is worse for your kids than it is for you, because the children grow up with a smoker and then you can't run and play catch with them.

I can run and play with my kids. Why would that be a problem? Im in shape. I dont smoke around them and thats that. The only interaction my kids have with my smoking is that I tell them that its dumb thing that daddy does and not to learn from it.

I honestly hate the "lets save the world from itself" brigade. Frickin govornment department set up to inform us how much salt we should eat a day. The next thing you know, we will all be eating regulated tablet meals with distilled water, be forced to run at least 5 miles a day and get colonic irrigation on the weekends. I say **** that. As long as your decisions only affect yourself, knock yourself out. And dont give me the BS about a burden on the taxpayer because of health cover. Last year in the UK, smokers cost the NHS £5 billion. They paid £10 billion in taxes on cigarettes. You do the math.

I want to smoke, drive a fast car that does 22 mpg and eat steak with lots of fried onions. Deep fried in extra oil. If you dont like those things, dont do 'em. I only get one turn and I intend to enjoy it. Lifes too short.

[Edited by - firefly on 06-17-2009 9:23 PM]

What's the complaint. You still have the choice. No one is throwing you in the gulag for smoking. You can still make the choice to smoke or not smoke. But what's the problem with the government or any anti-smoking, drinking or whatever agency educating the public on the realities of the choices that they make. Is it guilt that bugs you about this. If you think there is nothing wrong with smoking and you want to do it, or you think there is something wrong but still wnat to do it, more power to you. Ignore the commercial.

As a parent I have no problem with a little help on the education side. My child will still be able to make the choice to smoke or not. But the education is not harmful in anyway and I'm not sure why it bothers anyone(other than guilt). If they start coming to your house and dragging you away for smoking than you have a complaint, but a commercial? Your choice isn't taken away.

You want the choice to smoke, drive a fast car(which affects other people if you go above the speed limit by the way), get poor mileage and eat fried onions. Nobody on here is stopping you. You also had another choice to not come into this thread and watch this video. Or if you did watch, you now have a choice to ignore it. None of your freedoms have been affected in anyway.

Its possible that my diatribe was somewhat fuelled by guilt, but that doesnt change the facts.

These ads by themselves are fine. If thats what the government wants to do to stop people smoking, thats great. There are nasty pictures on my cigarette packs and you know what? Smokers here actually collect them to see if they can get the full set ( you know, lungs, heart, fingers, smell, teeth, impotence etc.). But we both know that it doesnt stop there. NY now bans trans-fats in all restaurants. Cars with bigger engines are taxed through the roof in Europe.

If a guy who owns a bar and knows his clientele wants to keep smoking indoors, he should be able to. If people dont like it, they should find another bar. Instead, his customers will stay at home and he goes bust. Noone is forcing anyone to come into a smokers bar, but its still illegal. That is affecting my freedom. I dont watch football games in pubs anymore, cuz half the enjoyment is the tense crowd atmosphere alleviated by the occasional smoke.

Im very happy with the education. I hope my kids see it and learn from it. But it never ends there. In Scotland now, they want to try out a scheme where people will be charged for NHS (free) treatment if they are deemed to have unhealthy lifestyles. Thats just insane, and thats the way the world is going.

In case you think Im just a "the govornment is out to get us" nut, Im not. I am all in favor of government regulation on any number of things. I think all guns should be banned, unless you have a legitimate reason to own one. I think anyone found in the street with a knife and no reason, should be locked up for a week as a deterrent. I am all in favor of the government protecting its citizens. But when what I do affects only me, then leave me the hell alone.

Thats not to say there wont be fools who go to the complete extremes. Obesity is a huge ( no pun intended) problem. But to my mind, the only person to blame for obesity, (aside from thyroid/chemical imbalance or overall medical issues etc) is the fool who wont stop eating. The problem is that we now live in a society where someone else is always to blame. Shot someone? Its your race. Its your parents. Its your neighborhood. Hell no, Its YOU! Kids knifing people in the streets, and they have advocacy groups saying its not the kids fault. Lets put him on the street and watch him do it again. In my opinion, if you eat to much, its your fault, not McDonald's. If you die of smoking, its your fault, not the cigarette companies. If you fall out of a college campus window while mooning the crowd, you shouldnt be able to sue the University! If you OD on crack, dont blame the government for never giving you a chance. Youre the one injecting yourself, not the government. And yet, its never anyones fault.

I admit that I smoke. I admit that I know its bad for me and I admit that its a dumb thing to do. I also admit that I am totally to blame if something goes wrong heaven forbid.

Educating people on the ills of what they do is extremely important, but at the end of the day, there should be a deal. We let you do whatever you do provided its within the law, and you accept the consequences of your actions.

Posted by Allanfan20:

If a guy who owns a bar and knows his clientele wants to keep smoking indoors, he should be able to. If people dont like it, they should find another bar. Instead, his customers will stay at home and he goes bust. Noone is forcing anyone to come into a smokers bar, but its still illegal. That is affecting my freedom. I dont watch football games in pubs anymore, cuz half the enjoyment is the tense crowd atmosphere alleviated by the occasional smoke.

It affects the non smokers freedom too. If there weren't the laws, then the non smoker is forced to go to a bar filled with smoke, b/c all of the bars would be filled with smoke. Sure, everyone who doesn't smoke doesn't have to go to bars, but you know what? Then bars lose their business and shut down and then people lose their jobs, when they really didn't have to, in this already poor economy.

With the laws, everyone can go to the bars or restaurants or pool halls. If you need to smoke, what is so God awful about just stepping outside for 7 or less minutes?

You say your freedoms are affected, but you know what? I really don't mean to sound insensitive or disrespectful, but it was your choice to start smoking, and when you made that choice, you knew about the consequenses. If you didn't know about them, that's your fault, b/c it's being drilled into your head and everyone elses by our teachers, media, friends, parents ect...

Hey! I just wrote a rather long treatise on knowing its my responsibility, so give me some credit.

You seen to have missunderstood what I said. If the owner of a bar knows that all his customers want to smoke, shouldnt it be his right to have a smoking bar? Yes he will lose the non-smoking customers, but his decision is that he will make enough money from the smoking community. Why should he lose all his customers (remember, he believe most of his customers are smokers) because some guy in another bar doesnt like the smoke? I can live with the no-smoking laws, but an establishment should have the right to decide if they want to have a smoking bar or not. I guarantee there will be plenty of non-smoking places, so whats so wrong about wanting a smoking bar? The non-smokers have lots of choice, what do we have? The gutter and the dirty looks. Nobodys losing jobs in my scenario, quite the reverse.

You know, there is also the cultural aspect of it.

It's a part of culture, smoking is. In Bosnia 37% of adults smoke. In France, smoking your first fag is a right of passage into adult hood.

Our country is becoming so weak that we complain about anything.

Yea, it's bad for you, so what? Man up and go into that smoke filled bar. If you're a man, you should have no qualms about inhaling some second hand smoke once in a while.

Posted by firefly:

Posted by Allanfan20:

If a guy who owns a bar and knows his clientele wants to keep smoking indoors, he should be able to. If people dont like it, they should find another bar. Instead, his customers will stay at home and he goes bust. Noone is forcing anyone to come into a smokers bar, but its still illegal. That is affecting my freedom. I dont watch football games in pubs anymore, cuz half the enjoyment is the tense crowd atmosphere alleviated by the occasional smoke.

It affects the non smokers freedom too. If there weren't the laws, then the non smoker is forced to go to a bar filled with smoke, b/c all of the bars would be filled with smoke. Sure, everyone who doesn't smoke doesn't have to go to bars, but you know what? Then bars lose their business and shut down and then people lose their jobs, when they really didn't have to, in this already poor economy.

With the laws, everyone can go to the bars or restaurants or pool halls. If you need to smoke, what is so God awful about just stepping outside for 7 or less minutes?

You say your freedoms are affected, but you know what? I really don't mean to sound insensitive or disrespectful, but it was your choice to start smoking, and when you made that choice, you knew about the consequenses. If you didn't know about them, that's your fault, b/c it's being drilled into your head and everyone elses by our teachers, media, friends, parents ect...

Hey! I just wrote a rather long treatise on knowing its my responsibility, so give me some credit.

You seen to have missunderstood what I said. If the owner of a bar knows that all his customers want to smoke, shouldnt it be his right to have a smoking bar? Yes he will lose the non-smoking customers, but his decision is that he will make enough money from the smoking community. Why should he lose all his customers (remember, he believe most of his customers are smokers) because some guy in another bar doesnt like the smoke? I can live with the no-smoking laws, but an establishment should have the right to decide if they want to have a smoking bar or not. I guarantee there will be plenty of non-smoking places, so whats so wrong about wanting a smoking bar? The non-smokers have lots of choice, what do we have? The gutter and the dirty looks. Nobodys losing jobs in my scenario, quite the reverse.

I understand what you're saying that if the owner has the choice, he has a right to say "This is a smoking bar, so I'll make business off smokers." However, with the laws, I don't think any bar owner is losing money b/c smokers and non smokers will come and the smokers can just step outside when they need to smoke. It's a win win situation for smokers, non smokers and the bar owner and his/her employees.

It's better that way. So if bars lose business, it's not b/c of smoking issues.

And if there weren't any smoking laws, and more people smoke than don't smoke, than of course all the bars and restaurants would be for smokers.

I get what you're saying that maybe bar owners should have freedom. However, I sincerely believe that owners of any place shouldn't have that particular freedom.

Posted by NYKBocker:

The target audience for these ads are not just the current smokers but the middle shcool and high school kids that might be persuaded to become a smoker. I for one am happy that these ads are running on TV right now. I have 2 teenagers and I can tell you that it has had an impact on them.

It's like this, chief: if you have to rely on television ads to guide your teenagers, then you have failed as a parent.

The problem in our country is that a large majority of the population relies on television to educate their kids. Disgusting.

And back to smoke-- real men inhale smoke. So you die early, big deal, at least you were a man doing it. Come on now.

[Edited by - orangeblobman on 06-21-2009 11:55 PM]

Posted by orangeblobman:

Posted by NYKBocker:

The target audience for these ads are not just the current smokers but the middle shcool and high school kids that might be persuaded to become a smoker. I for one am happy that these ads are running on TV right now. I have 2 teenagers and I can tell you that it has had an impact on them.

It's like this, chief: if you have to rely on television ads to guide your teenagers, then you have failed as a parent.

The problem in our country is that a large majority of the population relies on television to educate their kids. Disgusting.

And back to smoke-- real men inhale smoke. So you die early, big deal, at least you were a man doing it. Come on now.

[Edited by - orangeblobman on 06-21-2009 11:55 PM]

LOL at this clown.