Thursday 21 August 2008

A reason to smoke



Courtesy of one of my dear readers, I bring you the Nicotine Nazi of the Day, the Month, possibly of All Time.

I wish I was in Vancouver tonight, because I would be making my way to this guy's store with the biggest, fattest cigar I could find.

From Livelink.

3 comments:

Vindico said...

Hmm. I have to admit I'm kinda with the nazi on this one. Firstly, yes, the dude is a sad fuck who ought to just put up with 2mins of downwind smoke and get on with his life, but he does have a point.

The freedom to smoke is not a right to smoke. If somebody asks a smoker politely if they would mind moving a little further away then that is reasonable. The smoker should try to accomodate as far as possible to be reasonable since there is an externality associated with smoking.

The nazi bloke has a moral right not to have his freedom infringed, albeit not a legal one. Equally the smoker has a moral right to be free to smoke, but not a moral right to impose his smoke on others. The smoker has a moral obligation to minimise infringement of others' liberties.

He could clearly have moved a few metres away and solved the problem. That he chose to pick a fight and refuse is churlish.

It doesn't alter the fact that the nazi bloke should have just let it slip and behave like a normal human being.

Anonymous said...

and stubbing it out in his face...

Maybe a little violent but you know me. No patience for suffering these kinds of Nazi fools. He has gone OUT of his way to be offended and the smoker should simply give him a gentle nudge under the next fume spewing lorry.

I really liked the smokers' line about the smoke doing a u turn or turning a corner. Reminded me of the JFK magic bullit theory :D

Ugggghhhhh. Horrible little man. Makes me want to start smoking again just to piss him off.

Trooper Thompson said...

Vindico,

I disagree. If the smoker goes into his store, the owner has a right - it's his property - but the smoker is minding his own business in the street some yards from the guy's business. The smoker is very reasonable in the circumstances, probably because he is surprised to be dealing with such a wierd situation. Most smokers would have told him where to go pronto.

Passive smoking may well cause health problems - notwithstanding the lack of evidence - but the idea that this guy's cigarette is harming someone in a shop down the road from him is ludicrous, and on top of ludicrous it would be impossible to measure.

If somebody comes steaming up to me and tells me not to smoke, he'll get short shrift. The simple answer is 'if you don't want to breathe my smoke, fuck off ('or suffer a facial burn - your choice' pace Bill Hicks).