asaris

I, at least, don't want to deny that second-hand smoke could conceivably cause health problems. But there are so many things that could be done besides just banning it. You could require all bars and restaurants to have a certain amount of ventilation. I have a few friends who can't stand cigarette smoke. But there's one bar in town that they'll go to. Not because it's non-smoking -- it's not. But they've limited where you can smoke, and have provided great ventilation, so that the smoke isn't a problem, even for very sensitive people.

It's not just the weather stuff, though it gets cold enough here in South Bend that it'd be a bit annoying if anyone ever did ban smoking in bars. But it's being at a table talking with my friends, and then having to leave that table to have a cigarette (it's an addiction, folks. You wouldn't want to be around me if I've gone more than a couple hours without a smoke.) It's not being able to have a cigarette with my coffee. It's getting off a plane after a 10 hour flight and still having to wait an hour before I have a cigarette. It's a hundred and one little things like this. And I'm not saying I should be able to smoke whereever I like. I'm just saying there should be more options available to me than "Behind the dumpster".


Indeed it does. And if there were hordes of people who hated smoky bars, but liked bars, wouldn't someone have opened a smoke-free bar by now, to cater to those people? Not because it's healthier, but because they could make money?

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"Die Deutschen meinen, daß die Kraft sich in Härte und Grausamkeit offenbaren müsse, sie unterwerfen sich dann gerne und mit Bewunderung:[...]. Daß es Kraft giebt in der Milde und Stille, das glauben sie nicht leicht."

"The Germans believe that power must reveal itself in hardness and cruelty and then submit themselves gladly and with admiration[...]. They do not believe readily that there is power in meekness and calm."

-- Friedrich Nietzsche