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Originally Posted by matthew330
non-smokers really need to be honest with themselves and who their fighting with. Is your argument really motivated by a realistic concern for your own health when you come in contact with second hand smoke, even briefly, or is it something you just dont like and for that reason swallow articles like the ones linked above and feed it to your fellow non-smokers to get all bent about?
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Well...I have asthma. I was in a restaurant with surprisingly poor ventilation, and there was a smoker on the other side of the restaurant. I've been congested for a few days because of that. I mean it'll wear off soon, but this happens every time, and often involves a migraine headache. My uncle used to smoke, and one still does, and I always come away from their houses feeling terrible, and I feel like I have a cold for days. Someone I know (not a friend per se) has asthma so bad that she could die if she comes in contact with enough cigarette smoke, because she's very allergic and her lungs close up. She and her BF don't go out, except in restaurants they know are non smoking, because they
will have to leave if someone smokes.
So as much as I know nonsmokers don't always have an excuse, I happen to.
What really gets to me is when people, my younger sister in particular, think I'm making it up. She treats me like dirt for the rest of the time we're together if I request to move tables, because she thinks it's insulting to the people who do smoke. So smokers are treated like pariahs, but people like me are also. I wish I could handle it, because I'm not terribly worried about cancer and all of that. If it happens, it'll happen, treating someone like crap isn't going to save my life. But I can't, and I'm made to feel like a jerk because of it.
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Get it non-smokers? You've convinced many of us that we need to take it outside. YOU WON THE SAFETY ISSUE. There is no need to keep going on about safety. Please try to actually defend the restrictions on us smoking OUTSIDE, where the second hand smoke killing you argument is really quite moot. I would really like to see a reasonable deffense on this one, I need that to understand why it seems no matter what ground I'm willing to give I'm being asked for more.
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Well again, speaking for me personally, just walking through a cloud of smoke sends me into attack, and probably have me sneezing. It's sad, but true. That variety will pass, but if I'm continually exposed to it, like I was in the restaurant, or walking down the streets of NY at lunchtime (when everyone is taking a smoke break) then there's a bigger issue, especially if I'm hurrying. Depending on weather conditions (especially humidity) and other factors, I'm already out of breath from walking really quickly. So my reasonable defense is that one face full of smoke and I'm coughing for at least an hour.
I'd feel bad for those people with cigarette addictions if it was outlawed outside, because to me that seems a little extreme, and boxes them into a corner, but you asked for a defense. *shrug*