tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729674823895661245.post4124230900211294606..comments2023-07-27T08:33:50.134-07:00Comments on David Waywell: Do Non-Smokers Really Play The World’s Smallest Violin?The Spinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13306934549725508047noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729674823895661245.post-52815937987353271952013-08-17T06:43:07.000-07:002013-08-17T06:43:07.000-07:00Fair play to you for putting together a reasoned &...Fair play to you for putting together a reasoned & balanced reply to my intial response at your last posting.Lokinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729674823895661245.post-13183386472263053032013-08-17T06:47:35.000-07:002013-08-17T06:47:35.000-07:00No, thank you for prodding me into thought. I thin...No, thank you for prodding me into thought. I think smokers and non-smokers needn't be at loggerheads. There's room in the world for all of us, just not always in the same space. ;)TheSpinehttp://www.the-spine.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729674823895661245.post-25987389682215495342013-08-17T10:07:56.000-07:002013-08-17T10:07:56.000-07:00There is a similar argument about bikes and cars :...There is a similar argument about bikes and cars :)Lokinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729674823895661245.post-19389631641400482302013-08-17T10:20:11.000-07:002013-08-17T10:20:11.000-07:00As well as Christians and Muslims, Jews and Palest...As well as Christians and Muslims, Jews and Palestinians, and just about every opposition you could name. The problem is that debates are usually driven by the zealots and zealots never accept that an alternate point of view holds any merit. And if you think like that, the only way you can win is by the annihilation of one by the other. No wonder the world's in such a mess.<br><br>Personally, I favour any scheme that gets cyclists out of traffic and into their/our own lanes. On my day in London the other week, as a cyclist I was shocked to see people riding those damn Boris bikes. Looked like a huge number of accidents waiting to happen. That said: the transport situation in this country is insane. Bus and train prices are so high it doesn't make sense taking public transport.TheSpinehttp://www.the-spine.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729674823895661245.post-88838033663077244802013-08-18T02:57:24.000-07:002013-08-18T02:57:24.000-07:00I have to say, in my humble opinion the language y...I have to say, in my humble opinion the language you use to describe smoke and smokers is that of an anti-smoker...<br><br>I was disappointed when reading the 'Tesco' post to find that to be so... I doubt very much if anybody ever blows smoke into your face for instance... I'm 53, I used to work in pubs and don't remember anybody ever blowing smoke in my face - oh apart from Sandy in the saloon bar of The Links in Ashford about 1978 who smoked a pipe and blew great big clouds of it across the bar into the serving area...<br><br>It is frightening how smokers have been 'denormalised' over the years in a programme which is now being extended to those who enjoy alcohol, salt, fizzy drinks, etc. They certainly have been victimised.... They have been banned from every single bar, restaurant and club in the country (and many other countries) with no right to open their own smoking establishment...<br><br>And now smokers are to be banned from smoking in their cars, and many open air areas despite there being no evidence whatsoever that second hand smoke presents a danger... Don't like the smell...? Well, perhaps I don't like the smell of your deodorant or certain perfumes (I don't) - should we ban those things too?<br><br>By the way, I am a never-smoker....Barmanhttp://www.virtual-pub.com/SMF/index.phpnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729674823895661245.post-8461649807259585182013-08-18T04:49:17.000-07:002013-08-18T04:49:17.000-07:00Well, okay, perhaps you do detect an anti-smoking ...Well, okay, perhaps you do detect an anti-smoking sympathy in my language, though I’d say what you notice is really an anti-arsehole agenda. I’ve had smoke blown in my face countless times, though perhaps what you and I consider ‘blown in my face’ to be quite different. Countless times I’ve walked past a smoker who turned their head and blew smoke into my face. Plenty of times I’ve stood next to smokers who blew smoke my way simply because they didn’t want to blow it in the direction of their friends. Is it in my face or in my direction? I concede that point but I think the argument is about semantics.<br><br>The fact you worked in pubs and it never bothered means you’re probably indifferent to smoke and that is part of the point I was making. You can make a choice to be in that environment or not. I choose not to be and I don’t see why I should be forced otherwise to inhale something that makes me feel unwell.<br><br>Perhaps smokers are victimised by certain anti-smoking lobby groups but not, I think, by the majority of people. I think that most of us don’t care what other people do. Most of us are not so small minded to dictate (though criticism is always fair) how other people live their lives. I doubt if most people would demand that smokers stop smoking in their own cars, in their own pubs and clubs, or even outside in public. In the same way, I would never stop smokers receiving care on the NHS or unfairly tax them out of their habit. I don’t deny that there’s a health fascism at work.<br><br>‘Denormalized’ is a tricky word because it would assume that smoking is the ‘norm’. It isn’t. A quick search tells me that only 22% of people in the world smoke. It’s a choice that a minority make so it’s already denormalized in that sense. You say that they have been victimized because they’ve been banned from every single bar, restaurant, and club, but surely that’s only because smokers change the atmosphere in those places for everybody. I don’t have any investment in this argument because I rarely ever go to a bar, restaurant or club but, purely from an academic point of view, isn’t it the same argument as somebody wanting to play their trombone during a church service? Surely the will of the majority should prevail? <br><br>Regarding alcohol, salt, fizzy drinks: we have the choice to drink and eat those things. But I don’t see what’s wrong with doing something based on the advice of scientists. When we were talked about fracking, you were very quick to quote a report in its defence. I read the report and it definitely changed my opinion. Yet now you casually offer the fact that there’s no evidence that secondhand smoke is a danger when the overwhelming evidence suggests the opposite.<br><br>I’m open to counter arguments but I don’t see a huge consensus of scientific evidence suggesting that breathing cigarette smoke is benign. That said, you’ll notice that I’ve never based my arguments on the harmful effects of cigarettes. I’m exposed to so little of it that I accept that it’s probably less of a danger than riding my bike or standing next to a bus emitting carbon monoxide and worse. My argument has always been about choice.<br><br>As to not liking the smell of perfume or deodorant, well that is true, though you don’t tend to find designated areas for perfume wearers where I’m forced to go and lock my bike, which was really the entire extent of my objection to smoking. Believe me: if this was about my being forced to go and leave my bike in the ground floor perfume section in Boots, my argument would be the same. In fact, given a choice, I’d probably prefer to endure the smell of nicotine than Channel No 5 and its variants.TheSpinehttp://www.the-spine.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729674823895661245.post-65571278293151760412013-10-17T06:54:53.000-07:002013-10-17T06:54:53.000-07:00[…] gives ammunition to people who want to dismiss...[…] gives ammunition to people who want to dismiss every aspect of PC culture. Of course, I’ve argued before that PC culture is self-defeating and it is for precisely the kind of problems associated with […]Roy Hodgson's Monkey | The Spinehttp://the-spine.com/2013/10/roy-hodgsons-monkey/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3729674823895661245.post-48270212398134808522013-12-01T03:55:09.000-08:002013-12-01T03:55:09.000-08:00Personally i don't mind cigarette smoke as lon...Personally i don't mind cigarette smoke as long as it's not so thick that i have to inhale a real lungful (it then triggers an asthma attack). But i have almost no sense of smell. <br><br>Pipe tobacco usually comes with a description of the "room note" - how it will smell to other people. This is because cigarettes are for the lesser man and pipes for the gentry & elite.<br><br>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GFQMH5Y40I&feature=c4-overview&list=UUsIl6C3VwgsiGPB1XXg1PeAelberryhttp://www.ghostofelberry.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com