Why are smokers so selfish?

[Outdated]

I've smoked for 45 years, not proud of that but it's been so long that sometimes I'm not sure if I want to quit. I only smoke at home or if I'm outdoors though. If I'm going shopping or going out to meet people I quite often don't even take my smokes with me.

 

[Au Naturel]

It's very popular to demonize smokers. If you take care not to smoke in an enclosed space near me, I don't care if you want to smell like tobacco smoke. My son-in-law smokes and goes into the backyard to do so.

The problem is the extreme lack of courtesy some smokers insist on. They feel entitled and refuse compromise. But some in the anti-smoking crowd get obnoxious, too; all righteous and holier-than-thou. The intolerant on both sides egg each other on.

 

[lovely_darlingprettybaby]

You been sitting in the park nice then some guy will sit near you and light up then you have to move so far away. Like I want to breath that in and get cancer. He wants to ruin his lungs let him I don't need to be breathing in that.

I even seen them walking in front of you then light up. What ticks me off the mist is second hand smoke can literally travel all the way to the other side.

Smoking is DISGUSTING
And disgusting to breath in and smelling cigarettes on clothes etc, nothing worse
But u can understand why some people with ADHD in particular smoke, so they can stop themselves fidgeting and calm their nerves
And some artistic types always smoke with their friend because it becomes like a social thing
But yes I hate smoking as well
And would never smoke to fit in anywhere and glad it got banned in restaurants and venues here

 

[Lemon Zing]

My mum has an aneurysm caused by excess smoking. So don't take up this disgusting habit.

The hospital staff are wanting her to cease her dialysis. When I seen her yesterday, she looked to be in a bad way.

 

[Rogue Princess]

My sentiments entirely. I can't stand it. It stinks. Who even ever thought of it? Inhaling burnt plant matter into your lungs is such a bad idea. Your lungs are for breathing, you need fresh air, not toxic air. I don't understand what the attraction is.

Also, weed... I understand that this is helpful to some people. What I don't get is why they want to smoke it, rather than taking it in the form of an edible, which I know exists.

I recently had to watch a person go through treatment for throat cancer, which let's just say wasn't pretty - you've seen the pictures on cigarette packs, so you get the idea, and this person died. It's like playing Russian Roulette - you might not die from it, but there's a good chance that you will. The sooner it's gone the better - though as long as powerful multinationals are making profits from it, it's not ever going to go away.

I mean no disrespect to those with Tourettes, but if I had Tourettes, my tick would surely be saying "Cancer!" every time I saw someone smoke.


That's how it is here. And if I complain about, for example, people smoking in public offices where it's actually illegal to smoke, I'm made to feel like I'm the antisocial one for complaining. There is antismoking legislation, but people mostly ignore it. It's tolerated. And people can still do as they wish in their own homes and rightly so, but there are people who smoke around their kids and babies even, who don't have a voice. This is so wrong and selfish.

The irony is that this country was actually the first to conduct a survey and research into the affects of passive smoking.

I'm pretty sure it was native Americans. Possibly Africans? It was part of their communion and there were some ceremonial stuff they did where the tobacco smoke would repel evil spirits. Then Sir Walter Reiliegh introduced tobacco to Queen Elizabeth the first, who loved it and soon everyone started smoking. It was an anti anxiety and a stress relief, it became a relaxation thing.

 

[Outdated]

....and there were some ceremonial stuff they did where the tobacco smoke would repel evil spirits.

The plant itself is also a mosquito repellent. The leaves and stems are very sticky to touch, covered in resin, and rubbing that on your skin keeps a lot of bugs away. Perhaps that was it's first use and the smoking was something that evolved later on.

 

[Rogue Princess]

@Outdated Nicotine is also used as an ingredient for pesticide.

 

[Outdated]

There's a legal form of the tobacco plant that people can grow to make their own pesticide too, that was popular here a few years back. Water with tobacco and chillies in it.

I was growing the other kind for a few years though.

 

[Rogue Princess]

There's a legal form of the tobacco plant that people can grow to make their own pesticide too, that was popular here a few years back. Water with tobacco and chillies in it.

I was growing the other kind for a few years though.

Whacky tobacky? I always get so jealous when I see how much everyone else enjoys the stuff. It effects me in a really terrible way so I can't go near the stuff.

My brain seems to be wired in such a way that I get the worst side effects of everything

 

[Outdated]

Whacky tobacky?

And real tobacco as well, I was living out in the bush back then though.

My brain seems to be wired in such a way that I get the worst side effects of everything

That's a side of Neuro-Divergence that a lot of doctors won't pay enough attention to. Our brains are different and not all drugs work "as advertised" with us. That's prescription medicines and the social drugs.

 

[Tony Ramirez]

Smokers are the most mean spirited selfish people to be around who don't care who they offend from their foul language to their selfish smoking in places where they should not around people they should not like children. I hate them all from the teenagers to the adults in their 50's and 60's and in between.

 

[Tom]

It's not only bad for you but can also lead to Rectal Ozone Therapy. (Paltrow is a light smoker)

Gwyneth Paltrow reveals she had rectal ozone therapy for ‘wellness’ — is it safe?

 

[ra49]

Demonizing anyone for anything they choose to do is not in my experience helpful to the interaction and generally leads to hardened battle lines and escalation of hostilities.

Understanding that we are all different with individual stories, cause and effects, and motivations can help release the tensions.

Whoever we are and whatever we are doing, is likely aggravating the daylights out of someone and we are not aware.

I started smoking at age 13 in 1970, it was the "cool" thing to do and I was trying so very hard to fit in somehow.

I smoked until age 45, January 2002, mostly a pack a day for 32 years.
I quit 1000 times but right back to it the next morning, even to standing at the store early waiting for it to open.

Finally at about Easter 2000, I started a weekly cigarette diet. 1st week, a pack a day. 2nd week, 19 cigs; 3rd week, 18 cigs. You get the idea. Got stuck at 12 and at 4 for 2 weeks each. Again going from 2 to 1 took 2 weeks. And then only 1 until that final pack was gone just after New Year. Yes, it took 8 months for me to quit.

Never smoked since and never missed it. But yes, looking back there were times I was incredibly selfish with it. It wasn't meanness on my part, is was simple human selfishness plus addiction desperation.

[There were also funny times: back in the 70's when we would go clubbing and everyone still smoked - my hair was very puffy, and patting it coming out to go home would pouf smoke out of my hair so had to wash before bed and sleep with wet hair]

Everyone has a story.

 

[Misty Avich]

I don't see many excuses in smoking. People get sick and die from smoking all the time, which can put a strain on the NHS.

Many smokers panicked about catching covid, yet smoking cigarettes and increasing their chance of lung cancer didn't seem to faze them.

Smoking can be so addictive that a lot of people can put it first before anything. I get annoyed when I see pregnant women smoking.

Living with a compulsive smoker makes me feel like I might as well smoke as well. He's always smoked in the kitchen and the car and although he has the window open I still feel like I'm inhaling a lot of the poison.

Some people would rather spend their money on cigarettes than food or drink. Our bodies need food and drink but not cigarettes.

I think it's the most stupidest, pointless and harmful thing one can do to their body. You only have one pair of lungs. Why encourage cancer, lung and heart disease? I've seen my husband almost have a heart attack from too much smoking and having to be rushed to hospital in an ambulance. I had to watch the whole thing and it stressed me. I had empathy for him but I had to make mental effort to feel sympathy, because it is self-inflicted.

 

[ra49]

I don't see many excuses in smoking. People get sick and die from smoking all the time, which can put a strain on the NHS.

Many smokers panicked about catching covid, yet smoking cigarettes and increasing their chance of lung cancer didn't seem to faze them.

Smoking can be so addictive that a lot of people can put it first before anything. I get annoyed when I see pregnant women smoking.

Living with a compulsive smoker makes me feel like I might as well smoke as well. He's always smoked in the kitchen and the car and although he has the window open I still feel like I'm inhaling a lot of the poison.

Some people would rather spend their money on cigarettes than food or drink. Our bodies need food and drink but not cigarettes.

I think it's the most stupidest, pointless and harmful thing one can do to their body. You only have one pair of lungs. Why encourage cancer, lung and heart disease? I've seen my husband almost have a heart attack from too much smoking and having to be rushed to hospital in an ambulance. I had to watch the whole thing and it stressed me. I had empathy for him but I had to make mental effort to feel sympathy, because it is self-inflicted.

Misty, my 66 year old self totally agrees with you but my younger self was not as wise

 

[tazz]

Smokers are the most mean spirited selfish people to be around who don't care who they offend from their foul language to their selfish smoking in places where they should not around people they should not like children. I hate them all from the teenagers to the adults in their 50's and 60's and in between.

Those particular smokers you're talking about sound horrible

 

[Misty Avich]

I smoked when I was 12, to impress my 15-year-old brother and his friends. But I never got hooked, maybe because my mum spent my whole childhood drumming it into me how bad smoking is. It didn't seem to work on my brother though.
Also most, if not all, the girls in my class seemed sensible anti-smokers so I get influenced out of smoking by them.

 

[Au Naturel]

Smokers are the most mean spirited selfish people to be around who don't care who they offend from their foul language to their selfish smoking in places where they should not around people they should not like children. I hate them all from the teenagers to the adults in their 50's and 60's and in between.

That is a really childish and irrational attitude.

My wife smoked when we married. She eventually quit. My daughter picked it up as a teenage rebellion sort of thing. She eventually quit. My son-in-law smokes but only outside and never around my granddaughter. He does not use foul language. Both my parents smoked and neither one ever used foul language.

Basically, you hate my entire immediate family.

 

[GrownupGirl]

A lot of smokers think non-smokers are "nerds" or "wimps", especially if they complain.

I once saw a Betty Boop cartoon where a character asks "Mind if I smoke?", and she snarkily replies, "Don't care if you burn". I thought that was pretty awesome.

 

[Misty Avich]

I don't smoke because I'm a wimp. Same with drugs and alcohol. Lol