Also, we have to remember, smoking hasn't been "banned" in the sense that it is illegal. Smokers can still smoke - they just have to step outside. It's been made a bit more inconvenient for them to light up. The part where I sympathize (a little) is that the government has tried to close loopholes for smokers to buy them inexpensively (like mail order from Indian casinos, raising tax on them, etc.). I grew up in a time when even little kids could buy "loosies" from bodegas.
Now...the reasons why I overall favor the smoking "restriction," are because of what I said previously - I like being able to be in a smoke-free environment when I go out (I'm not in bars and clubs anywhere near as much as when I was younger, so it affects me far less now than it used to). Also, I always disliked the disregard smokers had for others. In a crowded venue, they'd be waving a lit cigarette around carelessly, and flicking the ash around. You'd get home and find burns on your clothes, and had to be conscious of getting poked in the face by the lit end moving through a crowd. Seeing cigarette butts floating in glasses at the bar, or even put out on the bar itself. Butts littering the floor, or the all over the pavement out in front of the venue (you still see that, even though many venues put a sand-filled receptacle outside for them to put the cigs out in. People purposely blowing smoke in your face just for kicks. I can't count the number of times someone has carelessly flicked a lit cigarette on the ground outside and struck, or nearly struck me with it. What's funny is I've met smokers that actually don't want to be in a room full of other smokers. They want a nice, clean environment to light up in...HA HA! Naturally, ALL smokers weren't and aren't guilty of this behavior, but enough were to make it unpleasant to be around.
My dad was a smoker his whole life. I heard stories in the family that he first lit up when he was around 12, bumming cigarettes down in Charleston, S.C. where he grew up. The thing was that he was the neatest smoker I'd ever been around. While my parents were together, I never remember the apartment smelling of it. If he smoked a cigarette, he immediately cleaned out the ashtray - there were never butts floating in a glass, or a full ashtray ever. He'd air the room out, and spray some air freshener. He was considerate of the fact that my mom wasn't a smoker, and that he had kids in the house.
I don't disagree with the slippery slope argument in this context. This particular Mayor, Bloomberg, is a tireless healthy advocate. Not all politicians are this tenacious about this particular issue. He's constantly pushed for more restrictions, but he hasn't been successful in everything he's pushed for. It's just in his nature to continue to push.
Now...the reasons why I overall favor the smoking "restriction," are because of what I said previously - I like being able to be in a smoke-free environment when I go out (I'm not in bars and clubs anywhere near as much as when I was younger, so it affects me far less now than it used to). Also, I always disliked the disregard smokers had for others. In a crowded venue, they'd be waving a lit cigarette around carelessly, and flicking the ash around. You'd get home and find burns on your clothes, and had to be conscious of getting poked in the face by the lit end moving through a crowd. Seeing cigarette butts floating in glasses at the bar, or even put out on the bar itself. Butts littering the floor, or the all over the pavement out in front of the venue (you still see that, even though many venues put a sand-filled receptacle outside for them to put the cigs out in. People purposely blowing smoke in your face just for kicks. I can't count the number of times someone has carelessly flicked a lit cigarette on the ground outside and struck, or nearly struck me with it. What's funny is I've met smokers that actually don't want to be in a room full of other smokers. They want a nice, clean environment to light up in...HA HA! Naturally, ALL smokers weren't and aren't guilty of this behavior, but enough were to make it unpleasant to be around.
My dad was a smoker his whole life. I heard stories in the family that he first lit up when he was around 12, bumming cigarettes down in Charleston, S.C. where he grew up. The thing was that he was the neatest smoker I'd ever been around. While my parents were together, I never remember the apartment smelling of it. If he smoked a cigarette, he immediately cleaned out the ashtray - there were never butts floating in a glass, or a full ashtray ever. He'd air the room out, and spray some air freshener. He was considerate of the fact that my mom wasn't a smoker, and that he had kids in the house.
I don't disagree with the slippery slope argument in this context. This particular Mayor, Bloomberg, is a tireless healthy advocate. Not all politicians are this tenacious about this particular issue. He's constantly pushed for more restrictions, but he hasn't been successful in everything he's pushed for. It's just in his nature to continue to push.
"The best kind of pride is that which compels a man to do his best when no one is watching."