I lost my cool over in GD. Hold me...

[Aristus]

Got into a cigarette tax debate with some smokers. Bad idea... :scared::hide:

[Lyric]

1. I replied to that thread, too, although not to you.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5682940&mesg_id=5683692

:hi:

[Aristus]

4. I got tagged as a hater. Well, I used the word 'hate' so I suppose I had it coming,

but still...

It's not like I'm hating cute little puppies or something...

[Oeditpus Rex]

9. So you 'fucking hate' me, huh?

Hey, that's cool.









Oh — kindly go fuck yourself.



:hi:

[Lyric]

12. I think I can tolerate such language from Aristus more than from regular people.

He's a doctor, so I "get" the vehemence.

It's still hurtful, though. :(

[Aristus]

27. It's a lot of things. The basic lack of consideration that comes with the habit.

The fact (and this is what I save my real vehemence for) that the tobacco companies add as many as 2,000 substances to their tobacco to make it more addictive. Oh, and 500 of those substances are toxic in and of themselves. The fact that the Big Tobacco CEO's were apparently the last seven people on Earth to discover that smoking is bad for you. The fact that the U.S. government still subsidizes tobacco farmers, when we could be subsidizing a harmless, and much more useful crop like industrial hemp.

I know I hurt some feelings. I hope I haven't lost some friends. But I know that I've lost relatives to smoking. Both of my father's parents died of lung cancer and emphysema after something like half a century of smoking. I remember we'd go to dinner with my grandmother when I was a kid, and she'd be across the table puffing away like a California wildfire. I'd be coughing and tearing up, and in my seven-year-old innocence, asked her to stop. She laid into me like I was the one being rude and inconsiderate. I watched one of my mother's friends from church die a horrible, agonizing death because she had no lung parynchema left; nothing left for her to exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen.

Of course I'm concerned for my friends who smoke. But I hope you can understand why anger accompanies the concern...

[old mark]

2. All I did was state that anyone who smokes is stupid and deserves to be taxed.

They are so PETTY!

(must be tobacco jones.)

:fistbump: :headbang: :applause: :hi:

mark

[Tommy_Carcetti]

3. What did I tell you about posting in GD?

There should be a surgeon's general warning about GD post--err, never mind.

[Rosie1223]

5. "Your obsessive reading is causing the deforestation of the rain forest"

That was a little funny, though.

[Aristus]

6. I didn't have the heart to reply that I recycle books, magazines and newspapers,

and that most of my reading material comes from the library, where one book can be read by hundreds and even thousands of people.

[Arugula Latte]

11. Oh, great. Just great. So now you're spreading Swine Flu through reading.

[madinmaryland]

7. Dude! You're causing the deforestation of the rain forests!!

:rofl:

[Arugula Latte]

8. I was thinking of posting something about how smokers should be stripped of citizenship

and then waterboarded, because that will put their cigarettes out, right?

Do you think that's a bad idea? :shrug:


;) :hi:

[Aristus]

25. Ah. "Enhanced Smoking Cessation Techniques."

Probably wouldn't do any good. Ever see that PSA with the woman smoking through her trache hole? THAT is addiction!

[jobycom]

10. Smokers and GD... I ran like hell from that thread.

When it comes to smokers, I don't have a cool to start with.

[old mark]

14. Me, neither - they were after AA, to this morning - I need a small vacation...

Might just start now.

:argh: :spank: :nuke: :grr:

mark

[Midlodemocrat]

13. I defended you.

[Aristus]

34. I appreciate that.

:hug:

[Javaman]

15. It's like the 2 minute hate over there today. what gives? nt

[JitterbugPerfume]

16. wow!

that is brutal

[Dogtown]

17. Dude

You *did* ask for it. I objected to your post, but pretty mildly I think. Perhaps you should have defended your post more eloquently and with less vehemence. In that thread.

If you had been that aggressive with some other interest group, you might have some singe to show for it.



BTW, smokers are addicts. They are victims of a disease. I'd suggest a more constructive and sympathetic approach in the future.

I read elsewhere in this thread that you're a medical professional. I do hope you vent here and have a much gentler "bedside manner" with your patients...

[old mark]

18. Smokers are idiots and deserve all they get. nt

[Dogtown]

20. OK, then

From your lips to Yahweh's "ears".

I'm not going to argue with anyone over something this stupid. Enjoy your rage.

[S n o w b a l l]

23. Why I oughta....

[RetroLounge]

24. Excuse me, I am a smoker, and I am NOT an idiot...

thank you very much.

:hi:

RL

[Midlodemocrat]

19. It is an addiction, but I object to having to walk through

clouds of second hand smoke to enter a store or a restaurant or to have my car filled with it as I order something through the drive through because the smoker in front of me doesn't have the courtesy to close their window.

And, don't get me started on the ones that flick their ashes out their car windows and toss their butts on the ground.

Just because it's an addiction, doesn't mean you have to be an inconsiderate asshole.

[Dogtown]

21. Rage away

Please feel free to be as angry as you like.

It won't solve anything, but if you enjoy the hormone buzz, go right ahead.

[Midlodemocrat]

22. I'm not raging. I'm giving my opinion.

If you have a problem with that or me? Ignore is your friend.

:eyes:

[Dogtown]

36. Sure read like rage

but you'd know best, wouldn't you?
In any case, your anger at smokers is ineffectual and damages you more than them.
Likely, the guy who drive-by smoked you at the Fat-store window just fired up another butt and went on with his life...

[Midlodemocrat]

37. Jesus.

GTFU.


Plonk.

[Dogtown]

41. Sputtering?

:shrug:

[DeepBlueC]

31. I concur

:fistbump:

[Midlodemocrat]

38. Watch out, sweetie. You're apparently raging as well.

:eyes:

Jesus. You can't make this shit up.

[EFerrari]

35. You're mixing up smokers with assholes.

Assholes use their smoking to inconvenience others just like they use everything else to do the same -- their cars, their animals, their kids, their music, their trash, their everything.

When you confuse the two categories, you sweep up a bunch of smokers like me who'd never do something like that.

[Aristus]

29. I'm renowned for my bedside manner. They once brought a psych patient to me

who was about to blow a gasket due to hypertension (210/178) and nobody could control this guy or calm him down. I had him eating out of my hand in less than fifteen minutes.

You're right: this is where I come to vent. In clinic, I'm firm, but polite. I will move Heaven and Earth to get a smoker the resources he needs in order to quit. But I'm only human; I get upset when I have to walk through the cloud someone just exhaled. I get mad when I see cigarette butts everywhere. I get enraged when I see some fifteen-year-old kid light up when he knows damn well it's not good for him. I suppose it's like the brouhaha over guns. Both sides claim the moral high ground while the opportunities for solving the problem slip further and further out of our grasp...

[Dogtown]

39. This is a good place to vent.

A healthy release valve.

I wasn't calling you out or trying to pick a fight, just having a bit of fun.

Smoking is unhealthy. The tobacco pusherman gets fat on the misery of the populace whilst taking the Corvette keys from his son if he's caught with a butt (actual anecdote from one of my students whose contract was payed for by tobacco money).

"Hate" is a word I hoard. I might unsheath it for the addiction-peddlars who amass wealth at the expense of the people they're killing, but not on the poor chump that's been suckered in by his slick promotion. *THERE* is the proper target for your ire.

[Midlodemocrat]

40. +1

:applause:

[Kitty Herder]

26. There are some topics that are best left alone. Smoking may not

be one of my hot buttons, but there are some threads that I just hide as soon as I see them so that I won't be tempted to enter into the fray.

Sorry you lost your cool. We all do sometimes. :hug:

[Sebastian Doyle]

28. Was this another one of those Phillip Morris bankrolled stealth lobbying threads?

Like the "pro choice = pro lung cancer" crapfest from the other day. :eyes:

[Aristus]

30. No, I just think it was a bunch of smokers who are upset at having to pay even more taxes

for their cigarettes. Plus, a feeling of resentment that smokers get targeted with so many taxes. I get that. Maybe it's just me, but at some point I'd be tempted to say: "Wow, man. These things are getting WAY too expensive. Filthy habit anyway..." and just chuck the cigarettes away.

Smokers, would I be worse if I was an ex-smoker? It's been said that there's no fanatic like the convert. I've never smoked a day in my life. Do you get pestered a lot by ex-smokers? If so, are they rabid, or understanding?

[RFKHumphreyObama]

32. Perhaps...

My teacher in junior school was an ex-smoker and he was an absolute fanatic about the dangers of smoking. He even conducted science experiments to demonstrate how harmful it was. It had a life-long impact on me.

[slay]

33. You'll like this Aristus - I just started class tonight at a 100% smoke-free campus!

Can't even smoke in their cars - and they want to bitch about a cig tax. Cig smokers can bitch to me about a cig when WEED IS LEGAL - at least they can legally smoke that horrible crap. But here - check it:

A year after announcing a smoke-free policy, Wake Tech's main campus will eliminate tobacco use of any kind beginning Friday, August 1.

The policy states that "no smoking or use of tobacco products will be permitted in any College facilities or vehicles or on any campus grounds." Voluntary compliance will be emphasized for the first year that the new policy is in place. After that, students who violate the policy could receive a fine or be required to perform community service on campus. Employees could be subject to a written reprimand, probation, or termination.

"We believe that prohibiting the use of tobacco at Wake Tech is a vital step in providing the healthy learning and working environment we want for our students, faculty, staff, and visitors," said Dr. Stephen Scott, Wake Tech President, in a written statement.

The Northern Wake Campus opened in August 2007 as a totally tobacco-free campus. In January of this year, the new Public Safety Training Center followed suit when it opened, and Wake Tech's Western Wake and Health Sciences campuses officially became tobacco free at that time as well.

*on edit: forgot to say how nice it was to go on break there, step outside, and not be greeted by tons of second-hand smoke right outside the door. :)

[crim son]

42. Yep.

Some people should be left to their delusions. :D