Porter, no offense taken at all but, you didn't gave any answer to my question.
I am not judging peoples, I'm stating facts and you didn't give me any valid argument to change my mind. I'm talking about the usefulness to society, not the egocentric pleasure to a single person. If egocentric pleasures to the detriment of society would prevail, we couldn't do much against anybody who does something we find unacceptable because that person gained pleasure at doing his action and we can't deny him the right to his own pleasure. Let's say.... murder? Ok, heavy but just to prove the point. Is that ok since the person enjoyed doing it?
Nicotine is a narcotic? Wow!! Tell me more!!
Smoking doesn't relieve stress or anxiety. The only stress relief it's having on peoples is giving them something else to do (holding a cigarette and puffing) rather than whatever was stressing them in the first place. My dad had replaced smoking with candies, some are chewing on pens. The only difference they experience is the one CHEMICAL ADDICTION to nicotine cause. Some peoples meditates instead of smoking and it works marvels! Nicotine cause the brain to slow down, constrict the blood vessels and AUGMENT the stress the body is experiencing. The "relaxing effect" is also caused by the lack of oxigen. It's like when a doctor put you under during an operation: it's not because you won't feel a think that he's not cutting you up, it only mask what's happening. The relaxing effect caused by nicotine is an illusion.
Smoking doesn't stimulate brain activity. Smoking prohibit oxigen from entering the blood stream, replacing it with CO2. A brain need oxigen to work so, when somebody smokes, the brain is actually starving a little for oxigen. Again the "increase brain activity" percived is due to the relaxation of having one's mind away from the problem at hand, allowing to see it in a different way when it's back in one's face.
I'm old enough to have lived the same as you did. Everyone in my entourage was a smoker when I was young. A bunch died of smoke-related disease (no overwheight peoples eating fast food 24-7 here, just normal peoples.)
Also, when I was young, seat belts in cars were never used, a good car was a car who could sustain a 30mph collision with minor dammages, I could't concieve a trip without me standing on the backseat of the car or bouncing all over the place. That's all now totally impossible and inacceptable. Are we worst because of this? I don't think so! That's called evolution and learning from our mistakes.
Drinking? One can drink as much as he like! As long as he's not driving and don't get im my face when he's drunk, I don't see a problem. Not that many peoples die of alchool consumption, it's the effects these peoples have on others that kill. Peoples do die of smoking and they affect peoples around them even if they stay 10 feets away from others. It's possible to have a few beers without having any negative impacts on others, it's impossible to do the same for a smoker.
Gambling? A COMPUSLIVE gambler affects only the ones he's related to, not any strangers he's around like a smoker does. And it's possible to gamble without affecting peoples around you. It is impossible, even for a light smoker, to smoke in public without affecting others.
All these are FACTS, they're not any type of judgments. Saying those who disagree are judgmental is kind of judgmental, don't you think?
Ben Dover, all the tobacco farmers el al can farm something else easily. The planet is starving and the food production is going down. We need more crops to feed everybody. These tobacco fields can be used for a lot more.
Those "advertisement truck" should be banned. Now that's useless waste of energy and unacceptable pollution. Plus the road congestion and visual pollution!
A long ride in the country? There are parks around, buses, and I have 2 legs! Or I use my motorcycle if I can, or my 4 cylinder car!
Trips into the troposphere? Not many peoples doing so compared to the amount of smokers so we don't have a problem here, right? If only 100 or so peoples smoked in only let's say Montréal, we wouldn't have a problem either.
Extreme bike jumping? From where? And as long as it doesn't land on somebody's head, why should we care?
Shark feeding? As long as I'm not bait, I'm in! But the boat will pollutes. Same as the troposphere trip!
The marshmallows? Same! I don't get splashed by marshmallows and won't smell like shit when somebody eat some besides me. In fact, somebody could eat a case of marshmallows right next to me and, if I don't look, I won't notice! Try that with smoke!
