I read a friend's recent post and had to comment. This is a topic that I debated about much with myself and others around me (Jessi, I do miss our debates since I left...haven't had a worthy opponent since) and I ended up voting against it. No, I'm not a smoker, and I do like the idea of having more places be smoke free, but this was not the problem that I saw with this initiative. In the end, it bothered me that, once again, a control was being put on a freedom of choice. It is my choice to go to a place that is smoking vs a place that is non-smoking, just as it is (or was) the choice of the owner to make the place smoking or non. If I had a problem with a place being smoking, I could write or talk to the owner and let them know that my business would be taken elsewhere, less they change. This gave the owner a right to choose. I do not think that it is right for anyone to dictate the way anyone runs a legit business. It is the owner's responsibility to create an environment that will bring customers and the customer's responsibility to find a business that caters to them.
One way that I have thought about it is that I am left-handed, which makes me a minority in the dominant-hand arena. Now we could pass a law making it illegal for any business to sell left-handed or ambidextrous goods. This would make more room for right-handed things and I would have to force myself (willing or no) to use right-handed items.
My point is that I should have as much of a choice of being able to go to a store that carries left-handed goods as a person has a choice to go to a smoking or non-smoking establishment and it's not right for someone else to take that freedom of choice from them by forcing the decision.
posted by ~mike @ 10:18 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
You know, I'm torn on the subject. Is the bill put in to stifle peoples rights, or protect peoples health, even though they could choose to go elsewhere in a smoking vs. non-smoking situation. If it is a matter of peoples free will, what about illegal drugs? Granted, there is the argument that they are illegal because they put other people at risk because of unsound judgement, and that it is a source of uncontrolled trafficking of dirty money; but couldn't that be the same thing with smoking, minus the affected judgement of the protagonist and dirty money. It's not an intentional bout to harm somebody, but harm is done nonetheless. In essence, it doesn't really stifle free will, because people can still smoke, just not around others who choose to not smoke because they realize the dangers of it. Peace! :)
P.S. I used to be a smoker, and I do know what the addiction is like. So I will not tell anyone to quit smoking. Peace! :)
Smoking is not allowed in or around public facilities as it should be for the reasons you list, but we are talking about privately owned businesses. Yeah, there's a health risk, but it's the responsibilty of the individual to make sure that they don't subject themselves to it. Furthermore, if we are to start banning potential illegal drugs, shall we ban alcohol? Caffeine? And while we're banning things that have the potential to harm people, hows about sports, video games, and fluid exchanges! How's about a future consisting of "a 47-year-old virgin, sitting around in his beige pajamas, drinking a banana-broccoli shake, singing, "I'm an Oscar Meyer wiener" because this the direction we seem to be heading. For better or worse, I want the choice, the freedom, the power to decide my own destiny. If I have the sudden desire to go to a smoke-choked bar and pound a few with my friends, I want to do it and I don't want somebody else telling me I can't.
It's a freedom and, while it may benefit some of us in the short-term, restricting our freedoms will help nobody in the long run because it just opens the door to similar laws.
Mike, thank you for your comment. I haven't had a good office debate since you and Jeremy left.
You're thoughts on this please.
I agree with you mike, almost wholeheartedly, that restricting our freedoms will help nobody in the long run. Something I have a hard time with is this. I will never have the desire to go to a smoke-choked bar, for that reason. It's filled with smoke. As for pounding a few, that's something else. If I want to pound a few, what If I can't find a bar that's not smoke-choked? The problem with substances like alchohol, and other things like sports, video games, etc. is not that they exist, it's that people get to caught up and abuse them. People will spend 40 years in front of their x-box, have no life and future, and then blame everyone else for their problems. Of course, I love escaping reality for a few hours every now and then by jumping into the world of Ratchet and Clank, or beating the snot out of Shang Tsung in MK, but if I want to do something in life, I need to grab at the oppurtinites that present themselves, or make some of my own. Anyway, the point I wanted to get across is, and I've beat around the bush getting to, is that when the public is involved, nothing is really private, is it? In terms of freedoms and rights, mine are taken away when I can't find a bar that's not filled with smoke. I then have no choice but to find somewhere else to go. Smokers can still smoke, where other people don't have to put up with it. I'm not much for bars, and I'm not against people smoking, I'm against myself inhaling other people's smoke.
But I'm tired of talking about smoking, so let's all get really drunk and then go bar hopping! Peace. :) I shall agree to disagree with you, with no hard feelings!
Jeremy, while I see your point and the point that many argue, I do have to hold to my perspective on this one so, yes, I agree to disagree.
Jessi, I found that article to be a nice summation of a lot of the talk and speculation of what is currently happening and what may be happening in the future with Google and a number of the other tech/internet giants. I think, however, that in order for some of the authors preditions to succeed, the internet in itself is going to have to become a much more stable and fixed entity. Unfortunately for growth, it is still quite caotic and volitile. As you see quite often in your work place, as do I, it is very difficult to keep the entirety of it up all the time. Time, however, is key. In time it will become faster, more stable, and more standardized, creating the oportunity for much growth and change.
I do know one thing for sure; know matter what is to come, I can't wait and am ever excited to see what's around the corner.
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