A (struggling) ex-smoker on the proposed smoking ban.
I am against it.
I am a smoker who is currently trying to quit and nothing makes it harder to quit than being in a bar and seeing everyone around me lighting up and inhaling with glee. If the ban goes into effect it will actually improve my personal standard of living.
But I’m still against it.
I was in New York just before and just after the ban went into effect there and it sucked. Bars and clubs are meant to be smoked in. Period. I mean, if so many people are against smoking in a bar wouldn’t it make sense for a bar to open that caters to those folks? And if that line of thinking was correct wouldn’t that bar be cleaning up right now? Wouldn’t it be bursting at the seams with people who want to go to a bar without cigarettes?
That’s funny, in a capitalist economy like ours where demand produces supply I haven’t noticed any clubs like that opening up yet, have you?
Fuck the smoking ban.
HERE, HERE!!!! I agree 100%- this is straight bullshit.
Although I was looking forward to opening a smoekeasy.
to paraphrase Eddie Izzard, “Next there will be no drinking and no talking, either.”
I dont’ even smoke and I think this is stupid.
I have no problem with it. Granted, it’s probably easier for me to say that because I don’t smoke.
That said, I’m used to how it is. When I head out for the night to a show, bar, restaurant, etc, I know that at the end of the night I’ll smell like smoke and, depending on where I am, I’ll actually feel as if I’ve smoked a pack myself. It’s just something you deal with. I don’t get upset or angry at smokers. I don’t even care if someone smokes while I’m eating.
But if I can go out and not have to deal with that?? Sweet. Fine with me.
And I think if anyone’s to blame for this ban, it’s not the politicians or the lobbyists. Blame the cigarette companies. Blame them for creating and manufacturing a product that not only makes the primary user sick, but also everyone in the immediate area. If the smoke only affected the smoker, there’d be no need for this ban whatsoever.
Actually I blame the folks behind the current anti-piblic smoking movement for coming up with such an effective marketing attack this time around.
If the government wants to ban smoking in Fed\State\City owned properties that’s reasonable, but to force this ban on private business owners is wrong. Tobacco is “legal” and as long that remains the case, it should be left up to the establishment to determine if they wish to allow smoking.
If smokers and smoke bother you, then don’t go to establishments that allow it. Just don’t force you morality on the rest of us…
C.S. Lewis said it the best…
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their consciences.”
Tank, are you referring to the commercials featuring the waitress who has throat cancer? Yeah, that one got me.
I think it’s stupid to ban smoking in bars/clubs… I don’t smoke, but c’mon. Bars were *made* for drinking and smoking.
That said, I 150% support banning smoking in restaurants. I *hate* having my dinner ruined by some jerkwad who can’t wait 10 min. to go outside and smoke because the “smoking section” is 10 feet away from the “non-smoking section” and there is nothing separating them but air. Unlike bars, restaurants weren’t made for vice, they were made for eating.
So, overall, I support it, but it is a little too broad.
>>>>but to force this ban on private business owners is wrong.
yeah, to force private establishments to clean up asbestos and lead paint is probably wrong too.
//Tank, are you referring to the commercials featuring the waitress who has throat cancer? Yeah, that one got me.//
Yeah, Steven, but that’s only a small part of it. There’s the radio ads, the bus ads, the newspaper ads…they’ve even had robo-callers phoning people and urging them to contact their Alderman.
//yeah, to force private establishments to clean up asbestos and lead paint is probably wrong too.//
Art, that’s just a weak argument. One is a structural issue and the other is a social issue.
Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa.
Robo-callers? Be afraid. Be very *freaking* afraid.
>>>Art, that’s just a weak argument. One is a structural issue and the other is a social issue.
No, they are all health issues.
We didn’t move away from asbestos because it wasn’t good as a flame-retardant. It’s actually great at that, its structural purpose.
But, asbestos causes cancer to those that work around it. Second-hand smoke causes cancer to those that work in smoky environments.
All I’m saying is that the government has plenty of precedent to make work environments safer. So, it’s not ‘wrong’, at least in a legal sense, just because you and Cost don’t agree with it.
Picture it. You are ducking bullets and searching for suicide bombers all in the name of protecting your countries freedom. If you’re lucky, you come back home – to Chicago – with all of your limbs and faculties. You’re glad to be home away from the hell on Earth on the other side of the planet. You think to yourself “This is what I was willing to sacrifice my life for. The right to be free in America” You head out for the night, wanting to feel alive and free again. Only you find that this country no longer offers freedom. The freedom to go to bars with no smoking and to one with smoking. NOT ONE! Thanks sap! I’m a smoking veteran and fell like a total sap.
just another reason why ILL is the 2nd communist state in this country.
they just havent learned from the cali mistake
The current proposal is too draconian. Also, putting it on the health of the workers my ass. I worked in the food industry for 10 years and almost everyone smokes (the servers, the cooks, the busboys, etc).
Write to ALL the aldermen and ask them to vote against this ordinance. We go bars all over the city, not just in our wards.
ward01@cityofchicago.org, mhaithcock@cityofchicago.org, dtillman@cityofchicago.org, tpreckwinkle@cityofchicago.org, LHairston@cityofchicago.org, Ward06@cityofchicago.org, wbeavers@cityofchicago.org, Ward08@cityofchicago.org, abeale@cityofchicago.org, ward10@cityofchicago.org, jbalcer@cityofchicago.org, ward12@cityofchicago.org, folivo@cityofchicago.org, eburke@cityofchicago.org, ttthomas@cityofchicago.org, sacoleman@cityofchicago.org, ward17@cityofchicago.org, tmurphy@cityofchicago.org, vrugai@cityofchicago.org, atroutman@cityofchicago.org, ward21@cityofchicago.org, rmunoz@cityofchicago.org, mzalewski@cityofchicago.org, mchandler@cityofchicago.org, dsolis@cityofchicago.org, bocasio@cityofchicago.org, wburnett@cityofchicago.org, ehsmith@cityofchicago.org, ward30@cityofchicago.org, ward29@cityofchicago.org, rsuarez@cityofchicago.org, tmatlak@cityofchicago.org, rmell@cityofchicago.org, caustin34@cityofchicago.org, ward35@cityofchicago.org, wbanks@cityofchicago.org, emitts@cityofchicago.org, tallen@cityofchicago.org, ward39@cityofchicago.org, ward40@cityofchicago.org, bdoherty@cityofchicago.org, bnatarus@cityofchicago.org, vdaley@cityofchicago.org, ward44@cityofchicago.org, ward45@cityofchicago.org, ward46@cityofchicago.org, ward47@cityofchicago.org, maryann@masmith48.org, jmoore@cityofchicago.org, bstone@cityofchicago.org