You've flung a long way, baby

Posted by Sarah van Schagen at 11:32 AM on 06 Mar 2006

I thoroughly enjoyed this short piece by a writer recently hit by a carelessly tossed cigarette butt.

Here's a taste (emphasis mine):

What I failed to appreciate is that as a smoker, you are, by nature, a rebel. You laugh in the face of polyps and emphysema. Yes, it's a hacking laugh that ends in a series of frightening coughs, but you do laugh. And unlike the rest of us scared little non-smoking hamsters who docilely put our garbage in garbage cans, you, brave puffer of toxic chemical additives, are not bound by something so arbitrary and frivolous as a trash receptacle. The world is your trash can. You defiantly blow plumes of noxious gas into its air. You nonchalantly toss crumpled cigarette packs into its waters. And, as you showed me, you disdainfully throw your used-up smokes onto its ground, even if they must first bounce off another human being before reaching land.

Ha. Good reading, but sadly, so true.

For story: You've flung a long way, baby
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You've flung a long way baby

Interesting the way you've phrased this... The world, and yourself, has worked hard and long to vilify smokers as the worst of the worst. Oddly, you didn't include the latte drinkers who threw their cup on the ground.

Carrie Nation pretty much set the rules of prohibition when she set out to make drinkers the subject of scorn and ridicule. I forget how long it took for the lawmakers to decide to tax it an make it legal again. It must be comforting to know that you are a part of the moral majority looking out for those of us who are obviously too stupid to make decisions for ourselves.

Here in Washington state, we have been told not to smoke within 25 feet of any door or window. However, the stores we might like to enter can not put ashtrays that far away. They would be in the firelane. So we have a choice of using the parking lot as the ashtray or violating the law.

People like you made the law...live with it!

by bobkucenski at 10:06 PM on 06 Mar 2006

I believe there is another law ...

... that says, "Do Not Litter." Washington smoker self-pity doesn't exempt a person from it.

Frequently asked technical questions about Grist's newsletters and website.

by Corey McKrill at 10:41 PM on 06 Mar 2006
[ Parent ]

Cultivated Images

Tobacco companies spent a lot of money convincing youth that smoking is rebellious. However, it's just the opposite. Most people start smoking between the ages of 10 and 12. By the time they're old and mature enough to figure out it's not such a great idea, they've been smoking for five or ten years and can't quit because they're addicted. The reason most youth begin smoking in the first place is to fit in with other youth or emit a rebellious personna toward their peers and adults against whom they want to (rightfully) rebel, but they're just being dupes of the industry.

Jeff Hoffman

by jdhlax at 1:05 AM on 07 Mar 2006

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