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This is a question Prejudice

"Are you prejudiced?" asks StapMyVitals. Have you been a victim of prejudice? Are you a columnist for a popular daily newspaper? Don't bang on about how you never judge people on first impressions - no-one will believe you.

(, Thu 1 Apr 2010, 12:53)
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Smokers
I know plenty of great people who are or have been smokers (etc, etc), but when I find out unexpectedly that someone smokes, I can't help but think a bit less of them. I suppose it's a kind of pity - do you really hate yourself that much? There's also a suggestion that maybe you don't really buy all of that "facts" stuff, such as cigarettes being highly likely to seriously fuck you up. You also probably play the lottery and genuinely believe that you will probably win one day, which will solve all of your problems (financial and emotional). You're also needlessly aggressive and think that your "live for today" attitude gives you some kind of right to drink far too much, far too often and give people a hard time for not indulging in the same vices as you on at least as regular a basis. You seek out non-smokers, vegetarians, people who don't enjoy watching football and people who enjoy their jobs and try and start some kind of witless fight with them, based upon their being "boring".

Of course, I might just be stereotyping myself as a non-smoker.

Edit: OK, peeps, bit of clarity: I don't actually think this at all, I just get a sudden pang of self-loathing if I find myself objecting to someone smoking (which, thankfully, hardly ever happens). My "No offence, but I'd rather you didn't" echoes through my head as "I am *so* much better than you and I hate you and all of your kind!"... Mainly because I've heard it put more or less that way by other non-smokers and I subconsciously worry that I'll get confused for someone like that.
(, Sun 4 Apr 2010, 16:34, 2 replies)
Hmm
I think all your points are not relevant - and untrue. You can't generalise smokers like that.

Personally, I dislike tobacco smoke because it smells vile. Simple as that.
(, Sun 4 Apr 2010, 16:43, closed)
Ennui's not on about cigarette smoke though,
his problem is with smokers themselves and their spurious rationalisations.

And yep, it does stink.
(, Sun 4 Apr 2010, 16:48, closed)
There are "good" smokers and there are "bad" smokers
The good smokers are the ones who - quite simply - make sure that whenever they feel the need for a nicotine fix, they don't inflict the stink onto any other person in the vicinity.

Good smokers are the ones who say "Excuse me - does anyone mind if I smoke?". I have no problem with those people at all.

Personally I think tobacco is the dried-up fæces of Satan and I hate it with all my passion - but it's a case of "hate the sin: love the sinner".

On the other hand, there are the bad smokers: those people who don't give a shit about anyone else around them. This also goes for those chav mothers who walk around with their poor offspring in a pushchair, smoking right next to them. The child does not have a choice whether to be near the smoke.
(, Sun 4 Apr 2010, 16:54, closed)
Lol
That wasn't what I was getting at... I'm trying to express the feeling that you get as a non-smoker when you find yourself among smokers and you start to think that they sense your disapproval.
(, Sun 4 Apr 2010, 16:54, closed)
They can always tell
with me!
(, Sun 4 Apr 2010, 17:01, closed)
Do you not
get that slightly bad "spoiler" feeling if you find yourself having to express a distaste for it? It immediately creates something of a barrier with some people and it's not always easy to tell who will be like that beforehand.
(, Sun 4 Apr 2010, 17:10, closed)
well
perhaps you should stop being so sanctimonious and judgemental.

People don't have a right to inflict their passive smoke on you, but you've got no basis on which to equate smoking with bad moral character.

I don't like people who look down on others for any reason. You don't like smoking and you don't see why people do it. It's a personal preference, not a universal rectitude. I don't like football and I don't see why people watch it - that doesn't mean I'm right and they're wrong.

In this vein, I would love it if they banned passive football in pubs.
(, Sun 4 Apr 2010, 18:16, closed)
Mmm
I don't actually think that way about smokers (obviously), but I get a sudden panic that they'll think that I think that if they find out that I don't smoke or have to object to their smoking in my presence.

Never mind. Smoking is banned pretty much everywhere now, anyway. And if you've seen the damage it causes close up, you'll know why.
(, Sun 4 Apr 2010, 19:10, closed)
Hmmm, smoking
is probably good for society. The evidence is that smokers more than pay their way in terms of taxes paid versus excess health costs, die at the end of a full, productive worklife and don't hang around as 'unproductive' old people. Suckers. I'd not recommend it to friends or family but maybe, like the lottery, it is a tax on the stupid?
(, Mon 5 Apr 2010, 7:42, closed)

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