Will your rights be next? Likely.

Martin Niemöller said:

"When the Nazis came for the communists,

I remained silent;

I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,

I remained silent;

I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,

I did not speak out;

I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,

I remained silent;

I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,

there was no one left to speak out."

**trickle**

**trickle

**trickle**

Jessica's suggested addition to this quotation:

"When the anti-smokers came for the smokers,

I remained silent;

I wasn't a smoker."

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My writing tends to be written in a sort of hyperbolic style, but I lend this to the vernacular nature of the overall writing. If you cannot handle exaggerations, sarcasm, swear words, or anything offensive or if you cannot handle the idea that I actually have an opinion or a voice, I suggest that you stop and DO NOT READ the rest of this. If you are offended by what I say here, get over it.

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I'm tired of being polite about the debate regarding the rights of those who use tobacco. I suppose here's one parallel: I do not lecture YOU about that McDonald's hamburger you're eating, or perhaps the new perfume you are wearing that makes me gag and sneeze. I'm pretty sure McDonald's produces far more toxins into the environment and those toxins go not just into you, but into me as well. Would you support a ban on smelly people in grocery stores because smelly people personally offend you? What RIGHT do you have to remove the RIGHTS of others who are supposed to be considered your equals? It brings up the question: what makes a non-smoker’s constitutional right trump a smoker’s constitutional right? You, the concerned person who just lectured a smoker about his or her cigarette, banished that very same person to the outdoors, where there is no shelter and it rains from time to time. That smoker then may get sick and then pass on his or her cold/flu virus to you. It’s all a delicate circle…One side should not have this kind of power, I say!

You, the same concerned person, posted sign after sign after sign, and handed out pamphlet after pamphlet after pamphlet, telling everyone that smoking is bad and smokers are NOT allowed in the vicinity. How many trees were chopped down so you could feel a little powerful? Mmm…feels good, doesn’t it, when the money’s on your side?

Ultimately, have you actually seen a difference in cities such as Glendale, CA where a large portion of the population smokes yet there is a citywide smoking ban? I certainly haven’t. But I do know that I can certainly spot when an OPINION begins to turn into a civil issue that affects the rights of approximately 46.6 million adults in the United States. When you stop driving a car and you are living off the grid and are you are perfect and happy in every possible way, then maybe I'll listen to you. But stop infringing your OPINION onto others and turning the whole thing into a civil rights issue...and it IS a civil rights issue!

A smoker has a right not to be harassed every time he or she takes a drag, just as much as you have a right not to be harassed by second-hand smoke.

Smokers are smokers, not child rapists.

Stop ostracizing smokers as if they have the plague.

Stop sending them outside to the leper colony. Stop re-establishing the leper colony further and further away from main public areas.

Stop telling smokers that “it’s bad for your health.” As if we don’t know that, assholes. Do you really think your lecture gets someone to quit smoking? No. Quitting tobacco is something that a smoker needs to do on his or her own terms, and it is damn hard work. Your constant lectures to a smoker about how it’s bad for him, for everyone, for the environment, or *whatever* are, quite frankly, really stressful and irritating and not in the least bit helpful to a smoker’s decision or attempt to quit.

You send a negative message to the smoker that you think you are better because you don’t smoke, and therefore, you think your opinion automatically deserves to be the correct course for society. I think it makes YOU feel better to lecture, but it certainly has left a smoker at a loss for words because even when a smoker tries to mind his or her own business, you walk up to the smoker and constantly make a big deal about it.

The law is on the side of non-smokers right now; what happens when a small part of the population decides something that YOU do as a citizen must be prohibited. How ‘bout I nag you about the nasty tuna sandwich smell on your breath? I think that the smell is offensive and it actually does make me sick, but you don’t see me posting signs about it or passing laws that ban canned tuna in public places. You won’t even see me complain about it to your face. Why? Because I believe in personal liberty, and a whiff of tuna every now and then is not as harmful as that shit we breath everyday in the air, or as harmful as the shit in our water.

You probably, once upon a time, had some asshole blow smoke directly into your face as you walked by and suddenly now it is your RIGHT to have clean air every step of your day? Well, it is my right to have clean air, too! That toxic layer above Los Angeles didn’t get there by cigarette smoke alone, folks. Why not put the fight, all that time and energy you spend on promoting non-smoking, into the large corporations who gave the sky that beautiful brown tint and who are fighting the initiatives for more efficient fuels and technology and the factories that continually pollute our air and water? Why not fight them? Why not fight violence in the street? Why not fight other tangible environmental or economical concerns? Because a smoker standing by himself is a more accessible target for your wrath than a large corporation. A large corporation will sue your ass if you make a big deal about something they did. A smoker standing alone is the perfect verbal punching-bag therapy for your bad day.

Go ahead and keep whining, only keep whining to big corporations and not to individual citizens. Please. Do us both a favor and make a difference in this country instead of being a really annoying person.

The end.