Smoking ban 'trend' in Victoria.

[Julie]

Alcohol when consumed in moderation is fine it even has been shown to have beneficial effects to health..... you know the odd glass of red wine is good for the heart they say. Despite the miraculous asthma anecdata provided by op cigarettes are good for no one. I could sit at a table in front of a glass of beer, a big mac and a smoke and the only one of them if I did not consume to do me any harm would be the cigarette. Junk food and alchohol don't have negative health impacts on other non consuming individuals.

Trying to justify your right to smoke where you want because you pay so much is taxes is bullshit. Its not like its a compulsory tax, you don't have to smoke, you don't have to pay these huge smoke taxes. Its a voluntary tax like a fine for say speeding, should a driver who just got pinged doing 60k over expect the right to drive as fast as he feels because he pays huge speeding fines? Should he be allowed to get away with bad behaviour that effects others just because he pays a lot? Or should he be expected to act sensibly and keep his speeding for a suitable time and place?

 

[CSP]

Where do taxes generally go?
Name a tax what you want, GST, income, sin tax The common suffix? Tax. Where do taxes go? Doesn't even need an answer.

Oh... My... God...

 

[soop]

Lepht - You've missed the whole point of your arguement.

 

[lepht93]

My argument is I pay 75% of the sale price toward tax which definitely pays back to the economy for the health ramifications of smoking and nobody has said otherwise yet.

 

[CSP]

Lepht - You've missed the whole point of your arguement.

:rofl:

Good call... Totally true.

 

[lepht93]

quit whining and tell me what I've totally missed?

 

[soop]

Its not about money, its not about what it does to you.
Its about it being your choice to do it. Not the person next to you. If someone else doesn't like it they've the choice to confront you or move on. We shouldn't have legislation dictating basic desires.
If every dangerous, fruitless activity was banned we'd all end up trapped inside with re breathers on. Life is for living, unfortunately apart of being alive is dying. I believe in Quality not Quantity. But like everything these days so many people seem to think the latter is more desirable. It's just sad that the people that do believe that force that belief onto everyone and create mass hysteria to do so.

Not every smoker dies a horrible smoking related death, just as not everyone that speeds dies in a head on collision. The world and life are unpredictable, it's high time we accept that fact live it for what it is, instead of spending it trying to avoid the inevitable.

 

[AirStrike]

Lepht: where did you get you figure of 75% of the price of a packet of cigarettes going to the government?

 

[acarmody]

I'm sure all those people who have gotten sick from second-hand smoke will be thrilled that you have paid for thier treatment. I mean it not like its better to have not gotten sick in the first place.

 

[Stugdum]

And that's totally your prerogative.
But how much would it piss you off if you got into trouble because technically that's discrimination. It's the same as not giving the job to someone who isn't the right body shape or colour.

I'm not saying you're wrong to do that, your reasoning seem perfectly feasible to me. But allot would, in the same way allot cry about smokers.
Which is basically what I'm arguing, We should have the right to make these choices for ourselves. And those choices should be respected. Not legislated.

We should have the right to make the choices and the onus to accept the consequences.

Thats true, but anti-discrimination laws dont stop discrimination one iota, they just drive it underground. An employer might not give you the job because you are black/gay/too fat/too skinny/ too short/ too tall/smoker etc whatever his dislike may be, but he aint gonna tell you that, he'll just tell you something like "sorry sir, but you were unsuccessful this time around as a person more qualified for the position was found, but your application will be kept on file and considered for any future positions" When in reality he is probably thinking something like "I wouldnt give you a job if you were the last person on Earth, you filthy poofter/######/ etc (whatever the case may be) and this application is going straight in the bin!" And you cant prove it! Because he/she hasnt actually said as much. But if he is silly enough to tell you that (and most employers are smarter than that) then that is a different matter, and his arse will be history. So if we think the anti-discrimination laws work we are kidding ourselves.

stugdum