queennavidean Re: about smokers
I mean this is great and all and I support this if you have the physical capability of doing so (I myself drive around outside my neighborhood while I smoke) but the reality is that not a lot of people can just hop in their car and drive somewhere.What about those who can’t walk? People who don’t have cars? People who can’t walk far? Yes I agree with this for the most part, but I personally know a lot of smokers who do everything they can to avoid smoking near people but sometimes they just can’t. Because they can’t walk or don’t have a flipping car.Saying that EVERYONE is able of doing this IS ABLEIST.
That’s why I say every smoker should ”DO YOUR BEST” to avoid other people while smoking.
It oughta be obvious if you can’t physically move then people are gonna have to avoid YOU. If someone comes across a live smokebomb on the ground they don’t tell it to stop, they get away from it.
Me, I’ve grown up with and worked alongside loooooooots of different smokers, I know most are perfectly capable of getting up and smoking somewhere more appropriate. Many choose not to, and/or maybe don’t truly understand how disruptive their emissions are to those around them. I’m old enough to remember when smoking was much more common and acceptable, and since its decline I wouldn’t be surprised if anti-smoking education has become less prioritized in recent years. I see a new generation taking up e-cigs or trying to be “vintage”. Smoking isn’t limited to a social class or to disabled people, it’s still a HUGE far-reaching industry and the majority of users are able-bodied.
Smokers need space to smoke, but those airborne chemicals are NOT picky about whose lungs they enter. If you NEED to smoke then you also NEED to do your best to remove yourself from other people while you do it.
If you CANNOT remove yourself sufficiently, AT LEAST warn people you’re about to light up. Give them a chance to create space or leave the area.
The “that’s abelist!” response to every single goddamn discussion of “Things people can do” is so fucking ridiculous and in this context it infuriates me. It’s like it’s impossible to ask people to be responsible for their decisions because their is a percentage of people who will have a more difficult time with doing X, Y, or Z.
Yes, some people that smoke don’t have limbs or are wheelchair bound or can’t drive a car or whatever. But like Lobstmourne said, there are ways that you can remove yourself from the space of others if you just need to smoke. There is SOME way. If you’re going to take upon the decision to smoke, then you need to take up the responsibility to not subject other people to your smoke. Plain and simple.
And smoking may be addictive, but I am sorry, I refuse to treat people who decide to smoke with tender sympathy because they might be handicapped or be incapable of driving or walking or whatever. You can figure the fuck out how to distance themselves from people who don’t want to breathe in that poison. I refuse to have my health suffer so you can smoke.
Seriously. Pulling the ableism card takes away from ACTUAL instances of true ableism. Asking smokers to not smoke around people who don’t smoke and don’t want to inhale that shit is not ableist. Stop it.