More fun with the crazy anti-smoking zealot

After I posted my little exchange with what I thought was a crazy anti-tobacco lady (turns out it was a crazy anti-tobacco man...I guess I just associate irrational, overly-emotional arguments with women. Ooh! Burn!)

Anyway...after I posted our little exchange, I thought it was over. Boy was I wrong. Long story short, he accuses me of lying and having brain damage from tobacco smoke, and ends up blocking my e-mail address. But making a long story short certainly doesn't make for an interesting blog post, so here's the rest of our exchange, in its entirety, ver batim.

Rational defender of individual/economic rights: Roadways are public institutions funded by tax payer dollars, and the government has every right to regulate something that it funds. Plus, people don't have much of a realistic choice of whether or not to use roads. However, businesses are private institutions. People have reasonable alternatives in regards to which restaurant to patron. Unless you advocate making smoking out right illegal everywhere, including private homes, then how can you advocate making it illegal in private businesses?


Crazy irrational anti-smoking zealot: These "private" businesses you and other tobacco people are so fond of mischaracterizing: guess what - they are open to the public and serve the public. And when they have a problem, guess who they call: the PUBLICLY-FUNDED police, fire and other government services. So, you can stop with this "private" argument. Again, stale tobacco-people rhetoric. Even in a truly private home, no one is legally allowed to abuse their children or wife or to poison others (including neighbors) with any substance, including toxic tobacco smoke. Have you also written editorials claiming that asbestos and other dangerous materials somehow have "rights" and should be allowed to injure and kill people? Then, why do to you continue to defend toxic tobacco smoke, which is deadly and has no rights?

Rational defender of individual/economic rights: Just because a restaurant is 'open to the public' does not mean that it is mandatory for the public to attend. There are several ethnic restaurants in Washington that people may attend. But if a person does not like ethnic food, they are not forced to enter. They have the choice to patron another establishment. Likewise, if a restaurant allows smoking within its walls, people are not forced to be subjected to the smoke. They can either leave or not enter in the first place.

The fact that the police and fire department are publicly funded is irrelevant because they're intended to protect both public and private interests. It has nothing to do with the economic decisions of a private business owner.

Anyone born in the last 30 years knows that smoking causes cancer. Some people choose to do it anyway. Your argument that abusing a child/spouse in a home is also irrelevant because those things are already illegal. Smoking is currently a legal practice. That being said, the government has every right to ban it in government buildings, which in most cases it has. But the government has no right to regulate the use of a legal product in private areas.

It's not a defense of tobacco smoke or tobacco companies, so I'd appreciate not being referred to as a 'tobacco-person.' I do not smoke, and don't recommend that people do. Nor do I have any interests in the tobacco business. However, this is a defense of an individual's right to do something perfectly legal in a private space, and a defense of a business owner's right to determine how to run their business in regard to a legal product.


Crazy irrational anti-smoking zealot: And "ethnic food" kills how many innocent people each year? I doubt the figure is anywhere as high as the 65,000 killed by toxic tobacco smoke. Unfortunately, Actually, there are many people who are not aware and/or do not believe that tobacco causes ANY problem. Part of the reason is because of people like you, who distort the facts and just plain lie. NO, smoking around others is NOT legal. You are brain damaged from toxic tobacco smoke if you believe that. And tobacco is NOT a legal product, unless you can tell us when it became "legal" to poison people, no matter how slowly you do it. Yes, you are a "tobacco person", if you defend a totally destructive drug like tobacco and toxic tobacco smoke, which injures and kills the addict and innocent people. Case closed.

Rational defender of individual/economic rights: More than 40,000 people die in traffic accidents every year...better make driving illegal.

Hundreds of thousands die of heart attacks every year...better make fatty foods illegal.

The point of the ethnic food analogy was that people are not forcibly subjected to it. Likewise people are not forcibly subjected to tobacco smoke. I'm not lying or distorting any facts. I admit that smoking causes cancer and is otherwise unhealthy. Do not call me a liar.

What evidence do you have that tobacco is not a legal product? I can walk down to the 7/11, show my ID, and buy any tobacco product I please at any time. I can then walk right outside the doors and proceed to use said product, regardless of how many people are around, all without fear of legal ramifications. How is that in any way illegal?

Do you have any medical evidence that tobacco smoke causes brain damage, as you claim? Seems unlikely.

It's wide-eyed, fanatic radicals like yourself that end up hurting your cause in the long run by turning rational, reasonable people against you if only out of spite. The inability to have a civil, reasonable conversation, as you have shown, does not lead to many converts.

--It's at this point that he blocks me e-mail address. But not before calling me a liar, saying that I must have brain damage, and that tobacco isn't a legal product. I understand that it's pretty pointless to argue with someone who doesn't even accept reality, but I do it because they piss me off.

I like to consider myself a very reasonable, common sense kind of person. So when I come across someone like that guy, I truly have a hard time understanding their utter nuttiness. A little rationality goes a long way. Blind extremism just makes you look like a moron.