A Breath of Fresh Air

I am taking a course this semester in deviant behavior. I love the class. Well, maybe not the class so much (it's a three hour night class...blah), but I am loving the content we are learning about. I think it's fascinating to study deviant behavior: why criminals do what they do and what not. It's so interesting to me!

Anywho! Today we talked about smoking and how smoking is quickly becoming recognized in society as a deviant behavior. It is no longer the norm to smoke, and now there are negative connotations to cigarettes and those who smoke them. Lately, many states have been discussing banning smoking in public places such as restaurants and bars. I am from Minnesota, and the whole state of Minnesota has been smoke-free for quite a while now, so I wasn't really interested in the debate at all. I found it to be very one-sided and a waste of my time. But, amid all the students clamoring for the ban of smoking in public places, was a student who is a smoker and was against the smoking ban. The argument she gave floored me.

We were discussing how the ban could induce smokers to quit, since they would have to always be going outside to smoke, and who wants to go outside for a smoke when it's pouring rain, ridiculously windy, or 30 belowplus windchill? A girl made the argument that people might just quit all-together because it wouldn't be worth it...then the smoker gave her opinion...and I about died laughing.

She claimed that the ban would not affect her smoking, no matter the weather. She claimed it might even entice her to smoke more...because in her opinion, there is nothing better than going outside for a smoke and getting a breath of fresh air while you're out there....ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME?! BAH-hahahahaha....you are going outside to SMOKE. That is like the farthest thing from fresh air!! But then she continues with her argument and talks about how not only is it nice to smoke outside so you can get some fresh air, but it's much nicer to smoke oustide anyway, because otherwise the smoke stings your eyes and dries them out, and your room gets all smelly and stinky....um, yeah, great habit ya got there. Sounds like fun. Burn your eyes and stink up your room and clothes, all while throwing thousands of dollars away on slowly killing yourself. Woot.