Random Lady at the Sbucks

[JustADude]

I was going to say something witty here, but RK beat me to the punch. As for the butts... one at a time all over town is a small, barely-conscious habit, while dumping them all out on the street at once is a deliberate, methodical act. It's all in the intent.

[rdp78]

Well, I don't really pay much attention to people who use the handicapped spaces and maybe I should start doing that. Of course, I don't have the authority to do anything about anyway and I don't want to jump to conclusions either. I think it's great to hear citzens taking a stand and putting tickets on cars where they shouldn't be parked.

Anyway I'm kind of shock an elderly person would make such a nasty comment and that I wonder how she acts around people her own age who are in wheelchairs. I mean the causes of people being in wheelchairs or using walking aids is aging, accidents and disease which can happen to anyone at anytime. As we know, karma has a funny a way biting people in the ass and I hope one day she will have to use a wheelchair for what ever reason. You knows she might have someone park to close to her car and she can't get in there.

Okay, people who throw out their cigeratte butts out their car window and all, uh, that is littering not mention dangerous in a way. Don't get me started on smoking in general and why it's such a nasty habit. I know we all have bad habits but I prefer one that leave a good taste in my mouth (sugar) and that isn't banned in most buildings.

Also there is reason why people have more sympathies for alcholics then smokers is that alcholics is that their drinking were causing problems in their lives and most of the time it was way out of control while smokers are seen as a naunance to some people (especially if they have allergies). Now if some one is an alcholic they usually are going to AA meetings and avoid drinking but yes there are some that deny they have a problem with drinking or don't have supportive people around them. Also not every person who drinks is an alcholic (I like to occasionally have a glass of red wine) and isn't taking over their lives.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

It's all in the intent.

While most of the time I would agree that intent is a pretty important detail, I have to disagree with you here. Littering is littering. If you toss a butt out a car window, you have intent to litter. Sorry, but I don't see a lot of gray area here.

What if we were talking about soda cans? Is it somehow not so bad to throw a soda can out a window, but tossing out an entire bag of trash is bad? Of course not.

Say you toss out a butt at the red light. And so does the next guy. And the next. 50 butts end up in the gutter. Looks like someone emptied an ashcan out there. But they didn't. Just 50 people "not littering."

When 300 people "don't litter" on a beach, the beach becomes a disgusting place to walk and play. When 300 of them "don't litter" on a hiking trail in the mountains, it looks like a trash dump.

Come on. Let's not split hairs, here. This is the sort of attitude that earns smokers the stink eye. You can hardly make a good argument for tolerance from non smokers while you are trying to justify littering, a habit most people detest more than even smoking.

Seriously, I'm not trying to bust your hump over this. But this is something that is important to me. Littering is an awful, loathsome habit that shows utter disrespect for everyone you share the planet with, not to mention the planet itself. I know you are better than that, and you do too.

[Special Patrol Group]

Actually it probably would be better if you were throwing soda cans out your car window. Apart from the obvious risk of fire cigarette butts contain hazardous chemicals such as cadmium, arsenic and lead that are partially filtered out during smoking. But when the butt is discarded, these chemicals leach into the environment contaminating our waterways and land.

When I used to work at a supermarket sometimes the managers would make us go out the front and pick up all the butts customers had dropped around the front doors (even though we had two of those special cigarette bins). It was the worst job ever because they wouldn't give us gloves and you couldn't just sweep them up as they were damp from salvia (ewwwwww) and people had squished them into the ground with their shoes. Even worse yet some total bastards would drop them right in front of you as you were on your hands and knees picking them up!

[JustADude]

Sorry, RK, I'm not good at leaving rehtorical questions unanswered. I don't really think it's justified either, but you did ask what the difference between the two types of littering was.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Fair enough.

[Pagan]

Salathram, my problem with your flicking a lit butt out the window really doesn't have anything to do with littering. My issue is the fact that I live in a state that has fire weather all spring and most of the summer. There have been years that literally half the state has been on fire and some of these fires were started by people flicking lit butts out the window.

But, I would also like to say something in Salathram's defense. Please do not make moral judgements and blanket assumptions about people just because they happen to smoke. My dad used to smoke (pipe and cigars, don't know why he stopped), he however never left a mess while doing so. Yes, he smoked in the house while I was growing up and yes, I have allergies. But, allergies tend to be inherited and I inherited them from both sides.

And don't get me started on drunk drivers. Gordon House was not smoking when took out a family on Christmas Eve 1992 (Google "drunk driving Gordon House, New Mexico to see articles about him). He was drunk. He killed three little girls, their mother, and permanently disabled their father, driving the wrong way on I-40 at up to 90 mph, never hit the brakes. After two mistrials and a change of venue, he got only 22 yrs for killing 4 people. I'm sorry, but you will never see a story like this caused by a driver smoking a cigarette! Sorry to rant, but we have a huge problem with drunk driving in New Mexico.

[Salathram]

Thank you, Pagan. That was the point I was trying to make when I posted my first reply. Yes, there are a lot of smokers that are self-righteous douchebags. There are even some that are violent and aggressive. Not me. I understand that there are a lot of people that hate smoking with a passion and some with legit physical problems with smoke, so I try to keep my smoke away from people as much as I can. I will certainly not light up in a large group of people; I will go as far as I can to light up, smoke my cig, and then return to the group. I do, though, understand Pagan's original point and agree. It can be a potential fire hazard, given the right circumstances, if a lit cigarette lands somewhere incendiary. I finally have a perspective that I can look at and not be offended by. I don't mind being criticized; Hell, I work in the entertainment industry where criticism is unavoidable, but I don't like being called disrespectful, gross, and inconsiderate. I will take all the comments and assimilate them into my collective, just don't judge me on one habit that I have.