Debate #1: Smoking law!

[TDM]

well, here's the actual debating forum. let it begin, starting with Ravenclaw, as TheDragonMaster (me) presenting the opening arguments for the law!

A simple walk through a public place. A park, or even a restuarant. A perfect day, until...a blast of smoke from a cigarette or cigar is blown in your face! You shake it off, not knowing the effects of that one blow. Second-hand smoke is harmful, just as first-hand is. For instance, my grandpa died of lung cancer in January because of smoking. He smoked in public places. Had he not been able to, perhaps the fact would have been that he would have been able to fight the cancer better, or that that little bit he didn't smoke would have staved off the cancer for good. And now, because of the fact that smoking has ruined him, he will not be able to see my older sister graduate tomorrow. In fact, he won't see any of his grandchildren graduate. Ever. All because of the fact of smoking.

Some people want to ban smoking in public places. I would love to ban it altogether, as it is ripping families apart! This addictive habit is digusting, foul, and sickening addiction that can ruin your health, and everyone else's around you. So, that is why I am for the anti-smoking law.

[choki]

I am the first speaker from the Gryffindor debate team...and here goes our stand against the smoking prohibition law in NY.

First, let's define public places. Any places open to the public to considered a public place. Even a roadside, walkway is considered. So is the Ravenclaw team going to suggest we have to ban smoking from all public places so as to prevent innocent folks from suffering under the consequences of cigarette smoke? Exhaust fumes from heavy traffic flow are also contributing to the amount of polluted air we breathe in. So do we have to ban vehicles from entering a specific area as well? And as for inconsiderate smokers puffing into your face, there are no laws to regulate people rudeness. A smoking prohibition would not only be unrealistic and also impossible to enforce. Back in the thirties, when US started a prohibition on alcohol, it gave rise to violence.

The fact that this craving for nicotine creates health problems cannot be ignored. However, it is up to the individual to either stop smoking or to lessen their cigarette usage before the smoking related diseases appear as there is no way for legislation to forbide people from smoking. It's a matter of choices. The chances of a non-smoker dying of smoking related diseases such as lung cancer are slim. It is usually the lifestyle one leads that causes such health problem.

I believe there is no point restricting smoking in outdoor areas such as parks, outdoor stadiums because these areas are in the open. There is fresh supply of air all over the place. Perhaps the best way out is to assign a smoking area and a non-smoking area within the stadium itself. This way, no one gets deprived of watching his or her favourite football team in action.

[Alice I]

I know that this debate died ages ago but there is something I would like to say regarding not just smoking laws but our general freedoms as well.

Yesterday a woman was fired from her job at the University of Rochester Medical Center because she was smoking in her car!!!
Yes folks you heard me correctly. Now; on certain campuses and places of business; the powers that be have begun to regulate your actions even in the privacy of your own vehicle.

There is a town in the northeast here in America (You know The Land of the FREE and the Home of the Brave) where it is illegal to smoke even in your own home.
If a neighbor calls the police and complains that you are sitting on your front porch and smoking they will come to your home, step on to your property and issue you a ticket for disobeying the town ordinance.

Now a note about Homeland Security.
This was a huge news story so I am sure that most Americans here will be familiar with it.
A woman flying with her husband and 6 month old son was going through security checks before boarding a commercial flight from Denver to LA. They were on their way home. The security agent after wand (metal detector) searching the woman and the now accepted shoe check told the woman "I am now going to feel your breasts"

For those of you from other countries you did not misread that last sentence. Now large breasted women are searched for bombs under, between and over the breasts.
This woman refused to have herself and her dignity violated in this manner. She and her husband rented a car and drove home to California.

This Breast searching became a policy when some terrorist female tried to smuggle a bomb on a plane in her bra. This being the case it follows then that when some terrorist faction tries to smuggle C-4 on to a plane in a tampon that we will then be expected to submit to body cavity searches.
(A couple of years ago that would have been a bad joke but it is no joke! Think about it)

Little by little we are allowing our freedoms and our dignity to be systematically stripped away from us. This is happening in the name of good health practices or Homeland Security or any other politically correct term that is out there today.

A very real Big Brother is rearing his ugly head and using terms like "This is the price you pay for Freedom" to change the basic way that we think and feel about our way of life and the freedoms we had so easily taken for granted.

Terrorists are winning the "War on Terror" with their chosen weapon; FEAR.

It is because of fear that we have changed the way we travel.
It is fear that has allowed our country to go to war in a country that had nothing to do with the events of September 11th.
It is fear that leads our young men and women to their deaths on foreign sand.
Will we continue to allow fear to strip us of so many civil rights that by the time our children have grown to adulthood the United States of America is an unrecognizable police state?

To the Administration, the terrorists in the world and the politically correct nay-sayers I have these two simple words for you:

Regulate This!

[rivsfan]

i can diffenitley see both sides of the debate

side one

ban smoking from all public places

Problem: that means nobody can smoke and tobacco growers loose money

side two

let smoke in only certain parts like outside and smoking sections in resturants

problem: what if their friend is a non smoker does that mean that they can't sit by them without suffering what kind of cr*p is that


so i can see both sides so i am totally confuzzled.

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

It doesn't mean they can't sit by them, it just means they can't sit by them whilst they are smoking. I haven't heard of a non-smoker yet that would actually voluntarily love to sit next to a person smoking a mere 30cm away.

[rivsfan]

thats true...


i don't know i wonder if this is how it is in the real world like with politics and cr*p

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

Well they tend to come out with the same conclusions, it just takes them about 50 times longer for it to happen.

[rivsfan]

of course thats how ALL politics are..


how about they have a battle of the bands if band 1 wins no smoking, band 2 wins someking like normal

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

Well at least that'd spice it up a bit....

[Broccoli]

It doesn't mean they can't sit by them, it just means they can't sit by them whilst they are smoking. I haven't heard of a non-smoker yet that would actually voluntarily love to sit next to a person smoking a mere 30cm away.

My both parents smoke and when I was a child I had nothing against sitting near them when they were smoking, I even liked the smell. Later, when I got more concerned about my health, I tried to avoid breathing the smoke in, but I still could sit near them. Now, when we live separately, I notice that I can't stand the smoke and am very negative about sitting next to smokers... So, I guess it's more or less a matter of habbits.

[Phinea Rogue]

My both parents smoke and when I was a child I had nothing against sitting near them when they were smoking, I even liked the smell. Later, when I got more concerned about my health, I tried to avoid breathing the smoke in, but I still could sit near them. Now, when we live separately, I notice that I can't stand the smoke and am very negative about sitting next to smokers... So, I guess it's more or less a matter of habbits.

My parents have never smoked and they're strictly against smokers, so somehow I've been brought up with along with this point of view. And since they don't smoke, I grew up not being accustomed to smoke and it really annoys me greatly when someone next to me is smoking and then my clothes smell badly too. Another problem is, that about a year ago I was very ill and had problems with my lungs (pneumonia and some other illness) and after that time smoke was nearly killing me, I couldn't stand to be inside a room (cafe or bar) for more than an hour or my lungs would hurt too badly. Now I've got a boyfriend who is a smoker, but he's one of those rare people who don't smoke in my presence - he always goes out to smoke, which is truly sweet of him to do. If smokers were able to respect the health of non-smokers (e.g. asking people sitting behind the same table whether they can have a smoke) everything would be okay and now laws would be needed. Unfortunately very few people do that.

[Mistress Siana]

Respect definitely is a problem. I'm getting really angry if I see parents with little children on their arms smoke, of if someone smokes in a crowd. Why is it that so many people just don't think one bit about the people around them? How can any mother honestly continue smoking in the presence of her children when there's a big sign on the box saying 'smoking seriously harms the people around you'? In my opinion, that's egoistic beyond understanding. And I actually don't see why I should be tolerant with other people damaging my health.

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

Exactly. It amazes me sometimes how some people just don't care. Even if they're addicted to them can't they see that not everybody likes them.
They can smoke a cigarette in a group of non-smokers, puff it around everybody... then laugh! It's nuts, especially when the very box the smoke came from probably did have a big sign saying " Second-hand smoke kills."
Don't these people listen to the ad campaigns! There are others ways to calm yourself down...

[Snitch_Catcher]

i hate it when people smoke around me its disgusting

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

Short, sweet.... and pretty much summing up everything!