wroteGeorge Janssen Longfellow
Your social studies teacher made a good analogy but not in this case. Smoking in itself is not a crime. No one is "forced" to partake of second hand smoke in a public venue. If one works in a smoky restaurant or bar it is by choice. If one wishes to listen to a band in a smoke filled room or auditorium, it is by choice. However, if one is assaulted by a "fist in the nose" it is NOT by choice and IS a crime punishable by fine or imprisonment.
IF cigarette smoke was harmless then you would be right. Once research determined that smoke is dangerous then exposing others to it can result in harm to that person just as much as using your fist. Ask someone with emphasema or lung cancer whether they don't feel they were sucker punched. Just because a practice became entrenched at a time when it was believed to be harmless does not mean it is okay to continue it when it is found to be otherwise.
Steven M Nelson Willard Hay
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