Why does MN hate smokers so much?

[PalmTreesPurple]

Not all of MN of course but I’ve seen a lot of negativity about it. I understand not liking smoking yourself because of the health issues, I’m a smoker after giving up for nearly a year and I was stupid to start again but it’s a nasty addiction to kick. I only smoke outside, in designated smoking areas, and never around people who are eating/close to other people. I also don’t smoke in places like parks or walking through town. It is either in my garden or in a designated spot. Would a smoker like that bother you, or is it people who don’t have any courtesy, or do you just not like smokers in general?

Not being aggressive at all, just very interested.

Would also like to know if anyone on here smokes themselves?

igotthem yep, along with alcoholics, they are all the lowest form of life on MN. That's what I've learnt recently.

they are all the lowest form of life on MN

Except on the booze-free thread where everyone is dotey

I started to vape because of the smell of normal cigarettes but still don't mind smokers near me. I like smokers actually and find them interesting and you'll be surprised what kind of profession they hold (certainly intelligent). What I find not so intelligent is, people who binge drink and embarrass themselves. Grown women/men embarrassing themselves because they don't know how to drink from work do's to weddings from senior staff to respectable family members who I lose respect after seeing them like that.

It’s grim. Exceedingly grim.
It smells.
It’s polluting.
It’s antisocial
It creates innumerable health problems for the smoker and others.
It’s very expensive and exacerbates poverty. The victims of poverty are usually children.
It costs lives through burns and accidental fires.
It supports an underground illegal economy.
There is a strong link to smoking with both criminality and mental ill health - that doesn’t make smoking the cure or a reasonable treatment option.
Starting and giving up are a choice. It’s not difficult, just don’t buy them.

There should be a total ban on all smoking in public. Indoors and out.
It should be illegal to smoke in cars. It should be illegal to smoke in front of children. Even better stop the sale of cigarettes, cigars and tobacco.

Op you started a thread to specifically ask why people don't like smokers and then have rebutted all answers and drip fed excuses due to mental health problems. What did you actually expect people to say, Yes it's fine we secretly love smokers, crack on? I just don't understand what you wanted from this thread.

@PalmTreesPurple

Funnily enough I want to add that my addiction started due to mental health reasons. I had an eating disorder and had been told that smoking curbed your appetite, so I started smoking in replacement of eating.

Snap. Smoking rates are also much higher within my community compared to the rest of the population.

I don't hate smokers at all. I smoked a fair bit at university. Many people did at my uni and it was a very good uni, consistently top 10 / top 5 in the country, so I definitely don't agree that low IQ and smoking go hand in hand at all. The heaviest smoker I ever met (60 a day ) was a Cambridge student.

I can see there being a MH link though, so it's especially cunty when people get all uppity about it and call it 'common' and God knows, it's never the super classy ones who come out with this sort of comment. I know a Lady, whose dcs and gcs all smoked. Less so now though, as it is less common (popular) in general.

I haven't smoked in many, many years. I don't like the smell, or the fact it kills people horribly, or the stained nails / teeth and my God, the money! It's shockingly expensive now. But I don't hate smokers at all. I probably feel sorry for them more than anything, because it is a terrible thing to be addicted to. I really hate it when people get angry with the actual people doing the smoking though. It shows a glaring lack of empathy, a lack of class and manners too.

I would argue that giving up is indeed very difficult for many people @CherryPavlova.

It isn't the people I don't like it's the smoke.
I hate the smell and it lingers on clothes and in buildings.

So sat outside having a drink or food and someone sits at the next table and lights up - that's my food and drink spoiled for me, as you can then just smell the smoke and I can't enjoy my meal. And because it's outdoors I can't tell them not to do so obviously as it's their right. But it doesn't mean I like it. Usually I try and sit indoors to avoid it, especially if eating but it means you can't enjoy a nice bet garden for example.

Or you walk into a hotel room and, although it's no smoking, you get smoke smells as you enter as the previous occupants were smokers. Even if they didn't smoke in the room it lingers from their clothes and hair.

Unfortunately smoking doesn't only affect the person who is indulging. The smoke drifts and affects everyone else sat downwind too, even if a couple of tables away. And sadly cigarette and cigar smell is not a nice smell.

Clearly smoking is an unpleasant and dangerous habit. I'm really glad it's been banned from so many public places because its not nice being forced to breathe 2nd hand smoke AND its better for smokers as it makes it easier for them to give up.

However I don't judge smokers themselves at all. I'm judging some of the posters with ridiculously extreme viewpoints way more than I would a smoker. The people I know who smoke don't stink. Their houses don't stink either. They're not stupid or vile or common or any of the other insults that people are thoroughly enjoying throwing around. They are generally people who started smoking in their youth and now are stuck with an addiction they're struggling with. Pretty much all of them have had or continue to have some pretty difficult shit going on in their lives which makes it harder. I also don't know any smokers who don't want to quit.

@Thehogfatherstolemycurry The only answers I have rebutted are the accusations of smokers being unintelligent. I’m not sure where else I have done that? I have been very considerate of most answers and I don’t think defensive at all, except in my responses to people asking why I smoke, where I explained I had mental health issues. I have also stated that this thread has given me the motivation to quit. Not sure what the issue is?

When I was teaching a subject which meant being lots of books home I hated it with one particularly class as there was a child who's books smelt really strong. I used to mark that one at school in the end and never brought it home as the smell just lingered in.

Are you reading a completely different thread thehogfather? The op has agreed with many points and even said she's going to give up smoking?! I'm absolutely baffled that you've interpreted her responses that way

I don’t like the smell and hate walking past people on the street and knowing my kids are breathing it in. It sounds like you’re very considerate though!

I don't hate smokers at all. I smoked a fair bit at university. Many people did at my uni and it was a very good uni, consistently top 10 / top 5 in the country, so I definitely don't agree that low IQ and smoking go hand in hand at all. The heaviest smoker I ever met (60 a day) was a Cambridge student.

But how long ago was that? Lots more people in general smoked 20 years ago compared to today. To make it a fair comparison, you'd have to compare it to smoking rates at other universities in the same year. Comparing it to today means nothing as far fewer people smoke overall.

Because it stinks like satan and it costs more than gold. I can smell a smoker a mile off.
And yes I smoked for 10 years in the 80s. Cant stick it now.

It stinks, people who smoke stink and it's drifts in through the windows that I open to let fresh air into my house.
And cigarette butts are disgusting and seem to be everywhere.

You sound like a very considerate smoker around others tbh.

I don't smoke, never haver, never will I really don't like being anywhere near smokers whilst they smoke, especially if having to walk past them on St for example. Its selfish , IMO, for smokers to not do what you do.

I don’t ‘hate’ smokers. My sister smokes, and I love her, but I hate the being in an environment where people might smoke around me. My sister is considerate in that she will not smoke around me, so tbh whether she smokes or not is her decision. She knows the risks, as does everyone these days. I have a bit of sympathy for those that are over 60 and are addicted to smoking, because back in their young days, smoking was not considered dangerous, and most tv programs showed characters smoking. But now, with young people, there is absolutely no excuse for people to moan about smoking and addiction, because they will have been well aware when they started out, about the dangers of smoking.

@tectonicplates

True; I went to uni inthe early noughties. So, a while ago, but not the 60s or anything.

It stinks. People who smoke smell so bad it makes me gag. It triggers my asthma even if it's outdoors. It distresses my autistic child who is absolutely trembling in fear terrified of cigarettes. Won't even get out of the car if he can see a butt left on the ground for someone else to pick up.

I've come to realise on some level I will always be a smoker.

I've gone 5 years without smoking before but certain times in my life I will go back to it. Usually stressful situations. Or when I'm on holiday I smoke.

Rest of the time I vape and sometimes I don't do either.

Smoking and smokers don't bother me even when I'm not smoking. Some of the OTT attitudes on here are strange.

It ruins a nice meal out when we want to sit outside and enjoy the food. Instead everything tastes of fag ash.

Because most mumsnetters are judgemental haters. This place isn't known as 'the nest of vipers' for nothing you know.