They could be male, female, black, brown, white, blonde or bald, young or old, wealthy or broke and yet for some reason they all have one thing in common: they discard their cigarettes out of car windows. So far as I can tell, they have absolutely no conscious about it whatsoever and most of them don't even look around to see if anyone noticed. My favorite is when they are driving and their cigarette bounces (lit, mind you) all over the road in front of my car like a little firework show.
They make great decorations for the median too don't they? I love it when the driver in front of me tosses one still burning into the mulch. I guess they think "Hey, there are already 300 there, what's another one?" Or maybe they aren't thinking at all. For you smokers out there, who exactly do you think cleans up your stupidity? I suppose I should excuse the smokers who don't toss out their butts, but you seem to be outnumbered.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for people having the right to smoke whatever they want, though not necessarily wherever or whenever. I do think it's their right though. What I'm opposed to is their disregard for the environment, the community, and our tax dollars. This seems to be particular to smokers because I just don't see McDonald's patrons tossing their cup holder out the window. I'm sure it happens, but rarely. Smokers who do not litter are, however, the exception.
So what's to be done about it? Personally, I'd like to light them on fire while they are being crucified upside down after they've been forced to eat a few hundred discarded cigarette remains. Maybe a more realistic (and humane) solution is to put another $1.00 or so tax on each pack and pay city workers from that tax to go around and clean them up. Maybe we should record them with our cell phones and put them and their license plate on youtube where they will promptly be given a ticket for littering by the cops.
I suppose the ultimate solution would be a plea to their conscious that would result in them reconsidering their actions. I suspect most smokers have no idea how annoyed the rest of us are at seeing their nasty little habit all over the street. I'm an optimist, and I can have hope for humanity. Until then, I can only hope they just filled up and there's a trace of gas on the side of their vehicle that will catch on fire and blow them away. :-)
2 comments:
I love the idea of people who want to smoke being able to. It's like natural selection at its finest. It helps keep financial power away from a class of people most inept at welding it.
Cigarette smoking accounts for causing more cancer deaths than all other forms and types of known carcinogens combined. Thus, smoking helps to weed out the dumbest of the dumb from society. Unfortunately, they usually die after having reproduced. At least smoking helps cut short the number of years this class is able to vote.
Of course, this is all just banter among us. I'm convinced that most smokers don't involve themselves with computers.... much less reading political bloggs. But... I'm glad to see that other academics share my views on the topic.
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