Premature Smoking Post

No, I'm not quite that senile yet; I know the lecture isn't until Thursday (and just as an aside: it's interesting that we get a lecture on smoking, yet none that I can see specifically about, say, endemic social alcohol abuse or its manifestations...)

One thing I have noticed is that smokers are definitely the last minority whom it is politically acceptable to oppress. Begone, thou wretches, from all Public Places; and wander the frigid, carcinogenic wilderness in shame... I'm personally a confirmed ex-ex-smoker (took me over four years to finally kick that pesky zero-a-day habit), so I can kind of grasp both (often equally neurotic) sides of the debate... but I think it's long since passed the level of relative social stigma and become a serious civil rights issue-- and one which is almost never taken seriously as such.

I hope to have more to say (and in more detail) about that later in the week, though.