The Daily Gamecock

Issue date: 3/24/08 Section: Viewpoints

Paul Bowers, first-year print journalism student

We all have our annoying habits. Some of us don't shower often enough. Others among us are relentless pessimists. There are those among us who write inflammatory opinion columns.

And then there are the people whose annoying habit is smoking tobacco products. I myself do not smoke, but I am amazed by the stigma our society has built around the practice. Somehow, we have allowed an admittedly gross but relatively minor offense to become a damnable act.

Yes, the smoke stinks a little bit. Yes, it can make you cough if you walk through a cloud of it. But far more irritating than the smokers among us are the people who make a scene every time they see a stranger lighting up.

I have witnessed multiple confrontations that were sparked by a mere Marlboro. It's a familiar scene: The smoker is minding his own business, sucking down his cancer stick of choice, when a group of adamant non-smokers ride by on their high horses and proffer such helpful comments as "Put that thing out, man" or "That's just gross" or "You know that's gonna kill you one day." If the smoker is in a bad mood or has already heard from their ilk that day, he typically responds with a strategically directed plume.

There is no sense in being nasty toward perfect strangers. You don't rip into somebody for not brushing his teeth. You don't launch into a diatribe against someone on the sidewalk for walking his yippy dogs too close to your legs. So why is it acceptable to jump down someone's throat for taking a few puffs in your vicinity?

Many local governments, anxious to cast stones, have joined in the contrived anti-smoker holy war, banning smoking in every public area from parks to - of all places - bars. At USC, policy prohibits smoking within 25 feet of any on-campus building.

I can understand a ban on indoor smoking on campus - the secondhand effects of carcinogenic fumigation would present a genuine health hazard - but how difficult is it to simply sidestep outdoor areas where smokers have congregated or to hold your breath for a few seconds as you pass through?

It is reasonable to assume that all smokers in the United States know the risk they are taking. If they do not know the long-term effects of their actions, then they are either cloistered in a cave or selectively tuning the information out, so constant reminders can do no good.

If the smoker in question is a friend of yours, then it is an entirely different case. Of course you should encourage the people you love to live healthy lives, and the university offers many allegedly successful smoking cessation programs to this end.

But when it comes to chance meetings with perfect strangers, all you're doing is burning a bridge to someone who could prove to be an otherwise decent person. Sure, a smoker is momentarily irksome, but few people are more annoying than an outspoken jerk.

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