It might just be me but...
By emeraldisle
@emeraldisle (13138)
United States
April 7, 2007 9:28pm CST
It might just be me but...is the ACLU very quiet lately when it comes to smoking? I hear of them arguing for the rights of so many but when it comes to smoking they are remaining silent.
I see ads for jobs stating that people have to be tobacco free before applying and yet no one is calling people on this discrimination. They will argue that a white supremacy group can march through a black neighborhood but they won't argue that a place of employment cannot discriminate against someone who is doing something that is legal on their own time and in their own home? I've also heard of people being fired for smoking while not at work. Of businesses telling employees that they cannot smoke within a certain miles of their property. Yet through all this the ACLU isn't saying anything? What happened to them fighting for people's rights? Are smokers so discriminated against that even they won't fight for us? I have to wonder?
Please do not post to this saying that smokers should quit, to bash smokers, or to say we shouldn't smoke in public. This isn't about that but about how smokers should not be discriminated in certain ways.
3 people like this
9 responses
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
8 Apr 07
it's not just you-i've wondered that myself.
the state i live is using smokers for a cash cow
presently-which is unfair taxation on a still legal product.
@emeraldisle (13138)
• United States
8 Apr 07
At lest I know I'm not the only one who has noticed this. Starting to think maybe I was just imagining things.
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
8 Apr 07
all the employers here have kicked smokers out to the curb,and some of them have an additional clause in hiring that if you "leave the property" even on break,you'll be fired (i.e. no smoking at ALL here).
nice way of saying "we don't want to employ smokers"
without saying it.
1 person likes this
@emeraldisle (13138)
• United States
8 Apr 07
How nice of them to do that to people. Talk about being treated like a second class citizen. Thing is if I said no one could drink caffiene while at work or on my property you know I'd be taken to court faster then anything why should smoking be any different?
@Mickie30 (2626)
•
9 Apr 07
Yeah well I have to agree to disagree with this one. It is up to you if you smoke though, but as for rights I think people are starting to realise that none smokers should have rights too. I know from reading this you say you don't want people to right bashing smokers so anything I say will be probably read the wrong way and it's a shame because your a friend of mine, but it just seems that smokers cannot understand where none smokers are coming from.
1 person likes this
@emeraldisle (13138)
• United States
9 Apr 07
I agree non-smokers have rights as well. You have a choice not to smoke. I don't have a problem with a restaurant or a bar saying we will not have a smoking area. That's fine and that's their choice but it should be their choice not the government saying it has to be a certain way.
I also don't think just because I smoke I should not be hired someplace. Now I agree with something like the American Lung Association they have reason not to want smokers but if I'm going to work at a business what I do on my own time should be my choice not theirs. So long as I'm not breaking the law why should it matter to them what I do at my house?
@GnosticGoddess (5626)
• United States
9 Apr 07
That is very true! I haven't heard a think from them either. I'm not a smoker but I am for civil rights! It is a shame that they've been able to go this far with all of this. I mean come on! You can't work here because you smoke?! Unless they want to make smoking illegal (maybe that's what they're long term goal is) then they need to stop this crap. It's insane and unconstitutional. In the town I work in now you can't smoke in public buildings. And employees have to smoke 15 feet or something from the doors. It's stupid. No I don't like the smoking when I'm eating dinner in a restaurant. But that's life. I married a smoker and that is my discussion. And it wasn't like they didn't have smoking sections! I wouldn't want my civil rights violated anymore than smokers do. That is what this country was suppose to be about - freedom and the pursuit of happiness. It seems we are growing farther and farther away from these things as time progresses. It makes me wonder and fear of what will be taken away next.
1 person likes this
@emeraldisle (13138)
• United States
9 Apr 07
I agree sooner or later they will go on to something else after smoking. They will hit on something that effects more and then maybe people will realize "oops maybe we are letting them have too much say in our lives" and it will be too late. They are already starting with the foods we eat and how much we eat. I'm sure they will be trying to regulat that more and more in the future.
1 person likes this
@Destiny007 (5805)
• United States
8 Apr 07
I think they pick and choose their causes.
Smokers are pretty much a no win type of thing because it is politically correct to try and discourage people from smoking.
The ACLU does not want the type of negative publicity that coming out for smokers would cause.
If your not a convict screaming about your rights or an illegal alien or gay or something, the ACLU just doesn't want to be involved.
They like fringe cases but that is a bit too far on the fringe for comfort for them.
Anyway that's how it looks to me.
1 person likes this
@aprilgrl (4460)
• United States
8 Apr 07
It's not you I have noticed that too. It seems everywhere I go they have banned smoking in the mall, restrants,ect. I don't have any problem eating around smokers . I have always felt it's none of anybodys business it also seems there is no freedom any more. I have heard people getting fired just because they smoke and some has to leave the building to smoke.
1 person likes this
@emeraldisle (13138)
• United States
8 Apr 07
Nice to know some non-smokers don't mind to be around smokers.
I have heard of people being fired or not hired because they smoke. I agree it's getting to where more and more freedoms are being taken away. Makes you wonder what they will attack next.
@User10 (82)
• United States
8 Apr 07
I don't smoke, people who do smoke have that right. Maybe there should be a smoking area in public places just for those do want to light up a cigerate.
It's bad for your health and there are enough things that can go wrong with our bodies, like cancer, and diabetes,strokes, heart desease, just to name a few.
Why personally inflict something on your self by smoking.
1 person likes this
@MySpot (2600)
• United States
8 Apr 07
I totally agree. That is discrimination too!
How lame of them?!
@gabs8513 (48686)
• United Kingdom
8 Apr 07
Well Sweet yes us Smokers are being discriminated now and have been for a while
They will not fight for us because you will probably find to them it is nothing of Importance. It doesn't matter that our Privacy and freedom is being taken away
So Sweetie no matter what we say we will loose
@raydene (9871)
• United States
8 Apr 07
Hey Emeraldisle,
Maybe the ACLU feels that right now there are bigger fish to fry!!Who knows what makes them tick but the smoking issue is quieter now and I think they tend to be more interested in the big in the media cases..
I don't know what to tell you Honey...
