Comments on: Morning Metro: Melton’s Will, Atlanta Parks Smoking Ban, and North Georgia Wine Buzz

By: DEM

DEM — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 13:41:14 +0000

Our common ground is that I don’t like any of those things, either. I just don’t want to use the power of the state to force my preferred world into existence. The reality of modern life is that we are all put upon and inconvenienced by the acts of others. It’s been said (pretty much correctly) that “hell is other people.” Yet banning all the problems we perceive to be caused by other people will not usher in heaven.

By: smalltowngal

smalltowngal — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 21:24:40 +0000

Clarification: I didn’t literally mean someone blowing smoke in my face on purpose. I meant someone sitting nearby and smoking and their smoke blowing in my face.

By: Trudy

Trudy — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 21:23:18 +0000

Hilarious!

No really, let’s pack the place once a month to help get them through this rough patch.

By: smalltowngal

smalltowngal — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 21:10:58 +0000

Maybe I should be buying lotto tickets more often, because I’ve experienced that situation several times over the years. Sometimes asking the smoker politely to move or face another direction works out fine — until they forget and light up again, or another smoker joins them, or the wind clocks around. Sometimes the smoker opts to take a stand on their “right” to smoke in that place and time, regardless of how it affects other people. Something tells me we will never find a point of agreement here, because I dream of more stringent noise ordinances, and the resurrection and enforcement of laws against spitting in public, and big penalties for car stereos that rattle my fillings when I’m trapped at a stoplight. Contemporary life is much more stressful than it needs to be, in part because in so many contexts, we tend to put the onus of “working it out” on those experiencing an adverse effect instead of those creating a problem.

By: New Scott

New Scott — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 20:17:23 +0000

As a side note, I was driving on Scott Blvd behind a large pickup truck from Gwinnett County this morning and the driver dropped his cigarette butt out the window onto the road. I would’ve yelled at him if I could’ve gotten close enough. I realize this isn’t part of this discussion; it just really made me angry. People, if you smoke, don’t litter!