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Originally Posted by penchief
Well, it sounds like the state of Washington has a problem with private property.
Public businesses, by definition, cater to the public. The public consists of both smokers and non smokers. Public businesses have, imo, the obligation to respect the rights of all the public. Smoking harms others who don't smoke (even those in the public who occasionally choose to patron public businesses with the expectation of not being poisoned). By establishing outside smoking you are both respecting the health of non-smokers and also the right of patrons to smoke. When smoking is the source of the problem, why punish those who don't smoke? How is it any different than public health ordinances?
The choice to smoke belongs to the smoker. But that doesn't give he or she the right to impose the negative consequences of his or her choice onto others, IMO. Why should the rights of smokers and their unhealthy habits be protected when it imposes on the rights of non-smokers to enjoy their community without the risk of being harmed? Why should the non-smoker have to stay home? Why should the smoker have more rights than the non-smoker?
Hell, I should just go take a crap on the kitchen floor of a restaurant and say that I am doing so because it's my God-given right. Even though there are established areas for taking shits and pisses I should have the right to impose my urges on the rest of society. Right?
If a business owner makes money off of the public he has to abide by the laws of human dignity. NO ONE person has the right to negatively affect the lifespan or quality of life of another person. Smoking may be legal but it isn't God. And even though the republican party has established that profit IS God, apparently the tobacco industry and the drug companies haven't quite yet convinced the states that profit is God.
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Tell you what, dickhead. Why don't you go into an establishment that caters to the public, sit down at a table and order nothing. Just refuse to order. Tell them that all you want to do is breathe the clean air.
It's not your table. It's not your business.
Get the hell out. You don't belong there.