How will you spend your Thanksgiving break?
Written in response to "Stop the campaign against smokers" by John Surico in the Nov. 3 issue of WSN
In response to John Surico's Nov. 3 column, I would like to refute his claim that the proposed smoking ban is discriminatory. Smokers choose to smoke: It is not an immutable biological aspect like race, sex, sexual orientation, etc. Furthermore, smoking is not a civil right, but rather a drug that can be regulated (or banned) by the government as we, the voters who elect them, see fit — and by NYU as a private institution in its own right. Equally ridiculous is Surico's claim that smokers cannot help the fact that their smoke enters the air vents of public buildings. They can easily prevent this by not smoking in the first place, or finding a private place to get their nicotine fix. The fact that "everybody does it anyway" (which he more or less states) seems more like a dumb reason that someone would start smoking than a rational defense. He goes on to state that he should have the right to enjoy a cigarette in NYU social spaces outside of buildings. But what about the nonsmokers who wish to enjoy these social spaces? Smoking is a chosen behavior, one that pollutes the air and endangers the people around it. Therefore, NYU has every right to put the comfort, health and convenience of nonsmokers above that of smokers.
Surico says he is tired of being quarantined like an animal. Wrong: Even animals in the wild generally know to avoid behavior that puts their lives in danger. It's called instinct.
