August 9, 2002: Smoke
I read in the Times today that the Bloomberg administration is attempting to ban cigarettes in all bars and restaurants in New York City. Now, I'm not a smoker- I never even learned to inhale- but I think this sort of thing is going a little bit too far. There seems to be a strange puritanical revolution sweeping our country. In New York, they have already gotten rid of the old Times Square, the adult bookstores, and most of the dirty and dangerous neighborhoods. I'm all for the members of the happy and smug majority enjoying their very dull and very long lives, but I think we need to respect the rights of some of the interesting minorities in our city. Surely the owner of a bar should be able to choose to operate a smoking facility- and surely, people should be able to choose to go there. We are all presumably adults and able to weigh the risks. Some would argue that the market should decide this issue: that if enough people simply choose not to go to smoke filled bars, there will be more bars that do not allow smoking. Do we really need more legislation telling us how to lead our lives?
Comments
And don't tell me it's a health issue for the employees. Restaurant and bar skills are very transferable. If you don't like it you can easily find a job at a place where they don't allow smoking.
EASILY??? oh really? In Today's Economy? Can you speak for EVERYONE and declare how easy it is for everyone on these jobs to find new ones? The world does not operate in absolutes my man.
I think most people would probably factor this in before they went into the food service industry- and yeah, I think if you value your health that much, and you can bartend or work a register, you can probably find a similar job.
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