Migraine and seizure triggers are pretty difficult to study, and they aren't studied nearly often enough. I realise that's not good evidence for cigarette smoke triggering seizures or migraines, but when people who have seizures or migraines say that it's one of their triggers, in the absence of strong evidence to the contrary, I'm inclined to believe them. Note that I'm not talking about things which CAUSE seizure disorders, but things that trigger seizures in people who already have seizure disorders. I'm thinking of somebody specific, right now.
The thing is, I think we agree on your main point. When it's just a matter of disliking the smell or passing moral judgement, I think it's completely inappropriate for people to treat smokers the way they do sometimes, and I agree that it's often probably a matter of feeling morally superior, not a matter of genuine distress. However, I pointed out what I did because I think it's worthwhile to acknowledge that some of the people you encounter may be experiencing genuine distress, that you can't necessarily tell who those people are, and that sometimes, what seems like reasonable and courteous behaviour to you may cause real problems for other people.
The way you expressed your problem also made me very uneasy, particularly the comparison to racism. It's a generally a good policy not to compare things to racism. Even with other types of oppression, it always ends in up turning into the Oppression Olympics, and nobody wants to play that game. In this case, it's not a type of oppression, it's just people being shitty, and appropriating other people's oppression to talk about your problems is hurtful and rude.
It did clear a lot of things up and I feel we do agree on most parts, and it's good to bring up that some people may be suffering more than the average joe with an inferiority complex.
But still... racism? The definition mandates that there be a belief that someone is inferior based on their race. My example, again, was demonstrative of stereotyping. I was not equating being rude to smokers with being a racist.
It's your personal interpretation that smokers suffer "people being shitty" but fat people suffer "oppression" when people are rude to them. That's your call regarding particular semantics and a subjective view of oppression. While it's not my intention to be hurtful and rude to any group that suffers discrimination, remember that from your shoes, you may find it hurtful to put smokers on par with the armed forces, overweight people, pro-lifers, and the other examples I listed, from MY shoes it's harmful to write off discrimination simply because... well, whatever reason it is you have for thinking it's not discrimination.
There never was a "contest" to say who suffered the worst. Certainly not an Olympic competition. There was only a message speaking out against discrimination of all sorts, smokers included.
Is it normal to be awe-struck by socially-accepted rudeness?
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Migraine and seizure triggers are pretty difficult to study, and they aren't studied nearly often enough. I realise that's not good evidence for cigarette smoke triggering seizures or migraines, but when people who have seizures or migraines say that it's one of their triggers, in the absence of strong evidence to the contrary, I'm inclined to believe them. Note that I'm not talking about things which CAUSE seizure disorders, but things that trigger seizures in people who already have seizure disorders. I'm thinking of somebody specific, right now.
The thing is, I think we agree on your main point. When it's just a matter of disliking the smell or passing moral judgement, I think it's completely inappropriate for people to treat smokers the way they do sometimes, and I agree that it's often probably a matter of feeling morally superior, not a matter of genuine distress. However, I pointed out what I did because I think it's worthwhile to acknowledge that some of the people you encounter may be experiencing genuine distress, that you can't necessarily tell who those people are, and that sometimes, what seems like reasonable and courteous behaviour to you may cause real problems for other people.
The way you expressed your problem also made me very uneasy, particularly the comparison to racism. It's a generally a good policy not to compare things to racism. Even with other types of oppression, it always ends in up turning into the Oppression Olympics, and nobody wants to play that game. In this case, it's not a type of oppression, it's just people being shitty, and appropriating other people's oppression to talk about your problems is hurtful and rude.
I hope that clears some things up.
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It did clear a lot of things up and I feel we do agree on most parts, and it's good to bring up that some people may be suffering more than the average joe with an inferiority complex.
But still... racism? The definition mandates that there be a belief that someone is inferior based on their race. My example, again, was demonstrative of stereotyping. I was not equating being rude to smokers with being a racist.
It's your personal interpretation that smokers suffer "people being shitty" but fat people suffer "oppression" when people are rude to them. That's your call regarding particular semantics and a subjective view of oppression. While it's not my intention to be hurtful and rude to any group that suffers discrimination, remember that from your shoes, you may find it hurtful to put smokers on par with the armed forces, overweight people, pro-lifers, and the other examples I listed, from MY shoes it's harmful to write off discrimination simply because... well, whatever reason it is you have for thinking it's not discrimination.
There never was a "contest" to say who suffered the worst. Certainly not an Olympic competition. There was only a message speaking out against discrimination of all sorts, smokers included.