Solution to Smokers Breaking the Rules

[Carly_Roach]

I remember when I was HS we went to a summer year book staff retreat at a local college. We staying in the dorm rooms. It wasn't very well chaperoned. We found the fire extinguishers. They were the old kind, with just water in them. We blasted them all over, getting everyone wet. It was a full floor water fight. Well not me, but I was in the room! It was really funny back then. Heck, we thought it was a riot! Very bad but really funny!

Not a proud moment. If my kids every ask I will deny it!

This reminds me of why this kind of video isn't funny, and I hope DisneyPhD won't think I'm picking on him - it's just your story reminded me of why things like this aren't funny:

Let's say someone DOES do that to a smoker: blasts them with a fire extinguisher. Later on, when there's a real fire with a person on fire, the extinguisher that could have saved that person from extreme burns rather than small ones has already been depleted by someone else using it on the smoker in the bathroom.

I'll go even further because obviously there's a serious lack of imagination here: If the fire has someone trapped in a room and they can't get out before the FD gets there, another person may get that fire extinguisher thinking they can kill the flames that are trapping the person and they both run out of the building. But that extinguisher has already been depleted by the non-smoker who wanted to get even with the smoker earlier.

Now we have a trapped person who's going to die a horrifying death, all because someone thought it was funny to deplete an extinguisher on a smoker. If karma is just, the person trapped and about to die will be the person who depleted the extinguisher in the first place. Guess cigarette smoke will be the least of your worries now, right?

People just don't think. This isn't funny. We used to outgrow the "not thinking of possible consequences" phase years ago in our teens, but I guess that has changed with recent generations.

And let's face it - this isn't about health because you're doing more damage to your lungs when you inhale the chemicals in the extinguisher. It's about getting even because you happened to walk into a room that had cigarette smoke in it and wanted to blast the person who was smoking.

 

[fey_spirit]

Ok, I saw it so I can judge.
I don't think it's funny in this instance at all.
Now - that said, it was hilarious when they did it on Police Academy? The difference?

1.) Hooks asked the jerk in question to put the ciageret out, only to be ignored.
2.) It was on an airplane where just walking away wasn't possible

These two things make it more understandable, at least every attempt was made before resorting to violence.

But I think more important, at least for me was the aftermath.

When she was done, he just sat there looking stunned Cig in hand
In this vid the guy is driven to the ground by the force of the extinguisher, left cowering in a corner trying to ward of this hostile attack.

Parody stops being funny in my opinion when it starts to show what appears to be a realistic image of another human actually suffering... I've never been able to see the funny in the pain of another human being - no matter how obnoxious. Even when I know it's fake.

This vid for all the world reminded me of real vids I have seen on hazing.

Oh my goodness. I wasn't expecting this response. First, it's really unfair for those who didn't even bother watching the clip to give their two cents. Second, it's a joke! I'm not suggesting anyone go and do this. It is indeed set-up. It's called "acting". Just a fantasy. Funny, if I posted a link of a shoot out I don't think I would have gotten this response.

 

[JR6ooo4]

First, it's really unfair for those who didn't even bother watching the clip to give their two cents.

Not unfair, the yjust have a better chance of being innacurrate.

Mikeeee

 

[poohandwendy]

I didn't think it was funny. Not because of the content, but because it wasn't done in a funny way, IMO. Maybe if the guy spraying the smoker would have said something, like a punchline, it would have been funnier to me.

 

[JR6ooo4]

I'm sorry, but if you make hotel rooms NON-SMOKING, you are encouraging people who smoke to break the rules.

No 100%. Only the lazy addicted smokers are encouraged (is that a word).

I have addictions that are left behind for a full week while I am at WDW. Very tough ones to leave behind... But it is the choice I made. Go and be without or don't go. Period!

Mikeeee

 

[fey_spirit]

Some rules were meant to be broken.

Rule breakers (who KNOWINGLY do it) should be flogged. Hey, I'm not a total ogre. I got layers, like an onion.

 

[rabx5]

Oh my goodness. I wasn't expecting this response. First, it's really unfair for those who didn't even bother watching the clip to give their two cents. Second, it's a joke! I'm not suggesting anyone go and do this. It is indeed set-up. It's called "acting". Just a fantasy. Funny, if I posted a link of a shoot out I don't think I would have gotten this response.

I thought it was funny And I'm an ex-smoker-it was posted as a funny. Geesh, lighten up people

 

[fey_spirit]

You know I hate it when people try to compare smoking to over eating... when my chocolate cupcake starts clogging your arteries come back and talk to me, until then - they aren't the same thing.

I feel just fine about snapping at someone who doesn't know me who has something to say about what I eat or my weight, because it's my problem and has no effect on them at all.

Smoking on the other hand, unless you are in an area that is designated (and I will go so far as to say that unless you are in a non smoking area, that counts) - you have no right to get miffed at anyone who asks you to stop because you're doing something that harms them.

The two can not be compared so long as one filthy habit that kills you affects those around you - and the other filthy habit that kills you doesn't.

I'm overweight, I eat too much and it's my fault. Period. I wouldn't be too happy if someone made a crack in restaurant about my size or the portions I eat. If it was way over the top and I was in a foul mood already, there would be problems. So I think those of us who are honest with ourselves, know what would most likely happen if you confronted a smoker in that bathroom and told him to stop. That video appeals to the Walter Mitty in all of us, who would love to do something in those types of situations.

 

[fey_spirit]

To be fair that "unthinking" bit doesn't just apply to teens. I've known full grown fifty year old men (and I'm sure there are women like that out there, I just haven't met them) who are dumb enough to think the people from stupid people tricks and another show that starts with a Jack and is finished with a word starting with A that I can't say here, are role models.

I've also known teens who would be horrafied by this vid, and who at the very least would roll their eyes and move on.

Stupidity is not regulated by age.

AS i said in my previous post a few pages back, The problem with posting videos like this on u-tube is tht SOME teenagers will try and re-create this, usually with an innocent party not in on the "gag", with very different results. I remember seeing some teens trying the "car surfing" with very bad results, and so forth. Yes the video is funny, but I also see that thinking adults DO recognize it as humor, and dismiss it as such. Sadly, some other people will not, and will see it as a challenge to "do one better!" It is only a matter of time, and there will be similar ones on U-tube, only they will not be staged!

 

[fey_spirit]

You know I kind of understand what you're saying.
On the other hand as long as someone's rule breaking has the potential to harm or even kill another person I frankly think they need to get over themselves.

I don't care that smokers are supposed to be "evil' (don't believe it either), I don't care that they are damaging their bodies (They know what they're doing, if they want to keep doing it I support their freedom to do with their body as they wish), I don't even care that they drive up the cost of medical care across the board (I think most of us do in one way or another)...

What I do care about is that I can continue to breathe (asthmatic), and if that becomes an issue because someone found it "impossible" to follow the rules - we're going to have problems.

I did think it was funny, in the context of knowing it is a joke.

That said, I do think smokers get the worst rap. In today's day of political correctness, everyone, and I do mean everyone, gets a pass EXCEPT smokers. Smokers are the lepers of today's society. I find that so very sad, considering so many of these smokers picked up the habit when it was widely accepted and just something people did. Smoking was everywhere - in malls, in offices, in closed cars, in airplanes. Many people started smoking before there were even filters on cigarettes. Then all of the sudden its no longer acceptable and people who have had the acceptable habit for 30+ years are lepers, even though many are smart, beautiful, funny, wonderful people. I wish people would show a little more compassion when they put down smokers. Yes, I do think people should follow the rules, but people break rules all the time and don't get the same bad rap as smokers do when they break the rules. And so many new laws are passed that make it almost impossible for smokers to NOT break the rules. I'm sorry, but if you make hotel rooms NON-SMOKING, you are encouraging people who smoke to break the rules.

 

[JunieJay]

No 100%. Only the lazy addicted smokers are encouraged (is that a word).

I have addictions that are left behind for a full week while I am at WDW. Very tough ones to leave behind... But it is the choice I made. Go and be without or don't go. Period!

Mikeeee

Thats all good and fine that you feel its laziness that is causing smokers to go without smokes. Still doesn't change the fact if you take away their ability to smoke, they will probably break the rules. Thats the nature of the addiction, sadly. It cripples people to that extent, many of whom are fine, upstanding citizens otherwise.

 

[JunieJay]

You know I kind of understand what you're saying.
On the other hand as long as someone's rule breaking has the potential to harm or even kill another person I frankly think they need to get over themselves.

I don't care that smokers are supposed to be "evil' (don't believe it either), I don't care that they are damaging their bodies (They know what they're doing, if they want to keep doing it I support their freedom to do with their body as they wish), I don't even care that they drive up the cost of medical care across the board (I think most of us do in one way or another)...

What I do care about is that I can continue to breathe (asthmatic), and if that becomes an issue because someone found it "impossible" to follow the rules - we're going to have problems.

I understand your point completely too. It must be awful to have asthma and have to smell smoke. I'm not the least bit affected by smoke either way (other than I think it stinks when its stale) but I really feel sorry for people who have breathing problems. That has to be really scary, to not be able to breathe!

 

[TriMom]

Just a couple of questions:

When did satire become taboo?

Do we REALLY have a rash of copycat idiots in America? Are they able to come up with idiot ideas on there own? And if it is truly the case that there are tens of thousands of idiots out there - shouldn't were worry about trying to educate the idiots instead of trying to ban anything that the idiots *might* copy?


Carry on....

 

[C.Ann]

The last time I checked my dictionary the definition of "funny" was not "humiliation" and/or "assault"..

 

[kaybracon]

Good Grief.

 

[ckay87]

Just a couple of questions:

When did satire become taboo?

Do we REALLY have a rash of copycat idiots in America? Are they able to come up with idiot ideas on there own? And if it is truly the case that there are tens of thousands of idiots out there - shouldn't were worry about trying to educate the idiots instead of trying to ban anything that the idiots *might* copy?


Carry on....

This is satire? I'm not sure it is. Slapstick...maybe.

I just find, in my everyday life, the "rash of rude smokers" to be a myth. Oooh, I know I'm going to get bashed for that, but honest to goodness, I can't remember the last time I've seen somebody smoking outside of a designated area. Not saying it doesn't happen...just saying that I personally find it to be very, very rare.

Which, to me, makes this video funny only because smokers are an easy target.

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

I think people misunderstood my intentions. I actually have no problem with smokers whatsoever. I think people should be able to smoke if they want to. I guess my problem is with people who feel entitled to blatantly break rules, whether they are smokers or nonsmokers. I posted the link because I find it amusing to imagine someone getting what they deserve in a comical sort of way. The idea that "When something is smoking in the bathroom, you put it out with a fire extinguisher" is taken to the extreme. I find it funny. You don't have to. However, you can't say that I'm wrong or a bad person for laughing at this.

People just don't think. This isn't funny. We used to outgrow the "not thinking of possible consequences" phase years ago in our teens, but I guess that has changed with recent generations.

IT'S A JOKE! This is not real! Nobody is telling anyone to spray anyone else with a fire extinguisher. If you or anyone else has a difficult time marking the line between truth and fiction, the person who creates a video can hardly be to blame.

 

[poohandwendy]

Do we REALLY have a rash of copycat idiots in America? Are they able to come up with idiot ideas on there own? And if it is truly the case that there are tens of thousands of idiots out there - shouldn't were worry about trying to educate the idiots instead of trying to ban anything that the idiots *might* copy?

Yes, there really are that many idiots out there.

But, I think of their copycat antics as Darwinism at it's finest.

 

[TriMom]

Yes, there really are that many idiots out there.

But, I think of their copycat antics as Darwinism at it's finest.

Oh - I agree that the world is FULL of idiots, but I do have give them creativity points - they mostly come up with truely mind bending antics all on thier own! - Don't you love the Darwin awards?! - Now that is truely funny reading http://www.darwinawards.com/

OP - just in case the point was lost - I got it, it was a joke, and a funny one at that - thanks for the laugh!

 

[poohandwendy]

Oh - I agree that the world is FULL of idiots, but I do have give them creativity points - they mostly come up with truely mind bending antics all on thier own! - Don't you love the Darwin awards?! - Now that is truely funny reading http://www.darwinawards.com/

OP - just in case the point was lost - I got it, it was a joke, and a funny one at that - thanks for the laugh!

LOL, I love the Darwin Awards too.