{"id":1631,"date":"2008-03-31T22:15:03","date_gmt":"2008-03-31T22:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/2008\/03\/31\/ashtrays_and_atheists\/"},"modified":"2008-03-31T22:15:03","modified_gmt":"2008-03-31T22:15:03","slug":"ashtrays_and_atheists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/2008\/03\/31\/ashtrays_and_atheists\/","title":{"rendered":"Ashtrays and Atheists"},"content":{"rendered":"

The province of British Columbia introduced some new anti-smoking laws<\/a> today. The city of Vancouver is taking things to an extreme – cue reporters on the morning news measuring exactly how far you have to be from a doorway before you can light up. The answer seems to be “in the road”.
\nI’m a life-long non-smoker who has already benefited greatly from BC’s previous laws, which prohibited smoking inside bars and restaurants. Moving here from Glasgow in 2002 brought instant relief from having to wash my hair as soon as I got home from a night out, and my clothes after every use. Now that the UK has its own smoking ban in place, going home is much more pleasant than it used to be and I am no longer addicted to second hand smoke. (I swear when I first moved here I used to inhale deeply every time I passed a smoker).
\nSo I should be delighted with the new laws, right?
\nWrong.<\/p>\n


\nThe thing is, smoke doesn’t bother me much on patios and on the streets. The only exception is when people at my table are smoking on a semi-enclosed patio, but fewer and fewer of my friends smoke these days.
\nLet people smoke outside if they want to!
\nI think the problem is that some non-smokers are overreacting to recent victories over smokers. Sensing signs of weakness, they’re moving in for the kill. After so many years of putting up with the obligatory inhalation of second hand smoke, they’re enjoying the feeling of power. And maybe taking it too far.
\nThis brings me to my comment on last week’s debate, initiated by Henry Gee, about the discrimination that he thinks religious people in science are encountering from the more vocal atheists. (If you didn’t follow this debate, please read this<\/a> first before reading the original post<\/a> and its follow up<\/a>).
\nI think that atheists, like non-smokers, are only recently experiencing some relief from their forced exposure to other people’s practices. As Henry pointed out, there are very very few cultures, past or present, in which the open expression of atheism is tolerated. Perhaps recent victories of free speech have caused some newly liberated atheists to go on a power trip and try to rid their environment of those pesky religious folks.
\nPersonally, I don’t think that discussions of religious belief are appropriate for the workplace, but others may disagree. Either way, I hope that Henry’s experience is not typical and that science will remain open to all, regardless of religious, political1<\/a><\/sup>, sexual and other preferences.
\nJust don’t preach to me or blow smoke in my face. I won’t tolerate either attempt to force your habits onto me.
\nAs someone2<\/a><\/sup> once said, your right to swing your fist ends where my face begins.
\n[1] I wondered, in a comment on one of Henry’s original posts, how right wingers tend to fare in the typically liberal environment of the scientific workplace. I’m still wondering, because I don’t know any right wingers who are “out”. I think it’s an interesting comparison to the debate on religion.
\n[2] Google has let me down! I can’t find a definitive source for this quote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The province of British Columbia introduced some new anti-smoking laws today. The city of Vancouver is taking things to an extreme – cue reporters on the morning news measuring exactly how far you have to be from a doorway before … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1631\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}