#12379
Anonymous

    I agree with the isolated incident in question – hell, I’m sure most reasonable people, when confronted with that situation, would either smoke indoors or leave the property. But, we don’t have access to the other side of the story in this instance. And unlike most people I am not going to jump on the evil smokers are scum and are morally reprehensible bandwagon, which seems to becoming more prevalent (coming at this from a libertarian, non-smoking position). I’d like to hear what the full story is – within the local paper, which I receive, someone who lived in the same unit block made the comment that there is a lot more to this story. I reserve judgement on the matter until I hear this.

     

    But I think that there is a wider issue, which is what I alluded to, and that is the increasing over regulation of life in general. I don’t care if they guy next door bbq’s a lot of the time. That is his life. I do not think it appropriate for people to attack those who are carrying out legal activities, or even illegal activities that do not cause harm (in a legal sense), in their own dwelling. What next? Unmarried couples being refused entry to a unit block for the sake of “family values”?

     

    I grew up in 500ha of land, then moved to 10ha of land, then a suburban block, then an apartment in the inner city. I’ve gone from having no neighbours within 10kms to having neighbours on all sides. But you know what, minor inconveniences are really not that much of a drama. So what if the guy in the unit above me has his friends over on a Friday night and they listen to music until midnight most weekends. So what if the guy below me smokes. So what if the guy next door bbq’s. That is all how they want to live their life and I am not going to interfere for the sake of my own preconceived notions on how life should and shouldn’t be lived. Yeah, sometimes smoke blows in from the BBQ and from the neighbour’s cigs, but leave the door open and 5 minutes later all the smell is gone. Hardly the end of the world. No worse than cooking some fish in the apartment (I suppose that next we will be told that this has a negative impact on other peopl I’m sure some of the things I do might annoy my neighbours. I know that my car has a loud exhaust pipe for instance, but it hardly gets driven, except during the day on weekends, oh, and the afore-mentioned friend who smokes on my balcony once a month or so. But if you want peace and quiet and no intrusion from other people then perhaps unit living in a large city isn’t for you.