2008 Woodie Awards
Letter to the Editor
Issue date: 4/7/08 Section: Opinion
Dear Editor,
I would like to comment on the editorial in the March 31 edition of The Settler.
First, I would like to address the question: "If smoking is legal, why are we beginning to see it eliminated?"
There are many practices that are, believed to be, detrimental to society that once were perfectly legal, that are now legally banned.
One example is prostitution. For many years in the early history of our country it was a perfectly legal and accepted practice.
It was not until the early nineteenth century that people began to see it for the social blight that it is.
Eventually the majority came to see prostitution as an unacceptable practice and laws were rightly passed rendering it illegal in almost all of the United States.
So, just because something is, or has been legal does not mean that it is a good or right thing to do, or that it should continue to be legal.
The next statement that I would like to address is the last line of the Editorial: "It makes sense to let other races coexist, why not smokers?"
It is absurd to equate a person's smoking preference with race.
One has a choice to smoke; one is born of a particular race or ethnicity and no matter how much he or she would like to, that can never be changed.
One's race does not create a health hazard for those around them.
Now, as to the issue of whether smoking should be banned from campus or not, my opinion is this:
Even though I watched both my Father and Mother smoke themselves to death at pitiably young ages, I believe in civil liberties.
I believe that adults have a right to kill themselves by smoking if they so choose.
That being said, in my opinion, non-smokers have a greater right not to be exposed to the health hazards.
As a non smoker I have a basic human right not to have to walk through a toxic cloud every time I enter a building on campus.
I think they should be relocated somewhere away from the entrances to buildings, be that to the parking lot or some other location.
John Langford, student
I would like to comment on the editorial in the March 31 edition of The Settler.
First, I would like to address the question: "If smoking is legal, why are we beginning to see it eliminated?"
There are many practices that are, believed to be, detrimental to society that once were perfectly legal, that are now legally banned.
One example is prostitution. For many years in the early history of our country it was a perfectly legal and accepted practice.
It was not until the early nineteenth century that people began to see it for the social blight that it is.
Eventually the majority came to see prostitution as an unacceptable practice and laws were rightly passed rendering it illegal in almost all of the United States.
So, just because something is, or has been legal does not mean that it is a good or right thing to do, or that it should continue to be legal.
The next statement that I would like to address is the last line of the Editorial: "It makes sense to let other races coexist, why not smokers?"
It is absurd to equate a person's smoking preference with race.
One has a choice to smoke; one is born of a particular race or ethnicity and no matter how much he or she would like to, that can never be changed.
One's race does not create a health hazard for those around them.
Now, as to the issue of whether smoking should be banned from campus or not, my opinion is this:
Even though I watched both my Father and Mother smoke themselves to death at pitiably young ages, I believe in civil liberties.
I believe that adults have a right to kill themselves by smoking if they so choose.
That being said, in my opinion, non-smokers have a greater right not to be exposed to the health hazards.
As a non smoker I have a basic human right not to have to walk through a toxic cloud every time I enter a building on campus.
I think they should be relocated somewhere away from the entrances to buildings, be that to the parking lot or some other location.
John Langford, student
Be the first to comment on this story