Rant Car smoking ban

How so? The subject is perfectly fitting for Serious Discussion. Legislation threatening rights for the sake of children's safety is pretty dangerous territory worthy of a, well, serious discussion. If it wasn't already so far in it'd likely be worth moving. It'd probably have helped the thread by being there all along, there have been a couple times where we'd likley have seen some intervention or even locking had this been in SD.

 

My comment was not in reference to whether it should be in Serious but to BE's closing comment about the Serious forum which is plainly not true or there wouldn't be live threads being posted to as I post this reply:

 

I would have thought it was obvious what she was referring to

 

Thanks for the support there BE, but im leaving this thread alone now.

Im fed up of coming up with perfectly reasonable arguments and then having my character called into question and told to get a sense of humour about it. There are a few of us in here having a proper debate and its being entirely sidelined and ridiculed by two or so people who refuse to take anything seriously and come up with any kind of serious evidence or counter-points.

Though there are some here who would listen, debate and compromise there are some closed minded folk who will simply troll a debate like this, bullying those who offer reasonable reprise with rude language and attacks on their character.

 

i heard theyre banning tripods in cars next

 

The secret life of Bogomip:

 

I want to be this cool.

 

you are that cool arson.

 

But not this cool...

 

whos that kid in the back of my car?

 

Why are you both being so needlessly inflammatory and harsh?

I know my post the other day was out of order and stupid: I said as much and apologised for it. But for all you accuse me of derailing the discussion with character attacks, Carrie, you just spent all of a very large post attacking my character and picking apart a (sideline) comment of mine, and didn't address the actual thead subject at all.

I don't think it was unreasonable to criticize hat looked to me like a very unhelpful comment:

I mean...it's not just me, is it? That is just pretty rude. I think it's worth pointing out when someone's being unpleasant, in case they don't realise it themselves (I've been in that situation myself many times and retrospectively appreciated being told to stfu and learn some manners.)

You both speak about age and maturity, and sound like you're proud of your years and the maturity that's come with them, but you're easily provoked, very antagonistic, and descend into bickering fights at the drop of a hat. That doesn't seem very mature to me. I'm lucky enough to know some very mature people and I admire their patience and their ability to not rise to personal attacks and perceived-to-be insulting remarks. Mature people stay on-point, prioritize what matters, temper their ego and keep the high ground - exactly the opposite of what you, I and Teel have done here.

I'm immature and temperamental, I admit. The difference between us, Carrie, is that I know what I am; I don't call people asinine, bullish or humourless, don't patronise them by calling them children, don't attack their character - I don't do those things in one breath, and then declare myself a mature and well-humoured person in the next. I know I'm juvenile and easily baited; you don't seem to.


If this is going to stay at the level of bickering attacks, I'll bow out too. Bickering just isn't very fun. But if anyone wants to resume the actual discussion, I think I've made some defensible points that haven't been addressed yet, chiefly that:

-if we ban smoking in cars on health grounds, we must also ban it in homes and private buildings;

-if we ban smoking in cars on distraction grounds, we must also ban food, drink, sat-navs, radio and hands-free kits in cars;

-banning smoking based on reduced driver performance concerns (and possibly also on the distraction grounds too) is already covered by existing laws about driving without due care and attention - hot-boxing your car reduces visibility and significantly distracts you by causing eye irritation, and would therefore constitute driving without due care and attention; why make another law for this when the existing law covers it?

(I don't think it's bullish to reiterate these points or stand by them when they really, actually haven't been responded to at all - I checked and double-checked. I wouldn't dig my heels in and refuse to move on if they had.)

 

For ****'s sake you lot.

Why can't we have a debate without resorting to insults? What will it take for everyone to just step back and say "Whoah, I don't agree with this person, and that's because there's always someone who will disagree." Instead of the bitchy mess we invariably end up in when two personalities clash over the internets.

Carrie, Teel, Bogo, boiled - fairly senior forum members, you should know better.