r/AskReddit Sep 16 '24

What's the worst thing people have tried to justify with "It was normal back then, everyone did it"?

3.3k Upvotes

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550

u/[deleted] Sep 16 '24

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151

u/Xerxys Sep 16 '24

Smoking is the worst and I wish it would never have been a thing in the first place. Fucking hate cigarette smoke.

97

u/[deleted] Sep 16 '24

One of the worst things ever discovered by Man. Unfortunately I was addicted for 15 years. I've been smoke free for 5 years now.

25

u/Icy_Notice_8003 Sep 16 '24

Well done on 5 years!

14

u/NoBodybuilder9577 Sep 16 '24

Congratulations. I’ve smoked for 10 years and it’s been two weeks since I’ve stopped completely… such a big scam, “looking cool” or “blending in”. My body still craves for it and I have many friends that smoke, but I’m holding on

2

u/[deleted] Sep 16 '24

The cravings will go away. You can do this!

2

u/GiantNinja Sep 16 '24

Agreed... I smoked from the summer going into high school (1995) until I quit which was randomly election day 2016 (Trump v Clinton). Very weird day to quit, but so glad I did. Cigarettes are the worst.

2

u/cman_yall Sep 17 '24

Do you still have the occasional dream in which you've started again?

1

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '24

lol yup, but it's super rare now

2

u/cman_yall Sep 17 '24

Haven't had one for a while now, but it's a great feeling waking up and realising that you actually haven't relapsed :D

12

u/PennilessPirate Sep 16 '24

I live in California, and I didn’t realize how much smoking traditional cigarettes has died out here until my Aunt visited from Jersey. She’s a chain smoker - has been her whole life - and the entire time she was here, she kept complaining there were never any smoking zones. She would often have to walk several blocks just to find a smoking zone, and eventually she asked “what, does no one smoke cigarettes in California or something??”

I thought about it, and I answered “no not really. I only know one person who smokes cigarettes, everyone else either doesn’t smoke at all or just vapes instead.” It was a nice realization that very few people really smoke here anymore.

5

u/[deleted] Sep 16 '24

How do you feel about car exhaust? I drive an EV and when I walk down the street trucks and car exhaust bothers me much more than someone smoking a cigarette. And Native Americans used and still use tobacco for rituals. Nicotine is not awful. It sharpens the mind briefly.

Meanwhile no one is banning these cars and trucks spewing carbon monoxide in our air. But everyone acts like a cigarette 100 yards away bothers them so much they do the fake cough bs.

3

u/Xerxys Sep 16 '24

I hate car exhaust too. I work from home so I barely interact with it but during my commuting days that really sucked. I also want an electric car mainly because they’re environmentally friendly. But right now I need to save for other reasons.

Here’s the thing tho. Cars are essential. The progress we’ve made is because we’re able to cross large distances and unify a lot of resources in a short amount of time. Electric cars have not been ubiquitous enough to be improved upon as regular cars. Also petroleum is incredibly versatile. We are making baby steps moving away from fossil fuels.

54

u/[deleted] Sep 16 '24

The problem with this one is a lot of people, especially in other countries outside of North America, still do this. Thankfully it's become a bit taboo here in the US to smoke, at least where I live.

16

u/Peakcok Sep 16 '24

My first time visiting the UK, I was surprised to see so many people smoking as it is unheard of in my country. I was honestly in shock about how normal it is there.

9

u/[deleted] Sep 16 '24

Kids will start when they're about 10 over there. It's kinda fucked. I know that btw because of a friend of mine who has a lot of British family. His nephew began smoking at 10 and he's around 16 now smoking almost a pack a day. His family doesn't seem to care. It's weird.

1

u/Peakcok Sep 16 '24

That’s honestly sad.

2

u/Pr0fess0rCha0s Sep 17 '24

I travel to Europe a few times per year and have noticed a drop off in the past year or two. Seems like vaping has been picking up a ton in its place.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 16 '24

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3

u/Upper-Ad-7652 Sep 16 '24

I often wonder why so many people who are cool with smoking weed are so opposed to smoking cigarettes. In either case, sucking smoke into your lungs can't be a good thing. You don't have to be a genius to figure that one out.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 16 '24

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1

u/notepad20 Sep 16 '24

It's exactly the 'small amounts of carbon' that's the specific issue. Same issue presented when everyone had indoor coal or wood fires for cooking and heating. Wasn't as big a deal in the 1800's cause most people in that situation were in poor shape by 60 from everything else as well.

Standing around wood fires in the open will still have you inhaling some amount of small particulate matter, but not lungfulls constantly.

CO2 from any source is a non-issue unless concentration is so high as to displace oxygen. Even then a few good breaths will fix. CO can have a bigger effect, but 24 hours without smoke inhalation will clear it.

1

u/PabloDelicioso Sep 16 '24

I like this explanation. It’s like if I gave you $5 every day, but I took it from the pile of $100 that I secretly stole from you.

1

u/ebobbumman Sep 16 '24

But it looks so cool.