puff puff puff

I know this is an old topic to talk about, but after not thinking about this for a while, I've been rudely reminded of it. Why is it socially acceptable for people to be outwardly rude to smokers? As I walked down 10th street today, the cross country team or fraternity brothers or some other homogenized group of male college students jogged past me. One of them shouted "smoking is cool!" and I grinned. Acting like an asshole to strangers as you jog by them on the street is cool, too! For the past few years I've recieved more than a few comments like this from strangers, as I'm sure any smoker has. I specifically remember standing outside of a restaraunt once in a designated smoking area and being yelled at by a fourteen-year-old on a homecoming date twenty feet away about how his "date doesn't want to smell like fucking smoke." I understand that people don't like second-hand smoke, and I always try my best to not blow it in their precious eyes. People on the street might complain about passing my smoke for a half-second, but they can walk forever next to cars and buses and trucks without a problem. It seems that in the last few years smokers have become the new "dirty people of society". As a result, non-smokers will naturally feel a heightened sense of superiority . It's the same sense of superiority that some people feel over the 700 lb man on TLC.

But really, what's worse, being a smoker...or being an asshole?