Marion,

Didn't say anything about wife-beating. You misinterpreted me. What I said was abuse. This comes in different forms and degrees. When a smoker ignores the rights of the non-smoker to have breathing airspace, this is a form of abuse. If we use the metaphor of "beating," there is a kind of violence that is implied here. There is a tendency for a smoker to think, what's good for me is also good for you and if you don't like it, that's too bad. This is the bottom of what is called addiction. It's the golden rule in reverse. Addiction is abuse.

As to the issue of famous artists, writers, etc., they are not known for their ability to make other people's lives miserable with their addicitions. If they are, this certainly detracts from the gifts that they give us.

I've known and have befriended many smokers and I don't have the attitude that they are bad people or somehow inferior to those that don't smoke. Some of the people who I admire have been smokers. But....smoking is a form of abuse. The lungs are beaten, the airspace is violated and the reason many smokers get mad when non-smokers assert their rights is that they have been made aware of their addiction.

Frank