Well, of course smokers aren't "scum"...but it's hyperbole. It's deliberate overstatement, which is one way of being humorous...depending on the context.

Remember this Randy Newman song?

Short People

Short people got no reason
Short people got no reason
Short people got no reason
To live

They got little hands
Little eyes
They walk around
Tellin' great big lies
They got little noses
And tiny little teeth
They wear platform shoes
On their nasty little feet

Well, I don't want no short people
Don't want no short people
Don't want no short people
`Round here

Short people are just the same
As you and I
(A fool such as I)
All men are brothers
Until the day they die
(It's a wonderful world)

Short people got nobody
Short people got nobody
Short people got nobody
To love

They got little baby legs
That stand so low
You got to pick em up
Just to say hello
They got little cars
That go beep, beep, beep
They got little voices
Goin' peep, peep, peep
They got grubby little fingers
And dirty little minds
They're gonna get you every time
Well, I don't want no short people
Don't want no short people
Don't want no short people
'Round here


Now, amazingly enough a LOT of prickly people took great offence at this Randy Newman song...they took it literally! It's incredible that anyone would, but they did...although it should be obvious to any sentient being that it's not intended to be taken literally.

I should think it would be obvious that the lyrics which say "Smokers are scum" could not possibly be intended literally either...because there are billions of people who smoke, and anyone who is capable of thinking at all knows perfectly well that you can't just categorize them all as "scum".

To imagine that the writer of the song really believes that all smokers are scum is just silly. Therefore the song must be satirical in intent.

However, it was bound to raise hackles in some people. Were it my song, I'd be careful who I sang it around. ;-) I destest smoking, but I'd still be careful who I sang it around, because some people would be bound to take offence.

I've written anti-smoking stuff myself which is about equally intemperate, but I did it mostly for my own satisfaction since I had to suffer other people's smoke helplessly for most of my life. Writing the songs gave me some sense of striking back after all that, but I seldom sing them in public.

I'd have to actually see this song performed by the writer to decide what I really think about it. The tone of the performance would determine whether it works or not.

Lizzie - I think raw tobacco smells lovely...but I have to say that I absolutely detest the smell of the stuff when it is burnt! Yuck. Some pipe tobacco, though, does have a sort of neat flavor if you catch just a tiny whiff of it at the right distance...up close, not so good.