I was on a plane in the very early 90’s, and I remember being about 10 years old and the second the ‘smoking okay’ sign came on, a WALL of smoke rolled back through the curtains that separated the sections.
I first started eating out regularly in the '80s, and even now I will occasionally randomly ask to be seated in a restaurant’s non-smoking section. It’s surreal to think that was ever a thing.
I’m starting to forget that these things existed, because I’m old enough to remember a time when there was such a thing as a smoking/non-smoking section in restaurants but it feels like an entire lifetime ago that it was actually relevant to the point now where it would be a massive culture shock to see somebody light up indoors anywhere, let alone in a restaurant.
I like to point to indoor smoking bans and seatbelt laws as actual evidence of how a culture war backed up with science and facts can be sustained and won even against seemingly insurmountable odds to the benefit of society as a whole. In both of those cases, the data eventually won out against the multibillion dollar industries that were resisting regulation as well as the “muh freedom” crowd.
I was on a plane in the very early 90’s, and I remember being about 10 years old and the second the ‘smoking okay’ sign came on, a WALL of smoke rolled back through the curtains that separated the sections.
yea, the “non-smoking” bit was a complete joke, especially on planes. restaurants were slightly better, but the smoke still went everywhere
they had to start somewhere though, and as powerful as big tobacco was at the time, it’s kind of a miracle that they got anything changed at all
I first started eating out regularly in the '80s, and even now I will occasionally randomly ask to be seated in a restaurant’s non-smoking section. It’s surreal to think that was ever a thing.
I’m starting to forget that these things existed, because I’m old enough to remember a time when there was such a thing as a smoking/non-smoking section in restaurants but it feels like an entire lifetime ago that it was actually relevant to the point now where it would be a massive culture shock to see somebody light up indoors anywhere, let alone in a restaurant.
I like to point to indoor smoking bans and seatbelt laws as actual evidence of how a culture war backed up with science and facts can be sustained and won even against seemingly insurmountable odds to the benefit of society as a whole. In both of those cases, the data eventually won out against the multibillion dollar industries that were resisting regulation as well as the “muh freedom” crowd.