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Yeah, and not to justify or minimize it in any way (just old enough to remember the US before smoking bans started up and contributing a bit of explanation of h
by thraxil 3y ago
Yeah, and not to justify or minimize it in any way (just old enough to remember the US before smoking bans started up and contributing a bit of explanation of how people thought back then), but cigarette butts are also a bit less "portable" than a lot of other litter. It's something that was recently on fire; you can't just put it in your pocket to dispose of later like a candy wrapper. You need to stub it out on something first and often the convenient way to do that is to put it on the ground and grind it with your shoe. At that point it's already on the ground and now it's an extra step to pick it back up vs just leave it there. Plus, unless you were extremely careful putting it out, it might be safer to leave it on the pavement or dirt than to toss it into a garbage can where you risk starting a fire if there isn't a dedicated ash tray available. So, yeah, cigarette butts were/are commonly normalized as something slightly different than "litter" for many.
- maxerickson 3y ago"Disposing of this is too inconvenient" is more or less exactly the same as other litter.
- Ferret7446 3y agoRight, but GP's point is that cigarette butts are uniquely inconvenient in a way that, say, a candy wrapper isn't.
- arp242 3y agoSure, but that wasn't really my point; people were being branded as semi-psychopathic for littering, and I just wanted to point out that this is hugely influenced by social norms and such.
- maxerickson 3y agoI mean, smoking is pretty anti-social adjacent. Smells bad, makes the people that do it smell bad, leads people to argue that their litter is special.
- arp242 3y agoYeah, I don't agree with that at all. Lots of things "smell bad" or are an inconvenience to others. We all have to "suck it up" at times.
- rascul 3y ago> You need to stub it out on something first and often the convenient way to do that is to put it on the ground and grind it with your shoe. Takes about 3 seconds for me to roll the cigarette with two fingers right there by the cherry and squeeze a little bit and pop it right out. Shoe is way too much work.