How do Others View your Pipe Smoking?

[telescopes]

You're a proponent of individualism by bashing it.

Yes. its a messed up idea, it has its flaws, but it is a concept that also has its virtues. Something can be two different things at the same time - both good and bad I wasn’t aware I had to make an all in no matter what choice. But then I am my own person, LOL

 

[OlJawBone]

Unless Andy Weir's "The Egg" is true.

I would argue that if the egg is true it proves my point, not the contrary

 

[virginialover]

Humans are sorta the top of the food chain, though stick them alone against a lion or other great cat and humans make a tasty meal. Humans also make great incubators for tiny things as well.
I've always been fascinated by the myth of the self made person. I've never met one who actually was. They were the result of a lot of different people's efforts, beginning with pop squirting it in and mom squirting them out, but were incapable of, or unwilling to, acknowledging that part of their story. And there are the tens of thousands of individuals tangentially involved in just that one birthing event, not to mention all of the thousands of events since.
I don't disagree that there are a fair amount of parasites in the population. I've met thousands of them over my lifetime. Problem is, we largely venerate our parasites.
A lot of us would rather be Mr Potter than George Bailey, and in our devotion to self centeredness, would rather be Cain than Abel.

The self made man owes it to a good start, circumstance and his surroundings that doesn't make him an individual. Being an individual that swims against the current requires education, experience, testicular fortitude, self reliance and a lot of humor. Oh I forgot plenty of pipe tobacco and at least a good pipe.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I would argue that if the egg is true it proves my point, not the contrary

The one represents all.

 

[virginialover]

You present this opinion of yours as truth but it is not. No one person could ever account for the compassion that millions of average people bring to the world, no matter how remarkable.

Compassion by the masses has nothing to do with it, a lot of able individuals did what they did for compassion as well. I' m talking about all kinds of people not just the top philantropists.

Off to the botanical garden I go gents, enjoy the discussion. I' ll have a Toscano Originale there in your honor.

 

[sablebrush52]

The self made man owes it to a good start, circumstance and his surroundings that doesn't make him an individual. Being an individual that swims against the current requires education, experience, testicular fortitude, self reliance and a lot of humor. Oh I forgot plenty of pipe tobacco and at least a good pipe.

As a professional artist I know a lot about swimming against the current.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I’m not an individual. I am everybody.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I’m not an individual. I am everybody.
View attachment 93836

Ah, you've read "The Egg"!

 

[AKinser79]

I'm actually surprised I've not responded to this thread. I've considered how my pipe smoking is viewed by others.

Strangers, they are strangers, I really don't care what they think. Though I've run into a few pipe smokers in the wild recently--while taking out the trash and puffing my cob. Since they were going through the drive thru it was mostly a shouted "Hey" and a wave. As for anyone that does the fake cough at me I usually tell them "You really should see a doctor about that fake cough of yours."

When I have to deal with strangers while smoking I'm almost always outside so I haven't considered what smoking indoors might be like.

Friends: almost all my friends know I smoke a pipe. In many cases I've smoked a pipe longer than I've known them. If they don't want me to smoke in their house that's fine I won't. Hasn't happened yet but at some point it might.

Family. If they come over I smoke in my house, they have a problem with it they can leave. That simple. They don't have a problem with it though; they just know its my position "my house, my rules". Most of my relatives smoke tobacco in some form so it isn't an issue really.

So far I only have my mother (a never smoker) who will not allow me to smoke in her house, though I can smoke on the screened in porch. It is actually quite pleasant in the evenings, even in High Summer provided the fan is turned on. I'm allowed to smoke in the homes of my other relatives, though I do have one aunt who doesn't like the room note of latakia so I usually smoke VA or VAPer around her and she doesn't seem to mind. It should be noted that this aunt, while a never smoker is married to my uncle who smokes cigarettes.

 

[Corcoran-Rooney]

I certainly don’t want to be in a position of defending humanity, but there is no actually no historical precedents to support your proposition that smaller groups of societies out performed larger civilizations. Even the Greeks were dependent on their coalition of city-states. Tribalism at both the micro and macro level usually showcase the worst of humanity. However, I concede the glorified romanticism of the American lone man against the world is something that will trump any discussion to the contraire. Personally, I agree with every word you said even though I know it’s not right. Yes, I am a proponent of individualism. But seriously, the concept is an illusion. But, hey, why not. It makes me feel important.

I think this is very much correct. The idea of the individual is very much an ideological one, one begun by English philosophers of the early modern period, and then taken as gospel by the authors of the American Constitution. From there it finds its way into mainstream American culture, most prominently in the Westerns of the 30s, 40, and 50s. But it is of course, a bunch of bullshit. A continent the size of America was not conquered by a handfull of loners all acting in an individual capacity. Manifest Destiny was a state led endeavour which required the efforts of unified millions.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Manifest Destiny

What an evil train of thought that was. God given right to expand the republic at the expense of the land's peoples.?

 

[virginialover]

What an evil train of thought that was. God given right to expand the republic at the expense of the land's peoples.?

A state can do a lot of evil to individuals that form a people. A communist/fascist state now that is the epitome of evil. Racism, nihilism and class warfare, those are weapons of mass destruction that are used against the individual and end up with the so called enemy of the state that has an infinite amount of people according to their political ideology. One really understands what I'm saying when he spends 4 hours waiting in line for some bread and then goes home because none is left. Or when viewing a pirated copy of Missing in Action with Chuck Norris and risking a visit by the political police or militia. Fear and food deprivation so that an individual doesn't think for more than next day.

This is not a political post but a testimony born from personal experience or the experience of others living through this nightmare.

 

[telescopes]

Thread derailment alert.
What was this thread about? ?

Somehow suggesting being sociable to people while smoking a pipe makes one a communist, a sheep, a conformist, and either anti-American or apparently in favor of the genocide of native peoples.

Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to light up my pipe and blow some smoke in downtown Palm Springs, California. And nobody will care.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Oh, yeah, this thread's turned into a mess.