I can't honestly say that I noticed much division between smokers and non-smokers before July 2007. There were a few people who really hated smoke but there wasn't the contempt, bitterness, and fear that is now shown towards people who smoke that appears to be hyped up year on year.
And to be honest, if this bloke really is a non-smoker who has been fined more than £300 because of the council's obsession to get smokers, I can understand that he might now hate smokers in a way he probably didn't before.
He might not see that it is an unjust law, a corrupt public health policy, and a bigoted council that has inadvertently caught him in the trap they set for smokers. He might just see that the "selfish" actions of a smoker has brought him trouble. It's a shame I missed that court case. I'd have liked to spoken to him.
In other news today, I note how a smoker of 50 years who began when he was 11 has quit using e-cigs. Good for him. I said ages ago that they were a great quitting aid but I am rather disturbed by his view that he is now "so pleased" to be a non-smoker.
We know that too many former smokers suddenly become wholly righteous when they quit and seem to think they have a licence to become far more abusive towards smokers than the average smoke hater. I sincerely hope that this is not the case with this chap and I hope he never sees the day when the e-cig is banned in the UK.
But it is easy to see how the war on smokers, and public disgust at them, is created by the state, it's propaganda and it's draconian and oppressive laws.