常習吸煙區域

Whenever I walk the streets during the daytime, countless people smoke in non-smoking zones. As if those places were authorized smoking areas, they brazenly violate the law directly beneath the prohibition signs, flocking like a swarm of moths drawn to a lightbulb. For this reason, I do not particularly like people who smoke. They break the law as naturally as they breathe, employing all manner of methods to rationalize their actions. Phlegm and cigarette butts are discarded as a matter of course. Among those who smoke, I have never once seen a single individual who strictly adheres to the prohibited zones. It seems the desire to smoke is an emotion utterly impossible to control.

There was a time when Chinese tourists came to Korea and relieved themselves on the streets. People called them uncivilized. Seeking out a restroom to relieve oneself is an eminently rational thing to do, yet for those who smoke, that simple act seems to be an incredibly difficult task. I view it as no different from walking around and urinating on the street. They fail to control even their most basic desires, and because they cannot control them, they lack the patience to walk to a designated location. The only excuse they repeatedly offer is the claim that there are no smoking areas nearby. What percentage of them have actually filed civil complaints to expand smoking zones? They merely take it for granted that they inflict harm upon their surroundings through all sorts of ways designed to rationalize their own illegality.

Perhaps they are simply living a life faithful to raw desire. Under the guise of a so-called "nicotine craving," they fail to properly dispose of their trash, cause distress to those around them, and it remains a mystery what kind of helpful action they contribute to society. If one causes harm, it is only normal for a human being with a conscience to feel remorse. Interacting with individuals who possess no conscience is a horrific agony, akin to drinking nails. There is no meaning in exchanging words with them. Because their own desires are their highest priority, all the energy of their brain operates to deny even their own rationality in order to justify those desires. It is a truly vicious addiction—maintaining a state of addiction by deceiving even oneself. To what severe degree of addiction must one be exposed for such a state of affairs to arrive?

Consequently, I tend to view any individual who defends their own criminal behavior by venting irrational emotions against a perfectly logical thesis not as an equal human being, but as a mentally damaged one. A human being exposed to a disease cannot engage in normal rational thinking. Can one work while exposed to a disease? Is normal business operation and communication possible when afflicted with a severe illness? Even handling the simplest of tasks inevitably consumes all of one's energy. That is the reality of those who are sick.

If one regards them as sick people, all of their obstinate arguments become comprehensible. Those who lack the ability to escape their state of addiction, and who have reached the point of denying the fact that their actions broke the law by failing to judge themselves objectively, are, quite simply, sick people. There is absolutely no meaning in arguing with the sick. An even greater problem is that these sick individuals resolutely claim that their condition is perfectly healthy. This is a phenomenon classically observed in typical mental illnesses. People suffering from mental illness deny the fact that they are psychiatric patients. The same holds true for humans addicted to cigarettes. Even if they appear to engage in rational thought in other areas, their rational judgment is entirely blocked when it comes to the addictive element that destroys them; their brain undergoes a rationalization process to forge a logic that forces them to pour energy into self-destruction. The conclusion they arrive at through their garbage logic remains unchanged:

"I will continue to break the law, cause harm to my surroundings, and engage in self-destructive behavior in the future."

There is absolutely no change in behavior, and the mere intention to persist in the nuisance behavior they have exhibited thus far is a disastrous conclusion that can never be viewed as coming from a rational human being. Yet, even if such individuals hold certain positions in society, does that somehow rationalize their behavior? It is entirely identical whether street thugs smoke or whether a member of National Assembly, a president, or a minister smokes. An infraction is an infraction, and a sin is a sin.

The absurd thing is that they utterly ignore the police and bypass them even in places affixed with marks indicating fines will be charged by law. The police who stand by and watch criminals. The police who selectively enforce the law. These, too, can be viewed as the exact same kind of criminals.

Even if we leave aside those who commit crimes all year round, the routine illegality committed by those who pretend to be noble is nauseating beyond words. I have met numerous criminals and spent time with them, but I do not place them on the same level as the deformed hypocrites—born under the protection of regular education and a proper social system—who at least know that what they are doing is wrong and refrain from defending themselves. These deformed hypocrites are not only human beings who can offer no benefit to society, but they are also the most perilous individuals whom one must guard against at all costs.