Each semester, one of my fellow students submits an anti-smoking viewpoint. To be honest, I find them quite amusing because these submissions often read like a papal address. Or they sound like a rant from my ex-girlfriend's self-righteous father: "It's a felony to knowingly spread HIV, why not the same punishment for smoking cigarettes? This hedonistic, pro-cancer crowd is going to hell. Just kill them all already; they have $3 Weapons of Mass Destruction in their filthy pockets."

Brother, if you can find a pack of cigarettes for $3 outside of South Dakota, I would definitely consider picking up smoking again. The fact of the matter is that we are rapidly approaching an age of prohibition for cigarettes. Not only is smoking banned from restaurants in Madison, people won't be able to smoke on its streets soon. Other cities around the country are not far behind. The seed is planted whether these cities ban smoking or not.

The hate for smokers – not just cigarettes – is blinding. I'll give you an example: My friend, Dan, sees an attractive girl at Murphy's. He considers approaching her until she lights up a cigarette. Repulsed, he turns away from this pathetic waste and prays for her humanity. That girl probably kills baby kittens, he says. Probably. Filthy smoker.

My girlfriend says they should be shipped off to Madagascar. That's right; let them go to their own schools. I hear there is now Communist propaganda in our nation's elementary schools likening animals' rumps to cigarette filters. Somewhere, Tony Danza is smiling.

The plight of the smoker is a hard and weary existence. You know that Frodo guy from "Lord of the Rings?" He was bummed out because his "Dungeons and Dragons" world had a smoke-free decree. True story. It really is tough being a smoker. They're addicted to something that is proven to be unhealthy. Their lifestyle is condemned and shunned by modern society. So, why all the extra hate?

I find it odd that citizens from one of the fattest, unhealthiest, consumer-driven societies would start judging. Is healthiness now morality? The mere thought of a smoker outside McDonald's or Murphy's is sickening to most. Take a breath between burger or beer binges to tell these disgusting sinner smokers off. Stare the smoker down over your quarter-pounder with cheese and Diet Coke.

Go ahead, wipe the vomit from those 15 Cush Jaeger bombs and tell this smoker how disgusting he truly is. Doesn't he know that he's ruining his body? He could get a disease or even kill others with his negligence.

I've got a solution. Back up and let them breathe their cancerous air. They should be entitled to it; it is their air too. Leave my friend Joe Luu, the 49-year-old male not affiliated with Marquette, and others the little dignity they have left. Quit hating.

Castro is a senior in the College of Business Administration.