I understand your point, but Id say empathy is not tied to a person but more to a topic or situation. So while the two sets of people might intersect, (my) empathy for them originates from the topic theyre associated with. I would say I have empathy for people struggling and at the same time, I dont have empathy for people giving others cancer. Some of them might be the same people and I have empathy for part of them and not for another. I dont know if Im wording it well and maybe Im misusing the term.

Also, I specifically worded it like that to not include all smokers, because like I said many are struggling with their addiction, but its not a majority from my experience. And yes, the tobacco industry is to blame for normalising smoking over the decades, but educating yourself, especially when it comes to drug use, is everyones responsibility.

Like I said I know a lot of smokers and many of them just dont give a fuck about how it affects others, but Im not saying that makes them bad people period. Its a part of them I dont like and there are other parts that I like. Just like I do lots of stuff that others probably dont like about me.

I might need to reread my comment because it probably sounded like I hated the people themselves for one of their habits, which is not what I was trying to say but I have pretty strong feelings when it comes to smoking.