WAY too much has been said about the 'ill-effects'
of smoking, what it could 'do' to you and other crap. The effects of smoking
have been greatly exaggerated, and it's us smokers who have to face the public
sentiment on this.
Anyways, what is the big deal if I smoke? People
will often come up to me and tell me, "Smoking can kill you, you know?" I
promptly reply with some smartass remark like "Really? THANK you for
telling me!" Yeah, Sherlocks. I'm too stupid and illiterate to read the warning
on the pack, let alone understand it. I have this feeling that not
smoking actually makes people so stupid, they don't realize that smokers already
know what they're doing to their bodies. Hey, I know my lungs have
taken on a distinct coloration of black, with pink patches here and there. I
know that I'll be hacking up blood in my cough, a couple years from now.
Who gives a damn?
I have a hectic and inundated (translation: fucked up)
life, and I'd like to take a break from it all to enjoy the relief that the
cigarette can bring to me. The last thing I need is for yet another
self-appointed Samaritan coming near me to tell me what I'm doing to my body, or
why they object to me puffing around. It's not like I'm going up to them and
telling them, "Excuse me, sir, could you please go elsewhere, you're in my
smoking space." I'd really love to do that though, I don't think that they're
even worthy of breathing my 2nd hand smoke.
How many of you readers
smoke? How many of you are ferverent anti-smoking lobbyists? What IS your
problem with smokers? Till date, I haven't seen a good answer for that last
question.
I've made a list of 20 points I'd like to make for the
case of smoking. If anyone can, what is the case against smoking/second-hand
smoking?
Here's my spit:
- Increases concentration.
- People often go with the general sentiment on
things like these, most of what you hear is hogwash. Cases of cancer are
linked with smoking, but it's not proof. Only 1 in 3 of us will get lung
cancer. (By "us" I also include non smokers).
- Smokers are a persecuted lot, since this habit has
been banned from workplaces, restaurants, buses, subways and planes. You don't
think they'd outlaw breathing for christ's sake.
- Smokers have the only real community that's left
in the workplace today.
- Smokers suffer from less stress, since they
actually take a few breaks per day.
- That bruhaha about second hand smoking is a load
of crap. it's just a phrase made up to get normal people who earlier didn't
care about it, to go and further persecute the smokers.
- It's cool to smoke. Ever seen a hacker or a real
artist with a health shake?
- Smokers support the economy by paying all those
taxes, which *AHEM* some of us don't.
- Warning: The Surgeon
General fails to warn you that non-smokers die every day
- Studies have shown that prolonged contact
(as in several years) with second hand smoking can cause mild lung problems.
Second hand smoke has no immediate harmful effects.
- Actually, why not just ban non-smokers? :D
- Too much is made of the 4000 chemicals that make
up a cigarette. Several carcinogens found in cigarettes are found in peppers,
carrots, strawberries, tomatoes, onions and grapefruit.
- Believe it or not, nicotine is actually "a
surprisingly potent drug for a variety of diseases that afflict the brain,
including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Tourette’s syndrome." (An image
makeover for nicotine: It shows promise against brain diseases,
HealthCentral.com - Feb. 21, 2000) Smokers have a 60% lower risk of
Parkinson's disease
- Nicotine has a positive effect on ulcerative
colitis, which is an inflammation of the stomach lining, and this disorder
affects nonsmokers more than smokers.
- Smokers actually recovered better from a heart
attack than nonsmokers
- Smoking was found to reduce the risk of
estrogen-dependent endometrial cancer (dunno what that means, it just sounds
really cool)
- Schizophrenics (4 million Americans) who smoke can
get enough nicotine stimulation to switch on a brain receptor that helps
filter information.
- Stanford researchers have discovered that low
doses of nicotine - a major component of cigarette smoke - appear to promote
new blood vessel growth (in mice). (“Nicotine to be used to treat heart
disease,” Reuters Health, HealthCentral.com - Sept. 2000)
- Alcohol is even more harmful than smoking. Yet not
much is said against it as compared to smoking. Half a bottle of wine can
supply you with 32-40 times the amount of lead a whole pack of smokes can give
you.
- "Sick smokers may burden a country's health care
system but dead smokers save governments money"
A single drive to work puts out more deadly fumes
and toxins in the air, than a smoker could possibly do in one year. If you drive
a car, your car puts out more deadly poisons and toxins in one drive to work
than my smoking does in a year. When you go home again, that's another year. So
in a couple months, you've created more deadly toxins in the environment than my
smoking will in a lifetime. But it's always easier to point fingers at other
people, isn't it?
If you're really concerned about your health then put
your money where your mouth is. Stop buying products that are painted (all kinds
of toxins put into the environment) or made of plastic (here's some stuff that's
good for your health, right?) and stop driving a car. You can survive that way -
a lot of people do it. But I'll bet you don't want to give up the conveniences
these things offer.
I'm really tired of hearing people complain about
the health risks that smokers present to them when they aren't willing to make
changes to their own lifestyle that WOULD AFFECT THEM MORE than having any
number of smokers quit.
I'm a smoker and to be honest, I really hate
seeing butts all over the ground. But I'm also tired of seeing McDonalds
wrappers all over the place. When a non-smoker sees a butt on the ground, they
always say something like, "ALL smokers should have to clean these up." or
something along the lines of punishment for ALL smokers. But they never say
"every person who eats at McDonalds should have to clean these up."
When
was the last time you heard this one:
"He went to the bar after work, had
one smoke too many and went home and beat the crap out of his wife and kids?"
Or
"That auto accident was caused by someone who smoked one too many?
(we're talking about tobacco here)."
Special thanks to Cafeenman for unknowingly allowing me to quote him on the last passage. But it
doesn't really matter, since if I had asked him, I'm pretty sure he would have
agreed anyways...