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August 10, 2005
Ya Think?
I wasn't even sure how to react when I saw this headline. Maybe incredulity is the right word.
"Jennings' death prompts smokers to quit." Really? Because that was their first inkling that smoking might be bad for you? 40 years of warning labels, the deaths of people like Yul Brenner, Rod Serling, Beach Boy Carl Wilson, Roger Maris, the Marlboro Man, a slew of other famous people, and 447 Americans every day didn't clue them in?
In an online testimonial, a female smoker writes, "I guess my wake up call was Peter Jennings' death."
That's a little like someone saying about car crashes, "I guess my wake up call was Princess Diana's death," or "I guess my wake up call was John Candy's death" about obesity. Really? Wow. Einstein, Gallileo, Fermi and Marie Curie had nothing on this lady.
The government's been putting warning labels on cigarettes since 1965; since the 1980s these warnings have specifically stated that smoking causes cancer. If these people need someone famous to die to wkae them up to something that's stared them in the face every day, well... remember that whole thing Darwin was saying about survival of the fittest?
MSNBC's Keith Olbermann writes here about his own experience; I'll simply echo it. If you smoke, please quit. No, not "please" quit. Just quit. Dammit.
Comments
YES!!
For God's sake man STOP:
smoking
drinking
eating salt
eating sugar
eating fast food
driving too fast
shooting guns
utilizing public restrooms
watching MTV
listening to rap
never get on an airplane
don't let your kids play with anyone but their church group
LEAVE SMOKERS ALONE. Sure, this woman is an idiot. However, all people are idiots, so whats the difference?
Posted by: Cuzin Jose at August 11, 2005 07:26 AM
No, Joe, I will not leave smokers alone. You know why? Because of all the things that you put on your little list here, smoking is the one that can give me cancer even if I don't do it. Second hand smoke CAUSES CANCER IN OTHER PEOPLE.
Which basically means, any time one of those selfish ****s lights up their cancer stick, they are saying, in effect, "Not only do I have no respect for myself, but I have no respect for you, either. In fact, I have so little respect for you, I am going to right this moment do something that could very well cause you to die an excruciatingly painful death from the cruelest disease known to our species. Sorry that you were smarter about your choices than I've been, but I figure, if I'm getting cancer, so should you. Cheerio!"
Not only that, but my health insurance premiums are higher because the system has to help pay the costs of treating these people who have willingly self-inflicted themselves with the health problems smoking causes. So not only are cigarette smokers killing me, but they're taking money out of my pocket while they do it. Two strikes, you're out.
If someone wants to do something stupid that harms only them, fine - I'm not about protecting stupid people from themselves. But when someone does something stupid that harms me even though I apparently have much more common sense, I'm gonna take umbrage. So no, Joe, I will NOT leave smokers alone. They wanna (mess) with me, I'm gonna (mess) with them.
(And oh by the way, I've quit smoking cigars for many of the same reasons above. Even though it was only an occasional thing, I haven't touched one now in about six months, and don't expect to ever have another. So there.)
Posted by: Curmudgeon at August 11, 2005 08:54 AM
well, I guess you have to make a stand for something.
Bitch if it makes you feel better. It will not change anyones mind about smoking. In fact it probably makes them light up just to hear your whining about it.
Isn't New York a clean indoor air state? Meaning that anytime your indoors, it is not legal to smoke? Thus the only time you would even have to put up with it would be outdoors where second hand smoke is quickly dissipated and its toxicity lowered to levels less than smog.
All I can say really is let it go because smokers will always be there whether you like it or not.
I think its great that you gave up cigars, I gave up smoking last October when I quit bartending. I can truhfully say that there is not a single thing about it that is appealing. It not only destroys your lungs, but your teeth as well. Not to mention all the other countless health problems.
But I will not spit blood over other peoples right to do it. If it really bothers you that much, just move away from them.
Posted by: Cuzin Jose at August 11, 2005 05:34 PM
New York (or at least the city and the counties that immediately surround it) is in fact smoke free in bars and restaurants, thank goodness. I still have to suffer it when visiting my brother in Virginia whenever we go out.
One effect of cutting smoking out of bars and restautants is that you become even more sensitive to cigarette smoke when you do get a whiff of it somewhere.
And why should *I* move? They're the ones doing something that could harm me... THEY should move.
Like to Siberia. ;-)
Posted by: Curmudgeon at August 13, 2005 12:40 AM
"the deaths of ....447 Americans every day "
Actually, it is even worse than that. The CDC estimates approximately 1200 Americans die every day due to tobacco use, almost half a million each year.
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/research_data/health_consequences/andths.htm
Posted by: Audrey Benenati at September 1, 2006 12:06 PM
