# Second Annual Plea to Stop Smoking **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 6, 2005, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-annual-plea-to-stop-smoking/334269 "2005-12-06T00:21:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-annual-plea-to-stop-smoking/334269/41 "2005-12-08T01:10:30Z")
> [@catsix](#): > > I’m just tired of hearing the stop smoking pleas. Tired of having people try to lay on a big fear-of-death trip. Tired of the assumption that I need to keep hearing from total strangers that they know what’s best for me. Tired of people thinking that whether or not I smoke is up to them, or that they have any business trying to influence the situation. I think threads like this are to help nudge the smokers who _want_ to be nudged. If you’re a smoker, and you’re happy that way, then obviously we have nothing to tell you. The big difference between this, and walking up to people at McDonald’s talking about heart disease is that _you_ and other smokers who don’t want to hear it have a choice not to read the thread. If I confront people at McDonald’s, they’ve had no choice in the matter. The fact is, people choose to engage in dangerous behavior _all the time_, and if they are informed of the risks and choose to take them, that’s their business. And if I choose to participate in a thread like this, giving encouragement and food for thought to those who are interested in reading it, that’s my business. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-annual-plea-to-stop-smoking/334269/42 "2005-12-08T02:16:00Z")
> [@catsix](#): > > I’m just tired of hearing the stop smoking pleas. Tired of having people try to lay on a big fear-of-death trip. Tired of the assumption that I need to keep hearing from total strangers that they know what’s best for me. Tired of people thinking that whether or not I smoke is up to them, or that they have any business trying to influence the situation. > > They don’t go into McDonald’s and tell everybody who eats Big Macs about their loved one who died of heart disease from too much cholesterol, but apparently getting in a smoker’s face is A-OK. I am very sorry that you have taken offense, because none was offered. It was/is a truely heart-felt wish that you do not suffer as my father did. Certainly I do not feel that I have gotten in anyone’s face. Despite this, I will offer the same plea next year. None-the-less, lest this become a debate, I will ask the mods to close this, as I have said what I wish. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-annual-plea-to-stop-smoking/334269/43 "2005-12-08T02:31:44Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > I am very sorry that you have taken offense, because none was offered. It was/is a truely heart-felt wish that you do not suffer as my father did. Certainly I do not feel that I have gotten in anyone’s face. You’ll have to forgive **catsix**. She’s never quite gotten the message that the litterbox is in the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-annual-plea-to-stop-smoking/334269/44 "2005-12-08T04:57:03Z")
I’m lucky enough to come from a family of mainly non-smokers. But I still missed out on my maternal grandparents. My grandmother had a lung condition, and was married to a heavy smoker. In the 50’s, people didn’t think about that much, but she died long before I was born, when her children were in their teens, most likely from the long-term effects of living in a smoke-saturated home. So I never knew her (though I’m named after her). My grandfather lived longer, but he didn’t have much fun. By the time I knew him, he had emphysema and a host of other problems. I have no pleasant grandp-type memories of him; he was just a grumpy man who rarely left his favorite room. My main feeling about him was a slight nervousness. That’s it for me, I guess. It just makes me sad that smoking stole my grandparents from me, and that neither of them were ever able to enjoy their grandkids. ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-annual-plea-to-stop-smoking/334269/45 "2005-12-08T10:09:37Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > I think threads like this are to help nudge the smokers who _want_ to be nudged. If you’re a smoker, and you’re happy that way, then obviously we have nothing to tell you. Except: 1. You _do not_ look ‘cool’ 2. You _do_ smell like a factory chimney 3. and you _are_ going to die in agony. _Soon_. ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-annual-plea-to-stop-smoking/334269/46 "2005-12-08T11:59:16Z")
Why assume that it’s your place to ‘nudge’ a smoker anywhere? As long as what we’re doing is legal, and we’re not doing it in one of your designated no-smoking zones, it’s rude to consider it your business how we choose to live our lives. You might as well start a plea to all atheists to start believing and put in anecdotes about the awful deaths of loved ones who didn’t believe. Also, in addition to being rude, anti-smokers tend to be obnoxious, nosy, and grating. Non-smokers die every day. Many of them die in agony. Sorry to give you the bad news. ---
**Author:** ![Kuizelemartz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19b73/32.png) [@Kuizelemartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuizelemartz)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-annual-plea-to-stop-smoking/334269/47 "2005-12-08T12:30:38Z")
> [@Obsidian](#): > > I really wish there was some sort of something you could take that made your body react badly to cigarettes. I think that would help a lot of the instant-gratification types like me quit. It seems these days that everything will kill you, from your carpet to the sun. Around 1998? I took Zyban aka Welbutrin to stop smoking. It’s called Welbutrin when it’s used as an antidepressant (insurance will pay). It’s called Zyban when it’s used to stop smoking (insurance won’t pay). They are the same drug. I didn’t want to stop smoking. My doctor held my birth control hostage. When you hit age 35 they get pissy if you want to continue smoking and take birth control. Like we’re afraid of a little blot clot here and there. I took this pill, they said take it for 7 days then stop smoking. By day 6 cigarettes tasted so nasty I couldn’t enjoy my last day. That pissed me off, but I got over it. The pill did have side effects. I was hyper as could be. My house was spotless within one week. But, it helps you stop smoking pretty easily, and while taking the medicine, for me, smoking was nasty tasting. I took the pill 6 weeks and havn’t smoked since. 6 - 8 weeks is long enough to take the physical addiction away, you’re on your own with the psychological part. Yes, I still want one, but I won’t do that to myself now. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-annual-plea-to-stop-smoking/334269/48 "2005-12-08T12:32:47Z")
> [@Catsix](#): > > Why assume that it’s your place to ‘nudge’ a smoker anywhere? well, in my own words: > [@](#): > > I think threads like this are to help nudge the smokers who want to be nudged. The key word in there is ‘want’. I think it’s my place to help friends who want my help, yes. In anything. It’s my understanding that it’s very difficult to stop smoking for most people, and if quitting is what they want to do, every little bit of support they get _does_ help. I don’t know any of this firsthand, I only know what I’ve been told by smokers. I also know how difficult it is to lose weight, and when I’m in the frame of mind to lose weight, I appreciate people who support me in this effort by reminding me that I’m doing something good for myself. Of course, when I’m not in that frame of mind, I don’t really want to hear it, which is why I’d stay out of threads that bill themselves as a plea for overweight to slim down. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-annual-plea-to-stop-smoking/334269/49 "2005-12-08T13:12:44Z")
Thread closed at the request of the OP. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-annual-plea-to-stop-smoking/334269.md?page=2)