http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=217429
In the above thread he asks for advice on smoking…then goes on to tell us he thinks it makes him “look relaxed” and helps him communicate.
Who, in this day and age, smokes their 1st cigarette? Don’t you KNOW it will make you ill and take your money?
Or does everyone suppose they will be one not addicted.
If you smoke, I feel sorry for you.
If you don’t smoke and take your 1st drag, you are an idiot.
Yeesh. What an imbecile.
These boards are so full of threads where people are seeking help and support to quit smoking it boggles the mind that somebody is seeking help to start. In 15 years he is going to regret ever starting but as long as new jestures are now available to him…
I smoked my first cigarette at age 22. I was completely unprepared for the addiction that would ensue. I regret starting more than anything else in my life. All the anti smoking campaigns left me unprepared for how good those first few smokes made me feel. Problem is, you lose that feeling quickly and end up feeling like shit when you can’t get your fix.
If I am driving and realize I didn’t bring matches or a lighter I panic. I will pull off the highway to get to a convenience store, even if it means I will be late for an important appointment. Please don’t start.
I thought I was safe because I don’t feel even the faint stirrings of addiction to any thing else. Pot doesn’t affect me in the slightest. Alcohol extends to one, maybe two, drinks in a social situation. I am left scared and pitiful because I know how damn difficult it will be when I really try to quit.
…sputter arc gape
PLEASE tell me I’m being whooshed?
I believe it’s called a “death wish”, and I think poor SonOfArizona is afflicted with the disease. 
Young people who are convinced that they look really cool with a cigarette in their lips and that they are utterly invincible.
You know what, if he wants to smoke a cig let him, all we can do is tell him it’s a bad idea.
IMO though, saying everyone that smokes their first cig is an idiot is fucking stupid, YMMV.
Fruitbat - I quit two months ago. It is NOT as hard as you think it will be! It is uncomfortable for a few days, but the blind panic you have when you think about quitting is worse than the quit! Trust me, it’s the DECISION that is the hardest thing. Once you make it, it isn’t that bad.
OK- that’s your opion. Maybe I should say that people who are smoking their first cig are ACTING like idiots…
…I know there are many intelligent people out there who have made the bad decision to start smoking…
I have a confession to make.
I smoked my first cigarette two weeks ago. We were all smoking and drinking and it sounded like a good idea at the time.
And I liked it. A lot. So I smoked another one and another one. We had a pack of Parliments and I thought it tasted like ass, so I bought Camel’s Turkish Gold. I really liked those. I had two from the pack.
Then I came to my senses.
And threw both packs out withmy lighter. Fuck, I didn’t even do it. I made my husband get out of bed (I came to this decision at like 1 in the morning) get dressed, and take the cigarettes out to the dumpster.
I narrowly dodged a bullet.
Who cares if he’s going to smoke? Isn’t it HIS life and HIS body?
What makes people so fucking weak in their own lives they feel the need to pit someone because they decided to smoke?
Some of you people need to grow up.
Why do you feel the need to pit this guy over this. It’s his fucking decision. If he wants to smoke, so be it.
You think that if you bring him into the pit, cuss at him, and make fun of him he’s not gonna do it? Yeah, that’ll work…
Why don’t you, and everyone who felt the need to preach at him in the GQ thread mind your own fucking business and either answer the questions factually or ignore the thread.
Why do you feel the need to pit this guy over this. It’s his fucking decision. If he wants to smoke, so be it.
You think that if you bring him into the pit, cuss at him, and make fun of him he’s not gonna do it? Yeah, that’ll work…
Why don’t you, and everyone who felt the need to preach at him in the GQ thread mind your own fucking business and either answer the questions factually or ignore the thread.
(and I swear I’m not stalking you Seven 
)
You have to admit; it’s really hard to begin with the second one.
Because apparently we haven’t sacrificed enough hamsters to the dark gods this week.
I just hope he doesn’t have kids. Because nothing sucks more than knowing your gonna lose your family early because of cigarettes. Having your mom go in for a biopsy on your first day of college sucks, and it’s selfish to put anyone through all that. If you die of cancer, it sucks to be you, but it’s downright hell for your kids, and you don’t have the right to knowingly put someone through that.
If you don’t have kids, do whatever the hell you want.
I think the astonishment is justified; if someone turned up in GQ and asked for advice about amputating their own feet, under the mistaken impression that it would make them look really cool and also be really convenient, cutting right down on shoe costs, would we all stand by and offer polite helpful advice?
I don’t think people would because, as in the case of SonOfArizona, they would consider that the OP was quite possibly mistaken in his assertion that he had thought it all through properly.
Yes, because amputating your feet is the same thing as smoking :rolleyes:.
Look, I agree his starting smoking is dumb. He’s basically giving in to peer pressure, which is stupid. I don’t think that’s a reason to pit the guy, and I especially dislike all the preaching going on in the GQ thread.
Also, I don’t think ge was asking for “helpful advice”. He was asking questions (most with factual answers) and trying to get answers.
Alright this is getting downright stupid.
He sounds like some dumb kid getting peer pressured into smoking a few cigs because he wants to fit in with his crowd. He is asking for some advice most likely so he won’t look like an ass in front of said people. Extrapolating that he will turn into a 4 pack a day smoker and get diagnosed with cancer on the exact day he takes his kids up to college, warping them for all of eternity, is a bit much to say the least.
No, of course it isn’t, but it is an activity that entails unnecessary harm to the individual. It’s an analogy you clueless fucking moron.