People who smoke aren’t killing themselves - they are doing something they want to do that may, as a side effect, harm them.
Everyone does things like that, it’s just that you, like a lot of people, have an irrational hang up about smoking that you wouldn’t have about, say, rock climbing.
Not in all cases, not by a long shot. (but then again, I am a believer in assisted suicide for terminally ill folks who desire it)
I smoke socially, myself. When I say that, I mean “I haven’t smoked in so long that I’d have to actually look for my pipe.” I’m not addicted, it’s not a habit, I’m not particularly enamored of the nicotine buzz. I DO enjoy the taste of a good pipe tobacco or cigar, and like anything else that’s risky that people do (from go-cart riding to drinking to driving to work on St. Patrick’s Day in a college town) it can be boiled down to a simple risk-vs-reward calculation. I judge the risk of me getting a disease or becoming addicted from the (at most) 12-24 cigars or pipes I smoke in a year as being well outweighed by the enjoyment I get from same–and basically, I feel the same way about scotch or backpack camping.
I am willing to bet that at least one of your hobbies increases your risks of injury or death in some way. If not, I’m willing to bet I wouldn’t have much fun hanging out with you.
You can’t honestly compare smoking to rock climbing.
If you are properly trained and follow safety procedures, rock climbing can be a very safe sport. Yes accidents can happen. But a person can rock climb every day of their life and it not be the cause of their death.
You can’t really follow safety procedures and smoke every day of your life and not die from it.
I was actually thinking of people who free climb for the buzz it gives. Would you agree that that is comparable, and if so, would you also disapprove of it?
I still don’t agree that it’s comparable. Even free climbers train and think about safety issues (path, weather conditions, etc.) Most that don’t, die.
What sort of safety issues do you consider when lighting up?
I guess I need to add to the list:
love of nicotine
slow suicide
danger element, like free climbing
I can’t help but think that you’re deliberately missing the point. Either that, or you think that every time I light up, I’m in danger of developing lung cancer and dying horribly before I’ve finished that fag.
I know that smoking reduces my life expectancy. I’m cool with that. As has been repeatedly pointed out, by me and others, most people do things that reduce their life expectancy, usually for reasons of enjoyment. Why do you think smoking is different from these?
I believe it’s different because:
Every time you light up you increase your addiction to the nicotine. You will then light up over and over and over. Which is a certainty that you will contract some form of disease and die from it. It’s not a risk thing, it’s not a chance thing, it’s definite thing. Smoking will kill you.
Taking risks in other activities is not a certainty. Riding in an automobile increases my risk of death. But I can take precautions to reduce my risk while I do it.
What precautions can you take while smoking to reduce your risk of death?
Of course you can. The facts are on your side, you don’t need to exaggerate them. For one thing, a smoker can die from a completely unrelated cause, such as a car accident, meningitis, or a million other things.
Secondly, lots of people smoke for several years, then quit. This would be another reason why smoking is popular among young people. They can get away with smoking for several years then quit.
Actually no, it is a risk thing, and not every smoker dies from smoking related illnesses. I’ve no idea why you continue to insist otherwise.
My chance of dying is 1, same as yours. Smoking may well kill me but if not, something else will. I’ve decided that the enjoyment I get from occasional smoking outweighs the risk.
For what it’s worth, I’ve been a social smoker for over 15 years, with only occasional periods of constant smoking, usually due to stress, and occasional periods of not smoking at all, usually due to the stress going away and not wanting to become addicted.
That’s a defeatist attitude. I can easily die from a car accident tomorrow, so I might as well smoke today. I’m sorry, but I’m gonna chalk that up as the addiction talking.
(My bolding). Er, where are you getting that from?
I smoke socially (about once a week at this time of year, less in winter) because I really enjoy the buzz.
If you’re really concerned about ‘saving people from killing themselves,’ then taking a less patronising tone would help.
I’m sorry, you’re wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. I could just as easily never pick up my pipe again if the mood doesn’t strike me (as it hasn’t for a while), and I haven’t smoked any smokable object since last summer. Smoking is not necessarily addictive, even if the risk of nicotine addiction is relatively high compared to other addictive substances. It is perfectly possible to be an occasional smoker who is not addicted.
Different filtering options, different tobacco selections, differing frequency of use.
It’s an absolute certainty that smoking will kill people? No, it’s not. What about smokers who live to be 100+?
From the first article I linked: “…smokers are dropping like flies well before their time, thus saving Social Security a bunch. To count the cost of treating ‘smoking-related illnesses’ as a net loss to the exchequer, moreover, is clearly misleading, since the victims would have eventually gotten sick at least once with something else. Factor in tobacco taxes, and it may well be that smokers are more than paying their way.”
So you’ve changed your tune already, based on the facts which you failed completely to research, from “it’s expensive” to “I care about people and don’t want them to die.” Well, I care about people and don’t want them to die, too. But we all die. Advocating we live a life of abstinence from any vice which might shorten our lives would make life much less fun for people who indulge in said vices. Tough, deal with it.
You are so blinded by dogma you didn’t even bother doing the barest research before making multiple blanket provably-wrong statements. Your hyperbole is not impressing any message on anybody, except that you’re fanatical, ignorable, and best brushed to one side. If you don’t like to hear that you’re an agendist fanatic, and you are–by more than just me–then change your tune.
A person can smoke every day of their life and it not be the cause of their death. I mean, c’mon, lets be fair.
That being said, there are LOTS of reasons not to smoke. But who cares? As long as theyre not blowing it in your face, then let those who wish to indulge alone. Its their right to do it. Why does it bother you so much?
I guess I have just never understood why some people can be so beside themselves when it comes to smoking. Sure, even I will think to myself, “Ew thats gross, I dont get it”…but thats it. Carry on with your grits! Just dont blow it in mine or my child’s face and we’re good.
How many people die from heart attacks by being overweight?
Lighten up.
I’m 50 and started smoking cigars in 2005
Both my parents were heavy smokers. They smoked Luckys and Camels. My dad died at the age of 53 so he never hit the long term old age end of life costs. He had lung cancer.
Mother went to 81 when emphysema got her. So they balanced out. He never hit Social Security of Medicare saving you all kinds of money.
[quote=“Omar_Little, post:88, topic:579768”]
[snip] Which is a certainty that you will contract some form of disease and die from it. It’s not a risk thing, it’s not a chance thing, it’s definite thing. Smoking will kill you.
[snip] QUOTE]
Whaaat? This is patently false, much like everyone else has stated. If we are going by statistics, hey, I’ve got HIV and have another 20 years to live. Smoking usually takes longer to kill! Hooray!I don’t think that smoking carries any greater risk than any one of the other risky behaviors I engage in.
My best friend from high school never smoked then or in her first college tour, but began doing so while in nursing school, which struck me as bizarre. She said it was because smoking helped her deal with the stress and pressure, and she believed that she, personally, had sufficient will to stop easily when she wished. (She’d get mad if I ever threatened to light a cig for myself.)
Eventually she realized she was wrong about being able to stop easily, but I don’t think her motivations orher misapprehension of her own willpower were unique. I know a lot of smoking nurses (thru her, natch).
yip, my mom was a smokin’ nurse. (smokin’ hot!)
But seriously, she was but isn’t anymore. Nowadays smoking docs and nurses get the stink-eye from never-smoking patients and coworkers, but back when my mom nursled and bustled around a hospital, it wasn’t that uncommon.