On Anti-Smoking Leagues
Anyone that watches television is subject to commercials. Most of these commercials are intended to persuade the viewer to buy a product/service. But there is at least one type of commercial with the opposite intent. I am speaking of the anti-tobacco/anti-smoking commercials. There are a few groups that create such commercials, some being more popular than others. Although this goal seems righteous, I do have a problem with the anti-smoking groups. Such a statement requires an explanation, which I will proceed to give.
First of all, the warnings issued by these commercials are redundant. Everyone knows that smoking can cause cancer, and furthermore there is a warning on every box of cigarettes. If the members of these groups believe that they are telling us something we did not know, they are sadly mistaken.
Secondly, I am an existentialist and as such I believe in free will. Although most others believe the same, they fail to realize the second part of existentialism that is a direct consequence of free will: people are responsible for their own actions and should be held accountable for those actions. This means that although it may be easier to blame someone else, it is not the big bad tobacco company that forces a person to smoke. It is that person's choice, even as a teenager. As a society it is time to stop pointing the finger at everyone else and direct it towards oneself.
Finally, we should examine the motive of these groups. The goal is obvious, but the reason why that goal is chosen may not be. I believe that there are two possible reasons why a member of an anti-smoking group joined the group in the first place. One reason is due to a lack of a sense of self. There are many people in this world that do not have a real sense of self and need to belong to some group. That group becomes the person's identity that they cling to for dear life. Joining a group just to belong is wrong and fake. I will not elaborate any more on that, it just is.
The second possible reason may be that the person has lost a loved one to lung cancer, emphysema, or some other ailment caused by smoking. This may seem to be justified, but upon closer inspection it is not.
Let us say hypothetically that someone close dies from a smoking-related sickness. It is, no doubt, tragic and very sad. But now what course of action should be taken? When someone close to you dies, is that person's dying wish for you to end your life as well by giving up all of your goals, ambitions, and hobbies? I think not. Imagine giving up all of your free time to dig up dirt on tobacco companies, and to tell others to not smoke. To me this does not seem like much of a life, and it does not seem like the life someone that cared for you would want you to lead, regardless of his or her cause of death.
So stop wasting time on superficial projects, and do the things that you have always wanted to do. When the life of a loved one ends, do not respond in kind by ending yours as well. Live on. It is what that person would want you to do.
posted by Gary @ 20:30
2 Comments:
kudos to the end there. and lots of kudos to that whole "needing to join a group." this happens with religious people too. religion/groups.. same thing.
and about cigarette smoking: it is a choice. but people have fought the companies and have said that they were fooled by advertising. the people in the magazines just looked so glamorous that they had to smoke even though they were underage. people have won rulings over big tobacco even though the cigarette packs had warning labels.
and today, the big companies pay billions of dollars a year for youth smoking prevention and ads. and some of the old ads (before these nyquits ads) were actually paid by the tobacco companies as a settlement.
but what about health insurance... the premiums keep getting higher 'cause insurance has to cover costs of people that have chosen to smoke. so they have to blame someone for insurance costs and apparently it's not the individual.
i have no idea where i'm getting at here...
but i have smoked for a summer and quit. and i have smoked while drunk. and one year i didn't smoke at all because i wanted to see if my asthma got better (which it did not). and now i am back to occassional social smoking. and i know the consequences. i urge people to quit for health reasons. but it's a choice. we're all taught to not smoke in grade school. and all the older people have seen friends and family die of cancer. but yet they still think it's a company's fault for taking away their loved ones life. pity.
As I write six weeks in Zurich and live in Zurich six weeks, I been smoking, just to prove its mental and I can quit. I think everyone has to die, and moderation of things are good. Too much air can fucking kill you and so can too much water, look at college students who chug water and die. I think that cancer is just another thing to kill us, when you get it, is random, but life after sixty sucks anways, don't let society tricky you into the idea that living to one hundred is fantastic. In fact, when you die, you can smoke as much as yah want, cause your ummm dead...
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