I’d like to take a little time out to curse what has ruined a great number of my friends’ lives: cigarettes.
Even if they don’t realize it, the time that they’ve already spent sucking on burnt things, the change in their habits, and the effect it will have on the rest of their lives is just so amazingly devastating.
Screw the health issue. We eat stuff that will kill us, we do activities that are unhealthy – a lot of things in the world threaten our health a whole lot. But smokers alter their entire social life to hang out with other people for the sake of smoking, actively disgust and discourage their existing friends, and become amazingly less personal due to the fact that they have to remove themselves from their daily lives to go and feed an addiction that doesn’t help them in the slightest, while funding an evil industry just because they want to be “edgy” or something of the sort.
What’s more, the longer they continue to smoke, the less likely it is that they’ll be able to quit – and that will affect their lives. It will affect their kids’ lives – and maybe that’s where its unhealthiness hits hardest. It saddens me so much to see the start of a negative life decision, but I can only imagine how horrible it will be down the road.
Seriously, I think what pisses me off the most about cigarettes is that they are so amazingly unhelpful and unnecessary. That fact alone makes me lose faith in those who I used to call friends simply because they’re letting themselves be consumed by a void. I can’t think of them the same way – and neither can a whole lot of people – simply because they’ve decided to take part in something so obviously harmful and useless.
My room faces the quad where people go to waste their lives in the ash tray and I want to replace butts with something more striking, like “STOP SMOKING.” Unfortunately that wouldn’t fit very well without hyphenating it, so I’m thinking of something more direct, like “FUCK YOU.”
this post doesn’t make me want to kiss jeffrey faden, but it’s still pretty awesome.
Jeffrey Faden added “james gowdey” to his favorite activities. 4:41pm
Hows about how much money it wastes? Come on dudes, you’re going to be broke long before the lung cancer gets you.
I didn’t mention money because I sort of forgot about it because I’m fucking RICH
But yes, a very good point.
My finger is worth more in gold than your net worth.
let’s think about that. $4-5 per pack. a pack every couple days (approximately average, i guess). that’s 4 packs a week, or about $20 a week.
4 weeks in a month, about $80 a month.
that’s not too much higher than good interenet access, or a large cellphone plan. they probably just think of it as another utility to pay for.
granted, they could do more with that money, but they could also cut back a bit on other utilities or hobbies to save similar amounts of money.
Yes, but a large number of addicts drink a pack or more a day. That’s a lot of money.
Even $80 per month is pretty large. Keep in mind a large number of smokers statistically have lower incomes than non-smokers. Many people can’t afford good internet access or cellphones, but they still smoke regularly. It’s ridiculous.
Haha, I said drink. I had beer on the mind like always.
I think most anything that gets to the point of habit or addiction will have negative effects. Smoking is probably the worst.
I don’t take any time out of my life to go smoke. I have no intention of doing so. In fact, I am working back towards not smoking all together. And I do think that smoke breaks are lamezor. Shmoo shmoo shmoo.
I’ve actually been hospitalized recently on account of my smoking–misdiagnosed with lung cancer (later found out to have a type of COPD, which is serious but not quite as terminal), and saw a picture of my lungs. It was pretty sobering. Yeah, quitting’s really fucking hard, and yeah, I wish I had never started.
You shouldn’t be so judgemental, though. Not every smoker burns through a pack a day or is trying to look cool. It’s a relaxing thing–something that helps you unwind after a long day at work or have fun at a pool hall. There’s certainly more harm than good to the things, but it’s a choice like any other.
I don’t think it’s a form of relaxing. Meditation would be a form of relaxing. This, if anything, makes people more agitated in the long run.
depends on how you look at it.
the smoking break is an excuse to take a break to relax.
but nicotine is a stimulant.
but the socializing and thinking smokers do while smoking is similar to meditation, and relaxing.
but if they are hurting their non-smoking lives in the process, that’d make them agitated.
When someone begins smoking, nicotine brings the entire body into a relaxed state. But addiction occurs once the body cannot relax without the nicotine – and eventually that relaxed state never comes whether or not the person is smoking.
Yes, smoking is an activity that one can concentrate on, and concentration can send one into a relaxed state. But the chemicals in the cigarette counteract that intended relaxation by a great margin.
So then, people should start taking addictive substances that initially agitate you, that way when you’re in withdrawal, you become relaxed!
brilliant. do it. tell us how it goes.
You can’t say it’s not a form of relaxing… that’s just illogical. You can say it’s a bad form, or one that doesn’t work as well in the long run, but tell a smoker that the cigarette isn’t actually making him feel any better and see what he says. A lot of your points don’t really address things from the smoker’s point of view–your inexperience is giving way to bias
I very much agree.
i’m pretty sure the reason it’s relaxing is because you’re getting a hit of a drug you’re addicted to. caffiene can be relaxing to a caffiene-addict, just the way alcohol can be considered relaxing to an alcoholic. it’s the extended period of time not having what you’re addicted to that makes you feel less relaxed. having a smoke only brings you closer to the point of normalcy, not to a greater state of relaxation than you’d be in if you never smoked a day in your life. after all isn’t nicotine supposed to be “the” most addictive substance? i heard that somewhere.
and if i’m being judgemental like jeffrey, it’s only because i’ve lost several family members to their smoking and i personally have a negative physical reaction to cigarette smoke which i will not call an allergy.
if you can see the negative affects of smoking, why try to justify it?
this is less directed at you and more directed to smokers in general.
Here here.
We should have a series of commercials with TV friends one looking at the other smoking through glass, looking lonely.
=(
although, on the other hand, smokers tend to be a lot more open to conversation with everyone.
the smoking areas tend to be very cool, despite the smoke.
i heard someone say it’s partly because they automatically have something in common. “you smoke? hey, i smoke too! alright!”
i don’t think that’s a strong enough reason to justify a cigarette. the same can be said about going to a concert, or a billion other social activities. my best friend is a smoker and it turns a lot of people off.
that’s not really true about every social activity though. at most social activities, people these days kind of want to do it themselves, and not talk to people on a deep or insightful level. and if people do begin to talk, they talk in a way that shows that they’re afraid to make other people angry.
the smoking area generally the most talkative area you can ever be in. if someone says something that the others disagree with, nobody gets emotional, and they rationally debate the subject. there’s no social fear, and there’re no unnecessary emotions.
Yeah, I never talk to people when I’m participating in a social activity. That’s what “social” means. In fact, until cigarettes were invented, humans just didn’t talk to each other.
Seriously, though, it sounds like you just hang out with squares.
i meant with people i don’t already know.
You’re talking about a community of smokers. Of course there is a community of smokers, but do you really want to be identified as being in a community whose shared interest is a wholly detrimental activity?
Yes, you do see smokers hanging out in a group – but more often you see smokers removing themselves from another group, because they have to.
I think the most effective anti-smoking propaganda would be that which shows how smokers alienate themselves from the communities of which they’re already a part. Besides, belonging to a community is one of the most important tenets of human behavior, and everyone can identify with abandonment – it hurts.
yeah, that’s definitely true. especially if the larger community is doing an activity, and the smoker’s addiction hits in the midst of it.
however, there are also times where the smoker can continue in the activity.
and there are also times where the smoker uses smoking as an excuse to leave for a while.
and there are also times where the non-smokers alienate the smoker.
“but do you really want to be identified as being in a community whose shared interest is a wholly detrimental activity?”
no, i would rather it happen naturally everywhere. but it doesn’t. fear runs too rampant. i think i’ve only had it happen a couple times. once on a plane. once in a line somewhere.
I’m a smoker and it’s interesting to read this.
Actually, aside from the college demographic, professional smokers tend to have more type A personalities and are an asset to the economy because they pay so goddamn much in taxes (which, as you may have noticed with prop 86 that failed never go to cancer research, they go to roads and things like that) and tend to die before they get their pension or social security.
I started smoking at 19 which is late for people who smoke as often as I do. I can point to a lot of things as to why. It was a personal choice, I deliberately took it on after being friends with mostly all smokers (greasers down in los angeles), growing up in a pool hall (my dad is well known on the circuit and we’ve had the family business my entire life…laws about indoor smoking in pool halls were not in place for my entire childhood), and the fact my dad and grandpa were/are smokers. Maybe that proves a lot of points about smoking.
I like getting away though. I don’t like being in a room at a party without a reason to go outside. I don’t really like groups of people all that much and smoking gives me a way out. A way outside, a way out of a conversation because I have to step away, etc.
I think any and all addictions do this though. When I had food poisoning set in and was calling my boyfriend to help me out and he didn’t answer because he was entrenched in a video game and didn’t hear the phone ring at all as well as the number of times we’re late to something or we started out talking or…whatever…and it turns into watching him play a couple rounds drives me up a goddamn wall. What’s the use of that? It’s entertainment plain and simple. Obviously much less harmful than what I do, but no more beneficial.
Meh. I don’t blow smoke in people’s faces unless they pay me. And people me, I have definitely paid for a number of my credits here at UCSC because some middle aged white man wanted me to do just that. Part of the whole pro domme business. But that’s another story.
^5
The need to get away from social situations definitely hits home. I’ve gotten better about this recently, but two years ago you couldn’t see me in a social situation for longer than, say, 10 minutes without feeling as if I have to remove myself from it. I think its basis is in addiction – in my case, just using the computer in general.
Part of my hatred of cigarettes stems from a social standard that prides socialization above all other activities (not completely unfounded, of course), so it really saddens me to see people trading social contact for that.
And I’m definitely familiar with this: my roommate’s computer addiction goes beyond that of most chain-smokers, in that he does not have friends at UCSC due to the fact that he is always playing an online game until ~5AM, if he’s not sleeping most of the time other people are awake. His only community is that of people in the game. I feel as if he’s throwing the best years of his life away, and this sort of behavior can follow him for the rest of his life. So yes, it is very similar to addiction to cigarettes.
Despite people who have these addictions, the reason I get so personal about it is because I’ve “lost” a few friends to smoking. Not really due to me not wanting to hang around them because they smoke – I mean, I don’t, but I can put up with it – but more because they tend to adopt a new group of friends whose activities revolve around that, and eventually we end up having nothing in common anymore.
I agree with you that smoking is disgusting. That being said, blaming the loss of friends on smoking seems a bit far fetched. Its more likely that your intolerance is to blame for your loss of companionship.
loss of intolerant friends? I have friends who smoke, I’m just incapable of talking to them when they do. But I think Mr. J. has more than intolerance for smoke here.
really?
incapable of talking to them when they do?
it’s usually the opposite. they’re usually easier to talk to when they do.
I don’t have a problem with them. I’ve tried, really. But the smoke itself irritates me, somehow just triggers negative neurons that put me in a worse mood and make me irritable. I don’t do it consciously, I just don’t like the feel of smoke in my nose.
how did you get “loss of intolerant friends” from what I wrote?
“your intolerance is to blame for your loss of companionship”
==
smokers lose intolerant friends.
Re-read the last sentence.
Very well argued, I’m glad you wrote this post. A nod though to simplyladyivy’s comment on being able to get away. I live with a person who prizes socialization above all else, but I am not such a person; I need breaks at most parties, and never have a good excuse. However, I blame this on the party, because a good one keeps you well-engaged and is timed right. Smokers, stop socializing at places that aren’t good enough, and getting away won’t be an issue.
I see what you say… and your argument against smoking sounds much more personally arrived at and therefore genuine than the Phillip Morris ‘Smoking is Whack Dude. org bullshit that was trendiest a few years back.
But at the same time I find that your whole diatribe can be madlibbed out rather easily to apply to anything: alcoholism, World of Warcraft, Wicca, Golfing, style of dress etc. And to me that signifies that cigarettes are symptom not a problem.
The problem is that you and your former friends’ worldviews, attitudes towards life and the personal goals you have for it have diverged. You want to socialize by watching reclusive rockstars sing Bob Mackie tunes… they want to fake not giving a shit by smoking in hopes of nailing the gaunt, acerbic, bitter yet sexually attractive (to them) girl/boy.
That last little bit is of course an overgeneralization on my part. But I think the general theory holds up with investigation and extrapolation.
.
Smoking is probably the thing that annoys me the most about my garin. We have a group of smokers who at every opportunity, complain that they need a cigarette, we need to take a break for them to smoke. We could be having a serious discussion involving the entire garin and at some point all the smokers will start twitching, loudly complaining about the need to smoke, or just leave the room, frustrating the rest of us. We could be on a bus somewhere and the second we get off, instead of inhaling the sweet fresh air I wanted after a long bus ride, I get a huge whiff of smoke to my face.
The smokers have also made an active effort to create a little group of Smokers, encouraging others to start smoking with them, just so they could fit in, and I know four people who only started smoking or started smoking more than like, once a month, just to be able to spend time with the Smokers, and two people who tried to quit only lasted for a few days before reverting to heavy smoking habits.
And the problem is that even people like me think smoking looks kind of cool. I never smoked cigarettes to look cool though, I smoked looking for some chemical effects that didn’t even work on me, which is why I don’t smoke. I’ve smoked maybe a total of 15 cigarettes in my lifetime, and I don’t plan on smoking so much more than that, mostly because it does nothing to me, and also because every time I smoke a cigarette I start thinking of my mom, an edgy enough person as is whose life is run by her cigarette smoking. Why are plane flights hell for us as a family? Because the moment before we take off and the moment we land, my mom needs her cigarettes, and the entire flight she has headaches that can only be a result of her nicotine need. Why does my sister hate cigarettes and cigarette smoking with such a passion that since we’ve moved to Israel half the conversations we’ve had are “EWWW I’M NOT STANDING HERE” and “Shut up and stop complaining, it’s Israel.”
And of course I look at heavy drinkers and weed-doers as much worse than this, because the chemicals and substances taken in are just that much worse, physically and socially and emotionally and whatever else. That’s why I’m determined to stay careful with my drinking and stay completely completely away from weed, which in my mind is the most useless and damaging substance in the entire universe. People will smoke or do weed just once, and my entire opinion of them will change. I like the idea that I’ll live my whole life without ever doing any illegal substances.
What but alcohol’s illegal for you yo
and cigarettes
Were, aren’t, and restricted not totally illegal, same thing.
Here??
And completely illegal isn’t like restricted or.. what’s that word I’m thinking of..
Do you understand what I mean
So, have you changed your opinion on yourself.
Why don’t you start looking at the face value of people. In my mind, changing your opinions because of those things are like if you have a penpal you discovered was black and you stopped talking to them. It’s a form of bigotry.
It’s hardly the same thing. They didn’t choose to be black, it’s not their fault! 🙂
And I definitely did change my opinion of myself, but that’s not actually what I was trying to say. I meant smoking [weed] or doing weed, not smoking cigarettes. My opinion of people doesn’t change as much when they smoke cigarettes. My bigger problem is with weed.
Now, I will start off by saying I have a bias; yes– I am one of those people you will now think differently of because I love marijuana.
That having been said, why do you have such a problem with it? Cigarettes kill way more people than marijuana ever has. In some instances marijuana can be significantly abused, but to what extent?
And, I hate to bring this up, but what about all of the famous people who have smoked pot?
From musicians to politicians, from actors to inventors, even olympian athletes many of the most influential people of our time (and even before our time) have indulged in the reefer. Don’t believe me?
http://www.veryimportantpotheads.com/main2.html
No I definitely believe you, and I have way too many friends who smoke pot to ACTUALLY run around and avoid anyone who does it, and it is quite possible that I would think you are quite awesome even though you smoke the weeds.
Also, I don’t have a problem with it because of the people it kills. Driving kills people too. I love driving. So the killing factor in the cigarettes vs. weed thing is sort of irrelevant to me.
To be honest, it’s hard for me to explain why it bothers me so much. I guess I just feel like it is a drug with pretty strong effects that has the ability to destroy lives in a way I haven’t seen done by cigarettes or coffee or those sorts of things, and I hate seeing the permanent brain damage on people, when they start talking that much slower and being that much more confused, even when they aren’t high. I’ve got plenty of friends who can point out a pretty clear correlation between the time they started smoking weed and the time they felt like they couldn’t think as quickly anymore.
And this is where people tell me that if I’m going to be so avoidy, then why do I drink alcohol, and that’s where I say that I think that drinking the occasional alcohol is better than smoking the occasional weed, AND the legal thing (the weed not being legal, that is) really does bother me. I wouldn’t do ecstacy either, no matter how many kids try to tell me that it’s a doctor made drug that isn’t bad for you, or “natural” drugs like mushrooms.
And I’m a Jew, so alcohol just has to be okay because we say so. 🙂
from what i’ve heard, the brain damage thing isn’t permanent, or even a form of brain damage. it’s temporary brain restriction, of some sort. i don’t have any scientific data to back this up, but i’ve talked to a lot of people who quit smoking weed, and slowly regained their brain function as the chemicals flushed out of their system.
also, i haven’t heaerd of anything bad ever happening from occasional and light usage of alcohol or weed. like, to the epoint of getting buzzed, but no further.
and i’ve seen lives ruined by cigarettes and coffee. it’s just a lot more subtle. (cigarettes: more subtle than coffee).
And also, I won’t buy the “drugs make musicians make better music” so okay, they smoked weed, but it’s not like they Had to. 🙂 They’re famous, but that doesn’t make it more okay…
Whether or not the weed makes the music or not, loko at that list at all the people who aren’t musicians. Look at the people who aren’t even the leftist liberal kinda people you think would admit to smoking weed.
JA MON
RASTAFARIIIIIIIIIII
they do. drugs definitely allow musicians to make better music, and artists in general to do better work.
but only because drugs allow them to think differently or more creatively for a short while.
now, if they do their art only while taking drugs, that’s a different story.
Drugs bring someone into an altered state of consciousness which quickly lets them think about things in a different fashion.
But this sort of ASC can also come naturally without the influence of any kind of substance. Actualized or spiritual people do this all of the time.
Sure, altered states of consciousness can be brought on more than one way, but each will be unique somehow.
That being said, correlation and causation do no have the same meaning. Sure, most good musicians do drugs, a good chunk of our favorite rockstars are junkies, but did the junk make them good? Or is it just that the kind of people who make good musicians also are also the kind of people who end up being junkies?
I wanna participate in this conversation… but I just can’t read all you douchebags from way over here in flavor country.
Re: Cigarettes
“We eat stuff that will kill us, we do activities that are unhealthy – a lot of things in the world threaten our health a whole lot.”
The great myth: cigarettes are a risk like any other.
The reality: nothing is even in the same ballpark as cigarettes.
Cigarettes kill one out of five Americans today. Nothing else even comes close.
Re: Cigarettes
I’m totally aware of the health risks – I just don’t think that killing oneself in the long run is a big factor for smokers when it comes to instant relaxation. They could probably care less about themselves.
Re: Cigarettes
Another myth: cigarettes are relaxing.
What fuels this myth: relief of withdrawal seems like relaxation; tobacco industry marketing portrays the product as relaxing.
The reality: the product increases stress:
http://www.apa.org/releases/smokestress.html
and is probably the cause of stress disorders:
http://panicdisorder.about.com/od/anxietymoreinfo/a/smokinganxiety.htm
http://www.4therapy.com/consumer/life_topics/article/5807/515/Link+Between+Teen+Smoking+and+Anxiety+Disorders
Re: Cigarettes
Uh… yep. That’s what I’ve been saying.
Are you arguing against me or something?
Jeez, I hope this thread still has some life in it.
I know I do, hahaha.
Yea, I’m a smoker. So many things to touch on.
1.Smoking relaxes you. Really, I don’t know how in the world someone could tell me I’m wrong about that.
2.Yea, smokings addictive, but I believe the correlation between length of addiction and ability to quit is pretty marginal. That is to say, I think it can be equally as hard for someone smoking for two years to quit as, say, someone whos smoked for 15.
3.In California, smoking is shunned by leglislature. You say smoking is anti-social; I entirely disagree. Out here in cowtown, smoking is still allowed in resturaunts. Which means that often times the most social thing you can do is go to Dennys, get a coffee, and have a few cigarettes. Then again, almost everyone I know smokes. Do I think anti-public smoking ordinances are bad? Depends on what facts you’re looking at. Second-hand smoke isn’t nearly as dangerous as thought. Studies have shown that the increased risk for lung-cancer with exposure to second-hand smoke is statistically insignificant, about 16 people will develop it out of 1,000,000 that otherwise would not have.
It’s just a nuisance to non-smokers, and resturaunts have been doing a better job of seperating the two and purifying the air.
4. Out here at least, people who smoke are treated as equals. Maybe it’s because smoking is much more widespread, but in California smokers are treated like second-class citizens, with their habits openly mocked by the general public.
5. As far as the impact on my budget, I can replace a meal with a cigarette. I know it doesn’t sound healthy, cause it isn’t, but I have some weight to lose anyway and I’m broke as ass. I’m pretty sure I could survuve off of coffee and cigarettes alone (though probably only for another 20 years).
Theres so much more to say but god sometimes i hate the internet as a forum for debate.
1. Smoking becomes the only thing that can relax you as a relief from withdrawal.
2. Sure, no matter how long you’ve smoked it’s difficult to quit. But I think more than a dependency is built – you change habitually as well as socially in a longer period of time, so smoking for a great number of years can definitely change you.
3, 4. Yes, smoking is shunned by legislature because it’s deadly. Hence, its illegality in public places has made it an anti-social activity, and has taught people about how unnecessary it is. I’m aware that smoking has been a part of human history for a while now, but I really could care less about legacy. And you’re right, it’s not as much a health risk to non-smokers (although the risk is there) as much as it’s just a nuisance. And that’s why I’m blogging about this in the first place. I think it’s a social nuisance. It’s annoying, unsightly, and it pushes people away.
5. Why do you say these things? It brings the validity of your entire argument down.
1.Smoking isn’t the only thing that relaxes me, and I rarely find myself really ‘jonsing’ for a cigarette. Sitting down and reading a newspaper, watching tv, riding the bus (yea a strange one). All of those things relax me too, and do it quite well. But yea,when your having a shitty day at work, and you have a short break to try and compose yourself and organize your thoughts, a few solitary moments with a cigarette can mean a world of difference.
2.I really haven’t read the studies or anything, so I don’t 100% know what the correlation is. What I really meant goes more or less to serve your point, I think it would be pretty hard for me to quit smoking right now.
3.I think the really ironic part is banning smoking from bars. How many people die, probably daily, driving to and from a bar? And yet banning smoking there is to protect us. Cause you know, the smoking will kill you wayyy before that lightpost does.
I have to admit, I remember the days before I was a smoker, so I can empathize. I remember going into casinos and going “Jesus it fucking reeks”. Than again, I may still think that, I haven’t been in a casino in a while. I remember being grateful that resturaunts are non-smoking in CA. I guess I forgot to make my point, I don’t have anything against smoking bans in resturaunts. Bars and other public places can be a different story.
I think this is the point I was making as far as places like Dennys. This sign was taken from a diner in Kenosha, about an hour away from me.
5. Again, this is just me failing to make a point, as I was more or less joking. A better point would have been, look at all vices. Smoking, drinking, video games, fast food, rollercoasters, whatever. They all cost money and may or may not have value, but are they necessary? People waste money all the time.