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Originally Posted by Angela  I believe I DID address the root of the question: why do people start smoking, even in light of its obviously being bad for you? One big reason: the diligent efforts of tobacco companies to manipulate young people through aggressive marketing that appeals to their little unconscious minds. |
You're right... You did address one root of the problem. I was simply pointing out that, without all of the roots, each of the other roots would be ineffective. I didn't say that you were wrong... In fact, the first line of my post was agreeing with you. I just didn't think that it was constructive to only give responsibility to one small aspect of the entire problem. That's like saying that your liver is solely responsible for keeping you alive. Yes, it is vital to your survival, but it isn't they only organ that is vital. If every doctor in the world only treated liver problems, then there would be a lot of dead people walking around. Alright, yeah, so they wouldn't be walking around... but you get my point. Similarly, if we only gave responsibility for smoking to the advertisers, and ignored the responsibility of the manufacturers and people's personal responsibility, then it becomes much more difficult to reduce smoking.
I am a person who is quitting smoking. (Note: I am not a non-smoker, because they do not have cravings. I am not a smoker, because smokers succumb to their cravings. I am a quitter, because quitters successfully fight off their cravings. Please don't tell me to use a different word than 'quitter' so that I can use positive thinking, because to me, there is nothing more positive than a quitter. I know that nobody has pointed this out to me in this thread, but I have heard it so many times recently that I am getting *extremely* annoyed at it, so I thought I'd mention it before someone does put their foot in their mouth.)
Alright... back to what I was saying before I typed out that rant...
I am a person who is quitting smoking. I am not a victim. I am responsible for every single drag off of every single cigarette that I have taken. I was not unconscious while smoking, and I have never been threatened or forced into smoking. If I were a victim, I would not be able to quit. Victims do not have power, so do not have responsibility. I have power over my own life, so I am not a victim.
The cigarette manufacturing companies are not victims either. The people in those companies have the ability to choose whether they work there or not, so with power comes responsibility.
Nobody is a victim when it comes to smoking. (unless you believe the falsified studies from the EPA and WHO that have both been thrown out by every court that they have come before... Second hand smoking is, at best, very debatable as to whether the health risks can be measured or not.) You can't treat people as though they are victims, because that gives them the ability to give up their responsibility. When you're dealing with something as addictive as nicotine with such painful and deadly diseases associated with it, you can't let anybody give up their responsibility... In fact, as a person who is concerned about the health of your fellow humans, you can't give up your own responsibility for making sure that others keep their responsibility. If you tell a smoker that they are not responsible for their addiction, and they believe you, then you have just removed their only power to overcome the addiction. If you tell the people who work at the tobacco manufacturing companies that they are simply victims of the economy, and they have no choice but to take whatever job they can find (no matter how "evil"), then you are taking away their power to stand up for their own morality.
If I told anyone here that they can't fight against a big business like the tobacco manufacturers and advertisers, and they actually believed that lie, then I would be taking away their liberties by giving them fears. I can't do that. My purpose is to bring peace, no matter who that peace is for, and I can not bring anybody peace if I take their liberties or give them fear. The only way that I can bring people peace is to give them back their responsibilities, and saying that any one group, to the exclusion of any other, is responsible for anything goes against any hope of peace.
That, and I'm also working through a particularly long cigarette craving right now, so I just started rambling on and on... It certainly kept me occupied, for at least half an hour.