nice to see we are staying on topic
well, first of all, ill answer the VERY first question.
no, the government does not make money, or at least not much, from raising taxes on smokes. 20 million isnt that much relative to the entire economy's income. more like a penny in a mountain of quarters.
okay, since about 25 posts have been about the morality of smoking, ll throw my 2 cents in
although tobacco is natural, it is however processed with many
delicious poisons, at the cost of your health. now, im not saying your gonna die in a matter of years, or even decades, of smoking, but i will tell you this: after a while you will not feel as good as you used to.
also, saying that you dont want to live to be 90 is kinda lame. my parents have told me since i was very small that "everyone has to die from something" whenever i have questioned thier motives for smoking, which is actually an ok philosophy, but talking about life and death at so young an age is kinda dumb (i dont know how old most of you are, but im
pretty sure nobody here is 30 yet). when you get to be older, or maybe on your deathbed, trust me, you will want EVERY. LAST. SECOND.
your current conscious mind will only experience one life and remember it (i said that so that nobody should dispute religion in this thread)
okay, with that said, i would like to say that i am neither for or against smoking. its more of an extra activity in your life than the
sin everyone has made it out to be. consider skateboarding for instance. you could easily end your life at a very young age doing that, mess up and shatter the back of your skull, splinter any of your bones, or even eliminate yourself from the genepool (testicles! they are not meant to landed on!) and all of this, i would say, is worse than smoking
any cigarrette. tobacco is a natural stress reliever, as is tea. "burning something and inhaling it" isnt good for you, but neither is breathing when you look at it from outside the box. everything that you do takes you a step closer to your ever impending death, its not my decision or care, nor anyone else's, if you feel like skipping, running, walking, or sprinting towars the clearing at the end of the path.
as for the part about smokers being rude, smoking has nothing to do with being rude. it depends on the person, as our friend screams has said to us. if your angry that people light up near you, point the finger at
them, not the smokes.
yes yes, there are many downsides to smoking, mostly because smoking in the last century or two has been tainted by all of the processing of the tobacco plant. start putting rat poison that tastes good in cereal and i gaurantee it will turn into the next
bad trend that people are hissed for (not an entirely good analogy, but you get the point).
and as for the "less stressfull life" option, id like to see ANY of you try. this is a very twisted world we live in where very bad things happen every day. if someone finds that burning and inhaling something makes it easier to get through the day, id go ahead and let them do it. dont try and preach to anyone about how to live thier life (unless you deeply care for them, i guess), because it isnt yours. relate telling someone not to smoke with a preacher who shoves his religion in your face.
and saving your money? that RARELY happens, you need to go buy a change jar for that, and not many people have the conviction to let a pile of money sit in thier room when they have things they can buy. i mean, just look at the smokers we are talking about for instance!
they usually dont even consider or care about the long run of smoking! they know its gonna hurt later, but they figure "what the hell! i might even be dead by then!" because many people live in the moment. the money that isnt used to buy smokes generally finds its way back into a bank somewhere whether it be through a candy bar, a pizza, cell phone, whatever.
oh yah, the physical transformations
are noticeable, but just because you smoke doesnt mean that you are slovenly, nor ignorant. most people who smoke realize that
the smell will stick to them, as with any substance. with that said, i believe that most smokers have the insight to maybe buy some gum to cover thier breathe or they simply have friends who dont mind that they do it or care that they smell like smoke.
Read the essay by Joan Didion "On Self Respect." if you truly respect yourself, you shouldnt care what others think of you. you see, smokers smoke for themselves, they
generally dont smoke to look or act cool, or something like that. as it has been
proven, tobacco is a stress reliever.
just let people smoke, it is so
trivial to even debate this topic. it is no worse than any other hobby that you could damage yourself while doing it. if you want to debate smoking, go ahead and debate skydiving or racing while you are at it.
personally, i do not smoke, not because i find it immoral or wrong, but because im not so fond inhaling smoke, the same way some people arent so fond of sitting on a computer all day and playing games or posting on forums '-' ("look at the long run! you'll get out of shape if your on the computer so much!"
)
Saturday Nights (Graveyard [RIP])
by MiLeC
