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There are many things in our lives that we clearly know is not good for us, but some people still choose to do them, such as smoking, drinking too much, drugs etc. It is a personal choice and anyone that chooses to do it must then live with the repercussions if it affects their health or life.
The same can be said for our entire life: We live it on life's terms not our own. No telling what is going to be thrown in our lap. That being said, why in the world would I take part in something that would dramatically increase the chance of me kicking the bucket prematurely? Nobody said a good diet and exercise guarantees you anything. However there is enough evidence to suggest it will allow you to live a longer and healthier life.
First, you agree that there's "No telling what is going to be thrown in our lap," an admission that life is, indeed, full of uncertainties which we cannot control. Then, you turn around and deny that by suggesting there are things you can do which might shorten it.
Which is it? Can you control the outcome, or can you not?
And, I'll say again, how can anyone know any death is "premature," unless they know how long a person was intended to live in the first place? None of us know that, so we have no basis for measuring whether life was lengthened or shortened, do we? All we have are the statistics which measure probabilities and averages.
In the end, it's all still a game we play with ourselves because of our pride. We don't WANT to accept that our lives in God's hands, not ours, so we pretend otherwise and take actions to "prove" it to ourselves.
There are many things in our lives that we clearly know is not good for us, but some people still choose to do them, such as smoking, drinking too much, drugs etc. It is a personal choice and anyone that chooses to do it must then live with the repercussions if it affects their health or life.
That's right. If you play, you pay. It's called personal responsibility, isn't it?
But, here's the rub when it comes to smokers: Every one of us, without exception, make or have made bad choices which might affect our health. Whether that's smoking, drinking one to many sodas, driving too fast or driving while distracted, eating too much, standing in the rain while lightning flashes, walking dangerous streets. The list is endless. None of us can avoid being exposed to dangers, wherever we go and whatever we do and often, our exposure is deliberate.
Yet, tobacco smoke has been singled out as if it's among the most dangerous things we can be exposed to and smokers have been driven out into the nether regions, while all those other risks remain not only unavoidable, but present in the lives of those very people who support the ostracization of smokers. The hypocrisy is stunning!
First of all, you all don't really believe in god do you? I mean, I guess it's possible that there is a higher power but Judeo-Christian religion is just rediculous. But that isn't the topic of this thread.
True: Tobacco companies are corrupt. Their goal is to try to get kids to smoke. I mean, c'mon, have you seen any of Camel/Marlboro's new flavors? But what gets me is everyone is so distracted by tobacco companies (which is exactly what the media wants and is accomplishing very well) they don't pay attention to the corruption that surrounds them! ALL CORPORATIONS ARE CORRUPT. ALL CEOs ARE CORRUPT. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES IS CORRUPT. POLITICIANS ARE CORRUPT. Of course the end goal of which is money.
Don't you remember being a kid? You're just sitting there watching X-Men: The Animated Series and all of a sudden you're having hot wheels cars, nerf guns, and lunchables shoved down your throat. Kids are where the money is at, the tobacco companies are just doing the logical (and corrupt) thing.
And I mean, c'mon, doesn't anyone remember Enron? That was just the guy who got caught. I mean, look at are economy. Banks failed. Car companies out of order. You think the CEOs ever took a pay cut? You thing THEY lost their jobs? Maybe a couple, but most continue to sit at the top, embezzle from investors, and figure out how their going to squeeze a few more bucks from the government and the tax payers. And why do you think the government is backing them up? Because half the politicians have lots of corporate buddies. And then the media uses it all to scare your pants off for ratings.
Yeah, the tobacco companies are evil. So is everyone else.
Yeah, cigarettes cause cancer. So does everything else.
I'm an occasional social smoker. Smoking is harmless as long as you don't abuse it. People who are addicted to nicotine just have weak minds.
Smoking is far from harmless and you had to know that if you said that on here someone was going to come right back at you with the opposite feeling and surprise it is me, an ex smoker. Weak mind??? I want to laugh but to laugh now without YOU being able to hear me is a waste of time. I smoked for years...was a Town Manager, endured a horrible marriage, raised a child alone from age 11 to adulthood, watched my second husband die at age 42 from a heart attack (he smoked), had a cancer scare and surgery myself at age 43 (I was smoking), re-married for the third time and after not having smoked for almost a year had open heart surgery for an aneurysm in my aorta...WEAK MIND?? I don't thinks so.
Fact: Cigarettes are addicting no matter if you smoke occasionally or all the time. Your BRAIN is calling for the nicotine and when you take that occasional cigarette, that IS addiction. Do you consider yourself weak minded because of that?
Fact: There are over 500 harmful chemicals in cigarettes. I know because I had the list posted next to my computer while I was going through the quitting process. Big reality check. Oh, one of those chemicals is ARSENIC. Ready to stop the occasional insanity yet?
Fact: When the cigarette companies are "making the cigarettes", they put one of those 500 chemical additives in the PAPER on the cigarette and it is a chemical that enhances the nicotine and the craving it creates..nice, huh? Oh, and if any of the tobacco falls on the floor, they sweep it back up and use THAT in the cigarettes. BIG documentary on TV about the whole process.
Ok, so...still think people who are addicted have weak minds? If so, then I think you better check yourself because you are also addicted not on a daily basis perhaps but your brain is definitely craving that occasional smoke or you would not smoke at all. I hope you quit. Nothing good comes from the darn things but that is your choice and something only your own "Brain" can decide. Good Luck.
Smoking is far from harmless and you had to know that if you said that on here someone was going to come right back at you with the opposite feeling and surprise it is me, an ex smoker. Weak mind??? I want to laugh but to laugh now without YOU being able to hear me is a waste of time. I smoked for years...was a Town Manager, endured a horrible marriage, raised a child alone from age 11 to adulthood, watched my second husband die at age 42 from a heart attack (he smoked), had a cancer scare and surgery myself at age 43 (I was smoking), re-married for the third time and after not having smoked for almost a year had open heart surgery for an aneurysm in my aorta...WEAK MIND?? I don't thinks so.
Fact: Cigarettes are addicting no matter if you smoke occasionally or all the time. Your BRAIN is calling for the nicotine and when you take that occasional cigarette, that IS addiction. Do you consider yourself weak minded because of that?
Fact: There are over 500 harmful chemicals in cigarettes. I know because I had the list posted next to my computer while I was going through the quitting process. Big reality check. Oh, one of those chemicals is ARSENIC. Ready to stop the occasional insanity yet?
Fact: When the cigarette companies are "making the cigarettes", they put one of those 500 chemical additives in the PAPER on the cigarette and it is a chemical that enhances the nicotine and the craving it creates..nice, huh? Oh, and if any of the tobacco falls on the floor, they sweep it back up and use THAT in the cigarettes. BIG documentary on TV about the whole process.
Ok, so...still think people who are addicted have weak minds? If so, then I think you better check yourself because you are also addicted not on a daily basis perhaps but your brain is definitely craving that occasional smoke or you would not smoke at all. I hope you quit. Nothing good comes from the darn things but that is your choice and something only your own "Brain" can decide. Good Luck.
CP
Oh, please. You're surrounded by toxic chemicals every day. In fact, the chances are you bathed with them this morning, sprayed them on your hair and probably cooked your breakfast on them (Teflon). The clothes you have on right now, whether natural fibers or not, have been treated with a variety of dangerous chemicals to retard rot and provide that snappy, wrinkle-free look you like. Not to mention, of course, the additives, pesticides and growth hormones which you'll eat with your sandwich for lunch, even if that's only a genetically engineered "healthy" salad. The car or bus you ride to work will belch dangerous fumes the whole way and the interior, made mostly of plastic (a hydrocarbon derivative) will be giving off a steady, unseen, invisible haze of toxic chemicals while you calmly listen to a CD and congratulate yourself on "living healthy" and giving up those "dangerous" smokes. Then, when you get home, you can sit in your beautifully paneled living room, which exudes formaldihyde constantly, and breath in the radon gas trapped underneath your foundation. Tonight, you'll wrap yourself in a comfortable, toxic blanket and inhale fibers from it all night long.
Last edited by LadyRobyn; 08-17-2009 at 07:55 AM..
Reason: No name calling...
its fun when these smoking threads go violent, cuz then after i leave for a day, i can come back and gobble up a bag of popcorn to enjoy the rantings with, sadly the point every smoker here is trying to get across is
yes, we know, smoking is bad for us, obviously we dont give a flying crap or dont you think we would have actually gone that extra mile and quit already? come on people, we hear it every day at least 50 times a day... smoking contains chemicals, smoking causes cancer, smoking does this smoking does that smoking companies are corrupt, just look at those damn "truth" commercials... they air 20 billion times a week, and just tick me off to the point where i just wanna light up a cigarette
First, you agree that there's "No telling what is going to be thrown in our lap," an admission that life is, indeed, full of uncertainties which we cannot control. Then, you turn around and deny that by suggesting there are things you can do which might shorten it.
Which is it? Can you control the outcome, or can you not?
You're not reading what I wrote.
While we may think that we can control the outcomes of our life, quite often this is not the case. However that doesn't mean I'm not going to wear a seatbelt when I drive a car, or eat fast food 4 times a week, or smoke a pack a day.
Yes I could put on a seat belt, get broadsided and still die. But I could also get spun off the road and hit a pole, in which case the seat belt may stop me from being thrown out my windshield and save my life. So I'd choose to put on a seatbelt and up the odds of me surviving an accident.
You seem to have a lot of anger of this. Nobody (at least I'm not) telling you what you should and should not do. Hey, you wanna die early from some nasty disease brought about by years of smoking, be my guest. But don't sit here and tell me that since we ultimately have no control of our destiny that we should throw in the towel in regards to taking care of our bodies. That's ridiculous.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stillkit
In the end, it's all still a game we play with ourselves because of our pride. We don't WANT to accept that our lives in God's hands, not ours, so we pretend otherwise and take actions to "prove" it to ourselves.
To be honest, the only one who is full of pride here is you. And isn't your body a temple according to your religious teachings? If you had such religious conviction, why then do you treat your body like a garbage can? God provided you with something amazing and that's how you thank him?
While we may think that we can control the outcomes of our life, quite often this is not the case. However that doesn't mean I'm not going to wear a seatbelt when I drive a car, or eat fast food 4 times a week, or smoke a pack a day.
Why not? You're being inconsistant again.
Quote:
You seem to have a lot of anger of this. Nobody (at least I'm not) telling you what you should and should not do.
Of course I'm angry. I've seen my smokes rise from $10 a carton to nearly $50 because of this foolishness. Wouldn't you be mad too?
Quote:
Hey, you wanna die early from some nasty disease brought about by years of smoking, be my guest. But don't sit here and tell me that since we ultimately have no control of our destiny that we should throw in the towel in regards to taking care of our bodies. That's ridiculous.
Why? If we have no control over our destiny, what's the point?
Quote:
To be honest, the only one who is full of pride here is you. And isn't your body a temple according to your religious teachings? If you had such religious conviction, why then do you treat your body like a garbage can? God provided you with something amazing and that's how you thank him?
That's one of the most mis-quoted and least understood verses in the Bible. If you'd like, I can expound on that.
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