There is that; however, I am referring to the modern 1960’s onwards issue health research. Before that, in the West, tobacco was an accepted given. “Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.”BlackBird wrote:Again, you're quite correct. It's been going on for several centuries.tiltbillings wrote:It is hardly "a century old argument."BlackBird wrote:The nature of your rhetoric isn't going to make smokers feel good, put it that way.
But rehashing a century old argument won't convince them to quit either.
Of course there is second hand smoke, itself a serious problem, but the pain of watching a loved one die from a tobacco related illness, or a loved one struggling to breathe because his or her lung are turned to garbage by the tar and other crap in cigarettes, is destructive.BB wrote:It's hardly destructive to those around them.tiltbillings wrote: And there is no reason smokers should feel good about smoking; it is destructive to them and to those around them.
Which is where it should be. And far away from children.Nor does the smoker, increasingly relegated to smoking in private
Which is a very narrow, very limited, one-eyed point of view. One’s own health goes to hell because of one’s addiction to smoking, it has no effect on one’s loved ones? Smokers aren’t evil. Tobacco executives are, for knowing the dangers of cigarettes, for making cigarettes more addictive and for keeping that all secret until finally outed by one of their own. Smokers, who most often start very young, have made poor, immature choices, often suckered by the tobacco suits into thinking smoking is something special, something that will make one feel special.I would be more inclined to think the negative cost of smoking is by in large, one's own health, in which case I return to my statement - Why go around making smokers feel bad about it?
What is there to feel good about smoking? Your bad breath, that you are turning your lungs into garbage, likely shortening your life span, the money waste on buying cigarettes, that you stink like an ashtray after smoking a cigarette? All of the for a nicotine buzz and feeling cool because you have a fag hanging out you mouth?
I have no problem with what I have written. As a health care giver, I have seen repeatedly the aftermath of smoking and the pain on the faces and in the voices of the families involved. There is no defense for smoking.Finally, let me ask you this Tilt, how does the way you have written your words in this thread, stack up against the Buddha's criteria for right speech?
