a question for smokers...

[Hazy]

Probably for the same reason people continue eating fattty foods and drinking soda: Because they're racist.

That'd be a lot more funny if not for the "Black guys like KFC " thing.
So yea, fail joke on your part....

Take it away, Mr. Chappelle:

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Whenever you ask these questions to a smoker, a little thing called cognitive dissonance kicks in, described by psychology as "a discomfort experienced when simultaneously holding two or more conflicting cognitions: ideas, beliefs, values or emotional reactions".

The theory of cognitive dissonance in social psychology proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance by altering existing cognitions, adding new ones to create a consistent belief system, or alternatively by reducing the importance of any one of the dissonant elements.

Basically, they keep smoking because cognitive dissonance: it's easier to dismiss the knowledge of death over the pleasure of nicotine.

 

[Hugga_Bear]

I enjoy it sometimes, so I smoke sometimes. I find straights unappealing and tasteless but rollies are quite nice on occasion, the mixture of sensory inputs amuse me and it gives me something to do. I actually dislike the effects of cigarettes, the nicotine is at best a distraction and at worst an unpleasant buzz getting in the way of my head.

That's not the only reason though, I smoke weed with semi regularity and smoking the occasional cigarette helped me cope with the negatives of the nicotine rush which I occasionally experienced while smoking weed (only more severely because of the high). So I smoked a little to get used to the feeling as well.

As for the negatives, I don't particularly care about the damage to my fitness, cancer of any variety isn't overly concerning to me and that doesn't leave much to worry about when you're smoking on occasion. Oh heart problems I guess but again I don't really care. I'm not hung up on living so much that I avoid things I enjoy I guess.

 

[A Raging Emo]

It's been said before, I'll say it again.

I like to smoke.

 

[Strazdas]

As a non smoker i can only guess that they do it to collectively kill me as fast as they can.

Because it's the only drug that's both easily accessible and doesn't alter my mental state that much.

So from what i udnerstand you consume drugs just to consume drugs and not because of its effects (does not alter your mental state) nor rebellion (you look for legal ones) or challenge (easily acceptable). why exactly do you smoke then?

Also your Fallacy of relative privation [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy_of_relative_privation] at the end of the post is silly. And i could throw a false equlvalence there too.

I will go with the time honoured answer that non-smokers refuse to accept: I enjoy it.

Do that many people really refuse to accept that answer? I am a non-smoker, aside from the very rare cigar. And that answer seems perfectly valid to me. It's the same reason I drink pop, eat junk food etc.

Thats because its been kinda proven that almost any smoker does it out of habbit or addiction and not out of enjoymet. they enjoy it at first, then our body adjusts in such a way that such effect is no longer felt but addiction remains.

It's been said before, I'll say it again.

I like to smoke.

Thats kinda the question. why do you like to smoke.

 

[Vegosiux]

I've been an on/off smoker for a while, currently in an "off" phase I hope to continue indefinitely. Most of my smoking came from either "social smoking" or in times where the stress load was at the point where lighting one up would help me refocus and ease down, and do less harm to my health than continued exposure to those high stress levels.

 

[In Search of Username]

It is enjoyable, and no-one lives forever.

Really now, I don't even smoke but the reasons are fairly easy to understand unless you refuse to.