Yes I smoke.. So I'm the devil now?

[Fluffer]

Interesting, but humans have a propensity towards wilfully poisoning themselves... [cut for space]

Just FYI caffeine and alcohol are not necessarily bad for you, unlike nicotine. Also the latter is far more addictive. It's like comparing weed to meth.

Nicotine is not necessarily bad for you. The standard method of delivery is. More recent methods of delivery, for instance inhalation of a vaporised solution containing nicotine, are proving much cleaner if you will. I will not be surprised if it becomes even more refined.

Frankly 'not necessarily bad for you' is quite vague though.

As for addictive qualities, initially nicotine is the most addictive physically. However, physical addiction to caffeine once it has set in is (in my experience) much nastier. Withdrawal from nicotine is unpleasant yes, but even the headaches are nothing compared to the blinding headaches, trembles and actual body pains of caffeine withdrawal. Anecdotally a friend of mine in the US experienced the same after his doctor told him to quit Mountain Dew (he decided to go cold turkey).

The psychological part of the addiction has common denominators across individuals, but can also vary tremendously too so I'l leave it there. I am afraid caffeine/alcohol drinkers are just the same as smokers and no better or worse. These are all poisonous chemicals consumed for certain effects, which in moderation should cause minimal damage to the body (assuming the smoker chooses the cleanest delivery mechanism currently available).

Smoking via vapour is still in its infancy. Should it become the norm I wonder how the status quo might change.

 

[CommanderX1125]

So being forthright is being immature? I fail to see at which stage I was being immature as you seemed to be concluding that risk taking means that person has no sense of self-preservation.

The reason why smoking can go against self-preservation is simple: denial.

"Denial (also called abnegation) is a defense mechanism postulated by Sigmund Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence."

If you had a transparent chest, lungs, and could constantly monitor your health numerically I really wonder how many people would smoke.
You can't compare smoking to bungee jumping. With the latter if you follow safety procedures, it is safe. There is no such method of smoking safely. Yes hard drugs are more destructive, but which one can you buy from your local shop? Plus you should consider any permanent damage smoking may have, even in the short term. If you ever want to play a sport, get into shape etc the lung damage may cause you a lot of grief.

If this were the case, in your last paragraph, and people could monitor their health in such a fashion, nothing would change. People are people, and to suppose that people won't do behavior that is detrimental to themselves in any situation over a period of time is foolish.

Do you wish for a perfect example of a risky behavior that is both legal, and yet dangerous, and you've likely partaken and enjoyed? Sassafras tea. Has known carcinogens, and is still enjoyed, albeit by the older population at large. Also, comparing smoking to bungee jumping isn't a huge leap of faith. How exactly do you think that got started? Let you in on a secret, it hasn't always been nearly as safe, and even with all the safety checks, many people die every year from it, from either mistakes, equipment malfunction, or the stress on their bodies.

Also, "safe", for all of you tossing it around, is a matter of perspective. Some people feel "safe" climbing mountains, or working in fireworks factories. Just takes one spark (and that's so easy to make happen) and you'll be a cinder, as with the rest of the factory.

 

[Snowblindblitz]

Smoking doesn't bother me as long as you are polite about it. And as for the hate on smokers, meh. They enjoy it, and everyone has their vices. Most people who get angry at smokers are pretty much judgmental assholes too short-sighted to see that they have one of the worse vices of all: a self-inflated sense of self by belittling others for their vices.

Every year something new is labeled as bad for your health. Once you give someone the facts on that, it is their right as a human being to do what they will.

 

[deathspa202]

Eeyup... and your avatar is Kefka.

 

[Digikid]

Does a non-smoker have the right to tell a smoker to not smoke in an open space like a bus stop or park or parking lot? Heck no! The non-smoker can move their own selfish but a few steps away from the smoke. I've smelled BO from individuals far worse than cigarette smoke. Don't even start about getting "cancer" from 2nd hand smoke for if that was true, there would be tons of smokers in hospitals for cancer because they smoked for years, but there are only a handful at best. It's a popular theory, but still needs far more facts before it is true.

I don't smoke. I don't really need to smoke. But that does not give me permission to talk **** about people for such a basic habit that can be easily walked away from if it bothered me.

Actually they have every right to do just that.

 

[s0p0g]

i actually kind of like it (duh, no need to do it otherwise)
especially to make fun of it; i mean, just say "i breathe death!" (at least it works like that in german; i dunno if one would necessarily think of breathing as in exspiring in english?) with a creepy voice and look like a psychotic sociopath while you're at it; will always get you a laugh, even from semi-militant non-smokers ^^

i'm 26, started like 4 months ago; never was a hater on smokers; some time ago there was a law established which prohibits smoking at several closed areas, among them: bars (!!); that really sucked; one has to stink after a night at the bar of my trust, and it totally cannot be that one can clearly look from one end of the bar to the other. it just felt wrong.

 

[CommanderX1125]

Good point - look at fat people. They can see the damage yet just deny it.
Still point remains that no one of a healthy mind would smoke.

Sassafras tea...never had or even heard of it. Plus it hardly has the list of problems associated with it as smoking does.

Any figures for that claim about bungee jumping? Plus your point is still irrelevant as it can be safe; smoking cannot.

Safe is about mitigating risk and danger. If you went bungee jumping after having a medical, 5 safety ropes, engineers to inspect the area etc, the risk is negligible. That is never, ever the case with smoking. It is always detrimental to ones health.

Think I got the right quote post, if I didn't sorry.

Who are you to say, "A healthy mind"? Sigmund Freud was pretty healthy in the area of the mind, given he's the father of modern psychology, and he experimented with cocaine, and it's effects on his mind. Even if you argue he isn't, there are plenty of other examples.

Sassafras tea is derived from the roots of the sassafras tree, has three distinct leaf patterns on the plant, and it's hard to describe past that. Root beer would be the best way to put it, in it's taste, a very mild root beer (actually, it was the main ingredient in rootbeer originally), with no fizz. Anyway, the link below will help clarify what it can do, and there are many of the older population who drink it still, and I have partaken more than once, and no, I've never had any stupors nor hallucinations from it. Anyway, "hardly has the list of health problems associated with it."?

http://www.drugs.com/npp/sassafras.html

Figures to bungee jumping, are we going to go with when it officially became an "extreme sport" or some such garbage, and in the modern day and age? I'll assume so for the sake of argument, plus it's impossible to nail down a true date (there are tribes through out various areas and cultures, on in particular which name escapes me that ties vines to their ankles and jump from their roofs for the excitement of it as recreation, and have done this for as long as the tribe can ever recall).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bungee_jumping

My point wasn't they just die in droves, but that it was dangerous, and it is, without a doubt. Even with all the safety possible, there are several effects associated with it which are impossible to avoid for the simple fact that the physics in it stress the physical systems of a person drastically, from eye damage, hearing loss, and rarely death, not even factoring in issues of equipment or guidance. What's more, these effects are instantaneous (by comparison), while smoking is over a very long period of time, and may not even occur after all those years.

Also, "safe" isn't an exact term. It's like saying something is "ethical" when it is truly impossible to be 100% ethical in any act, even altruistic acts (seemingly such) have side-effects. Yes, smoking does have effects, I don't think anyone has denied that and it would be a fool to say such, however, even with all those safety personnel and equipment in place, you're still subjecting the human body to stresses it is not equipped for in any measure, and there are effects. So, try addressing my point, and not simply saying without any meat to your words that my point doesn't apply here.

 

[Grey Day for Elcia]

People can live the short time they have however they want and anyone who has a problem with that needs to take a second to figure out why they are spending theirs caring what other people fucking do with their own.

Go ahead and spend some of your life giving a shit what some guy does to his lungs. Me? I'm gonna do shit that, you know, is fun. But I'm sure on your deathbed all those times you took time out of your life to stop and think "why is that idiot smoking, herp derp" will come flooding back and you'll be glad.

Anyone that gives a shit what someone else chooses to do with their life needs to get a life of their own.

 

[LetalisK]

Who are you to say, "A healthy mind"? Sigmund Freud was pretty healthy in the area of the mind, given he's the father of modern psychology, and he experimented with cocaine, and it's effects on his mind. Even if you argue he isn't, there are plenty of other examples.

Even though I also think his "healthy mind" argument is crap, I'm going to be anal here and point out that it's Wilhelm Wundt that is the father of modern psychology. Sigmund Freud is the weird uncle of modern psychology that was the one that got popular so now everyone thinks the whole family is a bit off in the head and we secretly resent him for that.

 

[Grey Day for Elcia]

Smoking doesn't make you evil, it just makes you a fuck tonne less healthy than me.

Because you're the picture of health and know the OP personally, right?

*rolls eyes*

Let's see how it works for gamers; playing video games doesn't make you evil, but it does make you a fuck tonne fatter than I am. Oh? Just because you do one thing doesn't mean you can't do another? You can exercise, eat right and lead a perfectly healthy life while also doing something that doesn't contribute to physical health? What a revelation.

 

[TimeLord]

People can live the short time they have however they want and anyone who has a problem with that needs to take a second to figure out why they are spending theirs caring what other people fucking do with their own.

Go ahead and spend some of your life giving a shit what some guy does to his lungs. Me? I'm gonna do shit that, you know, is fun. But I'm sure on your deathbed all those times you took time out of your life to stop and think "why is that idiot smoking, herp derp" will come flooding back and you'll be glad.

Anyone that gives a shit what someone else chooses to do with their life needs to get a life of their own.

When someone smoking is blowing smoke in my face and thus gives me an asthma attack, I believe I have every right to complain when it's my health being affected too.

 

[Relish in Chaos]

As long as you don't do it anywhere me, I don't care. Pretty much everyone has self-destructive habits anyway.

 

[Grey Day for Elcia]

People can live the short time they have however they want and anyone who has a problem with that needs to take a second to figure out why they are spending theirs caring what other people fucking do with their own.

Go ahead and spend some of your life giving a shit what some guy does to his lungs. Me? I'm gonna do shit that, you know, is fun. But I'm sure on your deathbed all those times you took time out of your life to stop and think "why is that idiot smoking, herp derp" will come flooding back and you'll be glad.

Anyone that gives a shit what someone else chooses to do with their life needs to get a life of their own.

When someone smoking is blowing smoke in my face and thus gives me an asthma attack, I believe I have every right to complain when it's my health being affected too.

If you're standing in someone's face and having smoke blown down your throat, you need to back the hell up and give someone their personal space.

I vote we ban cars and factories. I am sick of having carbon dioxide blown into my air! Also, we should ban cows! They are the highest producers of gas and I don't want any!

P-lease.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Cigs have this eloquent taste

Surprised smokers can still taste things, what with the tar and cyanide.

But hey, do what you like, until your secondhand smoke gets up my nostrils, I have no reason to hate you.