a simple question...
ok, well here is the thing. lately i have come to realize that the majority of my friends and people i associate with, smoke. i won't deny it, i hate everything that has to do with smoking - the smell, the smoke, the habit, everything.
now with this new realization that everyone around me is smoking, i was just wondering why smoke? is it a fad? is it fun? i don't get it.
so that is my simple question to the world out there, why smoke? now anyone out there reading this can tell me what they think. you can be a smoker, a friend of a smoker, or just some random bloke that thinks they know the answer to my question.
so let me know the answer because it boggles my mind.
now with this new realization that everyone around me is smoking, i was just wondering why smoke? is it a fad? is it fun? i don't get it.
so that is my simple question to the world out there, why smoke? now anyone out there reading this can tell me what they think. you can be a smoker, a friend of a smoker, or just some random bloke that thinks they know the answer to my question.
so let me know the answer because it boggles my mind.
14 Comments:
I don't smoke cigaretts, but I do smoke a pipe and cigars. I can tell you that I truly enjoy smoking both. It's nice to sit outside on a star-filled night and just smoke my pipe and relax. Cigs are much different then a pipe or a cigar because of the amount of nicotine, and it becomes addictive. I also believe it's like a fashion statement because I think people feel cool and dapper when they are holding a cigarette.
Thanks for the comment. How's Canada? I'm moving to Oregon in May and i'm really excited.
I have read many a blog with the same premise as yours, yet yours stands out. I really like it, keep writing!
john
"things I wish I had"
www.frankenweinie.blogspot.com
Why do I smoke? Mainly because I had to waste two years of my life sitting in the middle of the ocean at 2 in the fucking morning with nothing to do. That's where it started...You have no idea what boredom can do to you. I smoke still because I don't want to stop. If I actually liked my life, I wouldn't have to smoke, but it sucks, I don't see it getting better, and smoking is one thing that I can do where I feel ok for a few moments. But not many... Oh, and I'm 22. Plenty of time to quit or die before my lungs explode. I'm placing my chips on dieing (sp?).
anonymous, i appreciate your honesty...although some what pessimistic. but thanks for the comment. oh by the way do you have a name?
I somke cause it makes me look cool like Joe Camel. =)
Smoking sux.
LOL You definitley shouldn't be thanking me for my honesty. Well, maybe you should, but I was being sarcastic. I hate smoking and smokers.
I've never smoked. I don't intend to. But it's easy to understand those who do in the context of the uniform: Whenever you smoke, you're adopting a certain role -- depending on what you do with the cigarette, and what you do besides, it can be anything from the carefree rebel to the aristocrat. This is entirely because tobacco company ads have created an array of personas to choose from, and the means to adopt one for a while. It's like a priest's collar, or Michael Moore's baseball cap, or any other such physical sign of interior attitude.
It's also like swallowing a slow working poison cause you want to look like death. :)
I dont see why people start smoking in the first place but it could because they start smoking young when the are stupid and don't know any better. Smoking is addictive and its proven that it causes cancer so why would people even start smoking in the first place...I know once they are addicted it might be a different story trying to stop and I have never had an addiction so I wouldn't be able to comprehend the will power it takes to get off smoking. I just think that its a really discusting habit and that if people want to do it they should do it where others wont get affected by second hand smoke or the terrible smell that comes with it. I know I could never be with someone who smoked becasue the habbit makes me sick and I haven't been with a smoker and the majority of my friends thankfully don't smoke. A simple question but not a simple answer Andrea :) hope you had fun with all these responses.
No cigaretts, but pipes and cigars yes. Because it is truly relaxing and peaceful to climb a tree with a couple of friends in the middle of the night and talk about life over a warm pipe.
I don't think people really hash out the cancer factor, or general health risks of smoking when they do it. I drive fast, without thinking about the consequences should some driver stray into my path, or I take the next corner too fast. I go tanning occasionally without giving a hoot about getting mellanoma in my 40's. I think if people get something out of it, enjoy it, or if its pure habit-the dangers and risks just seem irrelevant at the time and so aren't considered, much less heeded.
-good blog, btw-
Ok, gotta disagree with Matt. I just studied this a bit and according to Malcolm Gladwell's studies of teen smoking, people (esp. teens) generally overestimate the dangers of smoking. They think that smoking will shorten their lives considerably more than it actually will. Yet they still do it! Why? According to Gladwell it isnt' because smoking is cool, but is rather because cool people smoke. It's the status symbol. In the same way that other trends (Uggs, Puppy Dog Pets [think Paris and Britney], Leather Jackets, Save Tibet, etc) spread when the masses see cool people doing it, smoking spreads because impressionable masses see the cool people doing it.
You should really read Gladwell's book "The Tipping Point." It's a quick read and it's an absolutely fascinating take on social trends.
Oh, and I smoke too. Pipes, cigars and the occasional cigarette. But I'm not addicted, in the slightest.
That was another point Gladwell made: some people react different to nicotine. I don't feel any effects, but I have a friend who gets totally buzzed and another that's puked after a cigar. Because I don't feel any effects it's really hard for me to get addicted to it. For my friend who gets buzzed he has to be careful about it. But either way, I really think its more of a social addiction to begin with, rather than a chemical addiction. At first kids get addicted to the cool factor and not the nicotine. Eventually the nicotine gets them and they're chemically dependent. Then they're screwed.
Dare to stay off drugs and all that. Later Andrea, and thanks for bringing this up.
In response to what Galen said, yes its true what you say, that people do things because those few cool people do it first. and all the rest want to copy it. yet in this case, if smoking was started by a few cool people, and now it has blown up into this huge ordeal, it would be inevitable that smoking is now not as cool as it used to be. therefore its not really cool at all. there's no identity gap. oh yes, i am a smoker, and my reasons remain unknown. and i really hate it when all you non-smokers are all like "yeah i hate all smokers". like piss off. all you non-smokers ruined it by banning smoking in pubs, and now i cant enjoy a nice cigarette with my pint. then you non-smokers cram us into smoking rooms with very disgustingly bad ventilation. i think it should be the opposite way, where all you non-smokers are crammed in a room, see how you like it. and soon enough, these rooms are gone too. its almost like you're killing off the smokers of the world. kinda like legalized genocide. fuck that. i dont have a problem with non-smokers, its their choice to not do it, and i accept it. all you non-smokers who say you hate smokers, at least hate something that's worth hating, not an action like smoking. and dont say cuz it pollutes the air because you would be stupider than you already are.
anonymous...wow i must say i felt a lot of hate right there. now i hope that it wasn't directed to me and if it was you got me wrong. i mean i don't hate the smoker - a lot of close people in my life are smokers - rather i hate the habit. i guess i should have stated that in my post a bit more clearly. so my apologies to you, and all smokers out there.
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