Advertisements and other forms of media force us to believe that smoking is morally wrong. We’ve been brainwashed into believing this, and now most non-smokers tend to treat smokers as second-class citizens.
The ads are all wrong. The sin tax on tobacco products is so high that smokers can’t afford to just give cigarettes away, as the advertisements suggest. They cost about $5 for a pack. If I, a non-smoker, were offered a smoke, I’d just kindly decline instead of overreacting and forcing my morals on others.
The media is also influencing young children to believe cigarette smoke is morally wrong instead of just unhealthy.
We are taught to believe that those who smoke are foolish. We teach our children these beliefs in grade school with special programs and red-ribbon weeks. It has become common for young children to disagree with their parents who smoke because the children believe that smoking makes their parents bad people. They are not told to be sensitive to the fact that their parents might have been trying to quit smoking for a number of years, but their brains’ dependency on nicotine has hindered their ability to quit. They are also not taught to be sensitive to others’ decisions to smoke or not smoke.
I won’t disagree with the American Cancer Society when it comes to the dangers of smoking. I’m positive that smoking does cause lung cancer; however, I don’t believe that standing within 10, five, or even three feet of a person smoking a cigarette will cause major irreversible damage to my lungs.
I’ve noticed that people tend to think that the smoker is being selfish by smoking near a building, outside of a restaurant or around people. I’ve also noticed the non-smokers sometimes selfishly force their ideas and beliefs on the smoker. Yes, the smoker is the real victim!
The non-smoker will sometimes respond with a repulsed expression on their face when someone lights a cigarette around them. They sometimes cough, gag and give stink-eyes. They do this to the poor smoker without a second thought. The non-smoker treats the smoker as if the smoker is forcing the non-smoker to have lung cancer or like the smoker just insulted the non-smoker’s grandmother.
The air in Bakersfield is already unhealthy; I don’t think a little bit of second-hand smoke is going to do much of anything, especially if the smoking is going on outdoors.
Unfortunately, most smokers regret becoming addicted to this unhealthy habit. The smoker is already aware of what he or she is doing to his or her body but can’t stop. Smokers don’t really need anybody to remind them that what they are doing is unhealthy. The non-smoking public shouldn’t ridicule them as rude and despicable people.