"Thanks, Tobacco: You Killed My Mom"

reply to post by Flighty
That's your law. If I wrote the bill, all tax monies obtained from tobacco would be funneled into a special fund(interest bearing) that would be designated for healthcare use only. It would be UNTOUCHABLE!!!! In other words, a real trust fund, unlike the Ponzi scheme FDR foisted on us those many, many years ago, may he burn in hell forever.

reply to post by nazarenec
Agreed! No one held anyone down and made them smoke the first cigarette. No one held there nose and poured the first drink down their throat. (In the interest of full disclosure, I do drink. I drink 101 proof bourbon, and I really enjoy a couple of pints of Guinness every now and then.) And no one stuck a cigarette in your mouth, and kicked your butt while you inhaled.
I used to smoke. I quit over 20 years ago. There is not enough money, whiskey or women to make me pick tobacco in any form.
And as an aside to MR. Burns, who thinks my 300lbs is girth, weight doesn't always mean fat, sir. So when I say I can have attitude, I have something to back it up with.
(Sorry nazarencec, but he really pissed me off with the comment about weight. Everyone assumes that heavy means fat. Sometimes it means you work really hard and have a whole lot of muscle mass. And sometimes it means you have a really big gun.

This is hard to watch only because this guy actually filmed all of it.When my father was dying from a rare form of skin cancer I didnt once think about making a documentary out of it.I was only focused on being around him as much as possible becuase I knew he wasnt going to make it.This guys mother had a choice plain and simple.She could've stopped smoking a long time ago yet she CHOSE to keep doing it. This guy even knew she was dying from it yet he didnt do anything to keep her from smoking.The sick factor to me is that this guy is recording her dying moments which such be a very private thing that only the family should witness.Cigarette companies know that they sell poison to people every minute of everyday.People know that they are slowly killing themselves with cigarettes yet they do it because they want to. Some people die from things they have no control over but in this case she could have prevented her early death if only she stopped lighting up.

[edit on 31-1-2009 by Mysteryinthesky]

(any sbelling misdakes and bad gramma is intentionelly left in for entertainment purposes - and because English isn't my first or even my second language)

It has been an interesting read this thread.

"let's blame those who benefit - first the government then the tobacco companies."
I agree that the goverment should earn huge amount of money on the sale of tobacco. It is - after all - the goverment you go to for help with the concequences. In my country (Denmark) the health care system is entirely based on taxes.

"I started smoking knowing the risk. Now leave me alone".
I beg to differ. You may have started knowing the risk but your blasé way of ignoring the risk is based on the assumption that it won't happen to you. When/if you lie there dying of cancer I bet your views will change somewhat.

"I smoke standing by the open window so it won't bother my children or my spouse."
Have you ever thought about what happens to the smoke when the wind blows through the window INTO your house? I have noticed a definite trend in my family to always open the windows in the side of the house tat is in to the wind. Somehow it feels right to have fresh air coming in rather than sucking bad air out.

"Third hand smoking isn't a problem."
My wife and I stopped smoking two years ago (we did a "cold turkey" - stopped from one minute to the next) and recently I began noticing the nausiating whif of air around some smokers when I pass them in the shops or on the streets.
I have more than once thought about contacting old friends and family and apologize to them for having put them through such an experience.

"What about traffic pollution?"
Well, if I had my way the traffic in build up areas would be largely concisting of public transport. I know, that that is not likely to happen as long as people reserve the right to drive their own car the two miles down to the mall in stead of going by bike.
Society MUST have transport of people and goods. It is a fact that socity doesn't HAVE to have people ill or dying of smoke related illnesses.

"My friends don't say anything and don't seem to be bothered about me smoking."
Said friends might have given up arguing their case because of your hostile or insisting way of pushing your case.
Has anyone tried the followong scenario: A smoker asks at the table "Do you mind if I smoke?". You object and several others say nothing. The smoker happily ignores you because "majority rules".

Sometimes your friends might not even be aware of the ill effects of second hand smoking. After all - smokers and tobacco companies have been very good at coming up with statistics proving no ill effects.
Non-smokers can easily find statistics supporting their views, but as in all other cases - we trust most in statistics that suport the views we already have (true fact - can be substantiated in the relevant statistics ).

Sorry for writing anonymously - my account is apparently inactivated or I misremember my password. Either way the system won't send me a new password.
I usually logon using HolgerTheDane.

reply to post by Anonymous ATS


Excellent post, HolgerTheDane.

You've really hit the nail on the head.

I've said before that the value of this thread is that it documents the denial, egocentrism, and wanton hostility of those who are addicted to nicotine.

Isn't it interesting? I post valid links that lead to VALID SCIENTIFIC STUDIES published in RECOGNIZED MEDICAL JOURNALS that show tobacco's benefits, and not one response.

Think about this, all you rabid non-smokers. Back 60 years ago, when almost everyone smoked, almost everyone drank, and they ate diets loaded with red meat, fat, and butter, no one had heard of "ADHD" or "ADD", only a tiny portion of kids had asthma, and birth defects were very rare. But, with the water cleaned up, people drinking and smoking way less, and no one eating red meat, fats, butter, and cream, all those incidences are higher than ever. But nope. No correlation there. Must be coincidence. But I have digressed.

No one wishes to comment on the beneficial effects of smoking?

Also, one parting comment. If smoking CAUSED lung cancer, every single person who smoked would have lung cancer.

(For the record: I smoke MAYBE 40 cigarettes a year. Maybe that many GOOD cigars. And no, I do not work for a tobacco company.

[edit on 1-2-2009 by sir_chancealot]

reply to post by sir_chancealot


The carcinogens in cigarette smoke are harmful.
It's just a fact.

If smoking CAUSED lung cancer, every single person who smoked would have lung cancer.

That's like saying:
If Donuts caused obesity, then every single person who eats donuts would be fat.
That clearly is not the case, so donuts will not make you fat...

I can eat nothing but donuts and not get fat (because I have a very fast metabolism). Other people can eat a couple donuts and gain weight.

Similarly, smoking increases your odds of having lung problems (including lung cancer) - but, as with anything else, some people are naturally more resistant to the effects.

As with anything else, if you are a fairly healthy person, your risk is lower than it otherwise might be.

If you eat McDonalds 10 times a week AND smoke, then your body won't even have the basic vitamins and minerals it needs to keep your body renewed.
Why do you think skin cancer emerged out of nowhere when everyone started eating so poorly? The sun is not the problem, it's just that so many people aren't getting the vitamins, minerals, protein, H20, etc it needs to fight off the "harmful effects" of the sun.
But I digress...

reply to post by sir_chancealot



Technically, smoking increases the risk of certain diseases, including lung cancer, emphysema, and heart disease.

Everyone knows someone who's smoked for 70 years and still runs marathons, but of the smokers they are few and far between.

Whatever benefits there may be to smoking tobacco, they are far outweighed by the risk.

And by the way, I'm not a rabid anti-smoker and most of the people who've posted here acknowledging the risks of smoking haven't expressed the kind of hostility that has come from the smokers.

I do understand that smokers are a bit touchy over the subject of risks and public opinion, but the kinds of attitudes expressed regarding the poor woman in this video is atrocious.

Yes, she is to blame for smoking and continuing to smoke after her diagnosis, but the fact is that nicotine addiction is that powerful in some people and her story should be a lesson to all.



[edit on 2009/2/1 by GradyPhilpott]

Originally posted by BlesUTP
while very touching, i think its safe to assume she killed herself.

nobody put a cigarette in her mouth, and how could you not be aware of the conditions that come along with smoking.

i smoke, maybe a couple a day, but if i were to die it wouldnt be anyones fault but my own.

the tobacco companies put out addictive cigarettes, yes, but nobody is forcing anyone to buy them. its called will power. and when i can gather up mine ill be quitting, or i wont and ill continue. but its my choice, just as it is everyone elses choice.

While trying to stay respectful to the YouTube mans situation, I couldn't agree with you more. Cigarettes don't kill people unless people smoke them. Same theory as guns not killing people, people (bad guys, if you will) with guns kill people. Or even, Mcdonalds doesn't make people fat. People that eat Mcdonalds too often make themselves fat. I'm sure you get the point. So I'll let it be...

Originally posted by BlesUTP
reply to post by Mynaeris

 

i never walked past you before

and i have respect for other people, i dont smoke indoors i go outside. its not hard to not be an a-hole

Typical response of the selfish thoughtless and irresponsible people that wonder why they have all these secondary issues medical and mental but don't get it because they are......... Self fulfilling isn't it.

You've been educated and still you can't connect the dots? Easy meat for the Global elites propaganda machine.

Originally posted by BlesUTP
while very touching, i think its safe to assume she killed herself.

nobody put a cigarette in her mouth, and how could you not be aware of the conditions that come along with smoking.

i smoke, maybe a couple a day, but if i were to die it wouldnt be anyones fault but my own.

the tobacco companies put out addictive cigarettes, yes, but nobody is forcing anyone to buy them. its called will power. and when i can gather up mine ill be quitting, or i wont and ill continue. but its my choice, just as it is everyone elses choice.

Okay, I HAVE to put the breaks on your foolish assumption here. And you know what they say when we "ASSUME" something.

Sure, big tobacco didn't put that cigarrette in my mothers or aunts and uncles mouths either. However, they come from a generation where smoking was advertised as cool and safe and not hazardous for your health. From a time when big money from big tobacco paid off many of the government agencies that were supposed to protect Americans. And they KNEW what they were doing. All of it revealed with their 'secret' documents.

So, when you decide to try and make light of these killers (and everyone who starred this post), you should seriously remove yourself from THIS generation and put yourself in the generation that was brainwashed into thinking it was not only okay to smoke but very shiek.

They killed my mother as well. She was smoking before they had warnings on cigarettes. Hell, I remember seeing commercials about smoking. Yeah, they had the warnings by then but they weren't as stringent.

Oh yeah, have you ever been hooked on a drug? If so, did you kick it? If you did you are lucky. Because there are those that cannot kick it. No matter how hard they try, and believe me, my mother did try with support from her children and her family. She was simply a person with an addictive personality.

Be sure you lay the blame in the proper place while you are up on your high and mighty pedistal my friend. Because what may be common knowledge to you NOW just may not have been so commonly known 50 years ago.

reply to post by sir_chancealot


Yeah, tobacco, weed and so on do have beneficial effects on people when smoked in their PURE FORM. You are missing the boat my friend. It's all of the additives (the hundreds of poisens that hasten addiction) that are the problem. If you pick the leaf from the plant and dry it and smoke it you are actually getting something that can be benefitial. True. You just need to once again stop looking at things from such a focused point of view and begin to look at them from the points of view of the evil bastards that put the poisons in the herb in the first place. ALL FOR PROFIT. To sell more and to make sure that people didn't stop buying.

So please don't get upset when people ignore the posts on how beneficial smoking can be when you are missing the point.

I think the younger generation has missed the old way of advertising cigarettes, What about the famous "Marlboro Man"


or even the good old "Flintstones" .

Anyone remember my personal guru W. C. Fields who was paid by Lucky Strike to do weekly radio shows? That was when he invented Chester - his son. Good joke there.

Kool cigarettes - anyone?

Dunhill

These are old ads but you can easily find newer ones and ALL of them portrays smoking as hip, cool, "American way of life", trendy, stylish.

My point is that the advertising was massive.
Anyone still believe that advertising doesn't work? And you actually have "free will"?
If we have free will why do kids beg to wear the waistband of their trousers around their butt? Because it looks good (HA HA HA ha ha hiiii give me a break). No - it is because someone told them that it looks cool. A blatant lie but told so convinvingly that most young people swallow it raw.

Why did kids (and grown ups) tear their brand new jeans? Because someone told them....

Because advertising works!

After people have been sucked into the habit they get conditioned to believe it is hard to stop - almost impossible.
This is a very sneaky way the industri has conditioned the population to NOT stop - by telling them that it is very difficult and not their fault. And then we go and buy patches and gum.

It is not difficult to stop smoking. All it takes is the wish to do so and the stamina to endure (?) max one week of discomfort (not to be mistaken for withdrawel symptoms).

One would have thought that people on ATS would see it clearly...
Someone is making huge amounts of money on keeping you smoking. HUGE amounts. How else could the tobacco companies pay those huge amounts without having to go out of business.
How come they can keep selling this product?
If I decided to sell candy with small amounts of strycnine in them I would be in prison so fast that you couldn't see my ass for heels. Even though only one in 10.000 would ever be ill from it and only one in 100.000 would die.

Yes the old lady bought her own cigarettes. She did it. It's her fault she started.
But it is someone elses fault that she believed it to be safe enough to start.

And to those of you who keep saying that people should take the consequences of their own actions...
Yahh. I used to be that stupid too. Now I have grown up and put the blame on the guilty party.

HolgerTheDane

Originally posted by BlesUTP
while very touching, i think its safe to assume she killed herself.

nobody put a cigarette in her mouth, and how could you not be aware of the conditions that come along with smoking.

i smoke, maybe a couple a day, but if i were to die it wouldnt be anyones fault but my own.

the tobacco companies put out addictive cigarettes, yes, but nobody is forcing anyone to buy them. its called will power. and when i can gather up mine ill be quitting, or i wont and ill continue. but its my choice, just as it is everyone elses choice.

"maybe a couple a day" --- I've heard that one before.

This was a tough one for me to decide on in the past few years. However, I'm firmly under the belief that, unless you are causing direct harm to another individual's life or freedom then you should be free to make your own decisions, no matter how much it effects yours. When people talk about making tobacco illegal, then you are giving your government the power to take, what is virtually harmless to those not participating in the activity, away.

If this is the case, then we shouldn't drink alcohol because we could get liver cancer. We shouldn't fly in planes because there's a chance we could crash. We should drive cars because we risk hurting someone... hey, it should be illegal to run with scissors right? nobody could benefit from running with scissors?

My point is that you can't regulate what people do. It's a terrible practice that snowballs into overly powerful leadership that will eventually take these decisions away from you. And eventually, it will be a decision that you deem appropriate but someone else doesn't think it's good for you to do.

If I want to drink bleach... let me drink bleach... I'm not hurting you.

ever been to a paper factory town? the entire city for miles stinks like real schmidt. How dare they think they have the right to force me to breathe that. sure, i could hold my breathe while in town, but thats an unfair burden on myself.

ever been to a carnival? why the heck are the port-o-potties always backed right up next to the food court area? How dare they think they have the right to make me breathe that foul toxic air while eating. come to think of if... ever been nearby a burger king? its just appalling that they believe in their right to FORCE me to breathe in second hand food smell and smoke? How inconsiderate to those who are vegetarians, and those without food who are starving.

second hand smokers...

lets outlaw smells altogether. especially smells from certain cultures, whew there was this oriental family at disney world one time, i was in the clausterphobic elevetar of doom or whatever it was called, and man, the smell coming from them almost made me feint. they have no right.

Originally posted by spec2
ever been to a paper factory town? the entire city for miles stinks like real schmidt. How dare they think they have the right to force me to breathe that. sure, i could hold my breathe while in town, but thats an unfair burden on myself.

ever been to a carnival? why the heck are the port-o-potties always backed right up next to the food court area? How dare they think they have the right to make me breathe that foul toxic air while eating. come to think of if... ever been nearby a burger king? its just appalling that they believe in their right to FORCE me to breathe in second hand food smell and smoke? How inconsiderate to those who are vegetarians, and those without food who are starving.

second hand smokers...

lets outlaw smells altogether. especially smells from certain cultures, whew there was this oriental family at disney world one time, i was in the clausterphobic elevetar of doom or whatever it was called, and man, the smell coming from them almost made me feint. they have no right.

Ignorant and completely, as usual, missed the point. I mean as usual for the people that seem to be saying that people have a choice to stop smoking. Most of the time I believe that people who say this have never smoked in their life. Because they just don't understand.

Personally, I haven't smoked and I haven't been addicted. However, I'm afraid to even try it because I have seen many dear family members get sucked in by the drugs being pushed on them by these tabacco companies.

Now, if you were being serious, which I seriously doubt with your rude final statement, I apologize. However, I believe that you were not being serious and I feel that you showed how shallow you can be on this site.

whoa now. if a joke was bad, its still just a joke.

the way second hand smokers get all moral highgroundy on smokers like myself deserves a little mockery.

reply to post by spec2


Okay. I can grant you that. Maybe you should have put a big laughing smiley after your points.

You see, it's a very sensative subject for me now. I have lost too many loved ones to this 'personal choice'. When people try to make light of the fact that these people have been lied to on purpose by these criminals in the industry and then make light of the fact that it is a very addictive drug that for many is virtually impossible to kick...well, you see how I react.

I don't begrudge smokers their rights. It's the right of every citizen in this country.