According to factoidz.com, less than 10% of upper-class people smoke daily. According to this same source, that statistic mushrooms to over 40% when describing the working class. That's a pretty damned big differential, no?......................................................................................................And, yes, folks, the repercussions of this differential are quite immense. This, in that, according to ash.org.uk, smoking is the biggest single contributor to health inequality between the classes.................................................................................................As to why this differential exists, academic studies have tended to focus on educational differences, the stresses associated with lower income, factors related to an individual's self-esteem, the fact that tobacco companies seemingly target the working class, lesser available treatment options for the working class, and cultural factors (smoking being more the norm in certain settings, etc.). Might I introduce another, far more quaint, possibility here - personal responsibility?.....................................................................................................I mean, I don't mean to be judgmental about it (and, yes, I understand - unless you walk a mile in the other person's shoes) but, come on....And especially if the individual in question has children, I'm saying; the second-hand smoke that these kids are breathing, the fact that Cigarettes are, what, $7-8 bucks a pack now (2 packs a day would be about $100 bucks a week - money that instead could be used to start a child's college fund perhaps)? You'd think that maybe for the kids they'd be able kick it. But, hey, what do I know - I'm just a non-smoking tax-payer.
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6 comments:
It's all bullshit anyway Will.
First off the lawsuits against big tobacco should have been thrown out. Cigarettes have been called "Coffin nails" and "Cancer sticks" since the great depression.
ANYONE especially in this day and age should KNOW that cigarettes are unhealthy, and if they don't they're idiots.
Also, when the government sued the tobacco companies they refused to allow them to present evidence that shows health costs with smokers was actually LESS because they died much earlier than non smokers.
If cigarettes are so damned bad they need to ban them, but they won't because they want the huge sin taxes they've imposed on the poorest section of our society.
(thank you Bill Clinton)
And yes, cigarettes MAY kill you in 25 or 30 years so you can't smoke them in a freaking BAR anymore while you're working on cirrhosis of the liver. But you can STILL get drunk and go out and get in your car and possibly kill innocent people or yourself.
Yea Government!
AND thanks to the 2 or 3 idiots a year who burnt themselves up while smoking in bed, we now have "fire safe" cigarettes. Now when you hit the section where it goes out, the cherry falls off and burns your carpet or you have to relight it several times distracting you from driving...
Sorry Will, you hit a nerve...LOL
You're concerned about smokers adding to the cost of health care for everyone... so your solution is to assign blame... and nothing else?
I'm sure your plan will work gangbusters.
"Personal responsibility" is a term used by Conservatives to absolve themselves of any resonsibility or compassion for their fellow man.
The cause of the problem is all the things you mentioned before before you got to "personal responsibility".
I am not a smoker btw. I wouldn't say it is because I'm a paragon of personal responsibility though. I just think smoking is gross... and expensive.
wd, I said nothing about being "concerned about smokers adding to the cost of health care for everyone". I cited smoking as the #1 reason for the working class having lower health care outcomes. And, yes, I brought up personal responsibility and I wondered a loud - are people poor because they smoke, or do they smoke because they're poor?
Will: I said nothing about being "concerned about smokers adding to the cost of health care for everyone".
So then I guess the entire point of your post was to crow about how superior you are to the lowered-ordered people who take up self destructive vices?
$5,200 a year on cigarettes....Let's put it this way. I would much prefer that they quit smoking than feed off the trough for more of my hard-earned tax dollars....And like Volt said, the education argument is bullshit. Anybody in this day and age who doesn't know that smoking can kill you is an idiot. Stress? Try exercise.
The left's idea of "compassion" is to turn over more power and wealth to the already-wealthy ruling elites.
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