On the whole, is smoking bad?
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on Sunday, October 14th, 2007 at 11:42 pm and is filed under On The Whole.
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October 15th, 2007 at 2:47 am
Yes. People who smoke, although they look cool, and are more social, smell really, really bad. Like really bad. A smoker will just walk by, and It’s like getting smacked in the face. Although they do have the good sense to die early, so I’m going to change my answer to nope.
October 15th, 2007 at 6:27 am
Both.
(-) Bad for the smoker’s lungs
(+) Good for the tobacco company’s revenue and the job security of its employees
(+/-) May have either a positive or a negative impact on the smoker’s social status, depending on his or her social environment
(-) Implicated in several other negative health outcomes, such as heart attacks, stroke, impotence, tongue cancer, and in the case of smoking pregnant mothers, low birth weight
(+) Produces psychological effects such as alertness, improved memory, and euphoria
(-) Sustained use can result in withdrawal symptoms opposite to those listed above
October 15th, 2007 at 9:41 am
Apparently Dan doesn’t know what ‘on the whole’ means. The expression ‘on the whole’ means give a summary judgment taking into consideration all those pluses and minuses.
October 15th, 2007 at 10:01 am
on the whole, is killing innocent people bad?
October 15th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
On the whole: SMOKING IS BAD…
let me light my cigarette.
Steve, I was very disappointed to see the outcome of this good-sense-question, cause it could indeed have developed towards a thorough discussion regarding the difficile relationship between JUDGEMENT (or, attitude) and actual behavior, it could have devoped towards a discurssion regarding the discrepancy between absolute judgement (attitude) and the enacted behavior:
I have forgot the stats, but it is commonly taught that a high percentage of smokers answer this question like I just did - fully being aware of the dangers of smoking for their immediate environment and for themselves. Despite this clear judgement, they continue their smoking habits, act against their “good judgement”. So, what does that now tell us? What does that tell us about asking those stupid questions you ask lately in general. The answer to such a question does not in any way directly relate to the resulting behavior. Make that connection, and I am happily responding further.
btw - you really ought to post about things I find interesting.
October 15th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
and you know WHAT is WORSE than smoking???? Smoking and putting the ashes in a diet-pepsi-can and having to vomit later on and ruining perfect afternoons.
My point is - your “is xy good or bad” always opens the question “If xy IS good/bad, what is better or worse than xy?” - so, here you have your relativism back. In this sense, you cannot expect an absolute answer, Steve, so stop asking those questions.
October 15th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
smoking is neither bad nor good. It’s not the healthiest life choice, but if it makes you happy, I say smoke up. Since smoking indoors is essentially banned, second hand smoke is no longer a real issue, so smoking hurts no one but yourself. And even then, your risk of developing lung cancer is a little less than 1 in 5. However, nearly 90% of lung cancer cases belong to smokers so…
Well, if you like inhaling carcinogens on a regular basis, go for it.
October 18th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
Michael’s transformation is almost complete. Come to the libertarian side young pandawan.