As an activist author I must concede that, at the very practical outset, cigarettes are here to stay. Cigarettes are here to dawn the shelves of shopping outlets, here to consume people to their deaths, here to neurologically haunt people, here to force young naive minds into pitiful life-long addiction, and are here to painfully numb the already weak and fragile to terrible disease-stricken deaths.
But, really, what does the way going forward look like?
To answer that question, let me share my experience as an author writing about this subject over the past three months. My intended objective has been that researching and raising awareness about the ills of a topic as horrendous as cigarette smoking would, in turn, give me the motivation to quit smoking. I have both good and bad news: While I have had all the motivation, I still haven't been able to entirely quit the habit. I am still tempted to light up "the one extra smoke" at a college party or when I'm comfortably unwinding with my clique on a relaxed Friday night. I have largely resisted the urges; over the past 90 days, I have learnt how terrible this habit can be and how little the government can pragmatically do to prevent people from taking on the habit. It is a matter of free unprovoked individual choice. And my choices have not always been the right ones.
The paradox remains: Despite all efforts to disincentivize people---labeling tobacco products, ban on smoking advertisements, increasing taxes to maximum rates, ban on smoking in public (partly), etc---people are still undeterred.
Some soul-searching needs to be done at this point: Where do we want to, philosophically, go as a society? Do we want evils to wander freely and potentially hijack the lives of your young ones? Or how much further can intervention go beyond which the signs of authoritarianism overshadow those of liberty and freedom?
In my previous post on this very blog, I emotionally urged a blanket ban on all forms of tobacco products. Some of my friends sympathized with such arguments but very appropriately argued that those adverse initiatives would never see the end of the tunnel. Such radical governance (even if for the good of the people) undermine the value systems of a democracy. Let me briefly describe how;
I spent part of my Thanksgiving in the United Arab Emirates, just a few days ago. The Emirates flight that I had boarded had bold imprints: "Smoking tobacco is banned in the UAE." To confirm, I saw the same signage plastered over the walls of wherever I went to in Dubai. Even though that is the dream in terms of where I'd like to see the tobacco industry go, it is a freedom-stifling form of governance. I prefer the luxury of choice and free will that I have in the United States of America over the authoritarian diktats of the Sheikhs of the oil-world.
So if cigarette smoking ultimately boils down to a matter of choice, it is that what we must target if we are to curb the habit en masse. If the demand dries up, basic economics teaches us that so will the supply. Efforts to influence, by the means considered legal in a democracy, people to make better informed choices must continue. More so, the disincentives apparatus currently in place should remain as it is, and if possible tightened where loose.
But as I've realized over the past three months, what is most important is influencing ones own self. Take care of yourself, and so will the world of itself. As an educated citizen, I know the pros and cons of the subject, yet I choose to indulge. Until I clean the dirt from my own heart, my telling other people to clean the dirt from their own will remain ineffective.
But, really, what does the way going forward look like?
To answer that question, let me share my experience as an author writing about this subject over the past three months. My intended objective has been that researching and raising awareness about the ills of a topic as horrendous as cigarette smoking would, in turn, give me the motivation to quit smoking. I have both good and bad news: While I have had all the motivation, I still haven't been able to entirely quit the habit. I am still tempted to light up "the one extra smoke" at a college party or when I'm comfortably unwinding with my clique on a relaxed Friday night. I have largely resisted the urges; over the past 90 days, I have learnt how terrible this habit can be and how little the government can pragmatically do to prevent people from taking on the habit. It is a matter of free unprovoked individual choice. And my choices have not always been the right ones.
The paradox remains: Despite all efforts to disincentivize people---labeling tobacco products, ban on smoking advertisements, increasing taxes to maximum rates, ban on smoking in public (partly), etc---people are still undeterred.
Some soul-searching needs to be done at this point: Where do we want to, philosophically, go as a society? Do we want evils to wander freely and potentially hijack the lives of your young ones? Or how much further can intervention go beyond which the signs of authoritarianism overshadow those of liberty and freedom?
In my previous post on this very blog, I emotionally urged a blanket ban on all forms of tobacco products. Some of my friends sympathized with such arguments but very appropriately argued that those adverse initiatives would never see the end of the tunnel. Such radical governance (even if for the good of the people) undermine the value systems of a democracy. Let me briefly describe how;
I spent part of my Thanksgiving in the United Arab Emirates, just a few days ago. The Emirates flight that I had boarded had bold imprints: "Smoking tobacco is banned in the UAE." To confirm, I saw the same signage plastered over the walls of wherever I went to in Dubai. Even though that is the dream in terms of where I'd like to see the tobacco industry go, it is a freedom-stifling form of governance. I prefer the luxury of choice and free will that I have in the United States of America over the authoritarian diktats of the Sheikhs of the oil-world.
So if cigarette smoking ultimately boils down to a matter of choice, it is that what we must target if we are to curb the habit en masse. If the demand dries up, basic economics teaches us that so will the supply. Efforts to influence, by the means considered legal in a democracy, people to make better informed choices must continue. More so, the disincentives apparatus currently in place should remain as it is, and if possible tightened where loose.
But as I've realized over the past three months, what is most important is influencing ones own self. Take care of yourself, and so will the world of itself. As an educated citizen, I know the pros and cons of the subject, yet I choose to indulge. Until I clean the dirt from my own heart, my telling other people to clean the dirt from their own will remain ineffective.
In the beginning of this final blog post of yours, you paint this picture of the horrors of smoking cigarettes. How bad it is for your health, causing addiction, disease, and eventual death. I remember looking over your visual essay with you about terrible things that smoking can do to a person’s body. You used an example of someone’s life to show the stages of how smoking lead to a man’s horrible death. The pictures and this true story would be enough to deter anyone from wanting to pick up a cigarette again. So you can imagine my surprise when you said that you picked to write about this topic to motivate yourself to quit smoking. After all the horrible things that you found out smoking can do to a person, you smoke. But the reality is that choosing to smoke socially when you are with your friends at a party is very common for people to do- especially in college. People don’t think of those terrible images of disease and death when they light up with family and friends at a party. It is hard to realize that something that is (somewhat) socially acceptable and done regularly can be so bad for a person. And yet it is.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is great that you have confronted yourself with learning about what smoking can do to your body. It is hard to point out your own faults and try to motivate yourself to quit a bad habit when it is so addicting- especially if your family or friends smoke and you are consistently around the habit that you are trying to break. I think it is wonderful that you picked a topic that you can personally relate to, and something that will show you the light to make you want to quit smoking and make yourself a healthier person. I like that you ended your blog saying “Until I clean the dirt from my own heart, my telling other people to clean the dirt from their own will remain ineffective.” I also think it is big of you that you realize that it is hypocritical to write blogs about how horrible smoking is for people and try to influence them to quit when you yourself are a smoker. Like I said it is hard to confront your bad habits head on and I think that it is amazing that you are trying to educate yourself about this topic to make yourself a healthier person. I hope that blogging about this and learning more about it will create that motivation that you were looking for so you can quit someday.
When it comes to the future of cigarettes I think you instantly dive in to the effects of it and your topic is definitely solid and shouldn’t be too hard to analyze and gather information on. Since there is decades worth of history and scientific studies that have focused on smoking. Although this debate over why people still choose to smoke despite the anti-smoking campaigns has been used frequently. The angle that you’re analyzing it from is different from what it typically seen. Instead of overwhelming your audience with loads of statistical data proving why smoking is dangerous, you used real events and first hand experience. The events at the airport aid in the ethos department for your topic. Yes, this personal experience helps but I feel as if you should’ve been more in depth in terms of considering its rhetorical value in your argument. Also in the “Whale Rider” incident, you have established a perfect scenario to analyze logos but you only describe the scene rather than evaluating its rhetorical appeal. However, you do discuss the image that adolescents associate with smoking and how they fall victim to this attempt to be “cool.” Your inclusion of the video was brilliant because it already lays a foundation foundation for your blog and the points that you intend to get across. This video displays sounds and images simultaneously making it a very effective use of media. The questions that you pose at the end of your post about ethos, logos, and pathos are very interesting. I think that it would’ve been best if you answered these questions because they would have clearly established your ideas on how pathos, ethos, and logos relate to your topic. Aside from that this is a well written blog post in terms of presenting scenarios and real events.
ReplyDelete