[mattbgates]

Thank you for smoking.

Best movie clip ever: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrxRCTUt6OY

It also helps when you have investments in cigarette companies, because why not? When there are advertisements sent out by the very companies themselves to avoid their product, and people still do it? There must be something to it! And money to be made!

But in all seriousness, everyone chooses their poison which comforts them, whether it be alcohol, prescription drugs, cigarettes, food, television, etc. This is the beauty of free will and choice. No matter what the research says, people will still do it. I've work in a hospital before and saw plenty of patients with lung cancer who passed away right before my eyes. Once the scene was cleared and cleaned up, the nurses and doctors would go right outside and smoke cigarettes. They know the possibility is there, yet make the choice to continue doing self-harm.

[babyrainbow]

When you get on a Vehicle and enter a Highway, don't you know a care less/drunk/reckless driver can kill you and your loved ones instantly or put them in unimaginable agony for a long time. Right?

But we still do it, even when there are other safer alternatives, like taking a bus, at the same time mocking people who Smoke, because they are "risking their lives". Why?

Why is not entering a small car and going to highway where people are going at 100+ mph, seen as risking their lives?

To me, that is more perplexing a thing than smoking. At least you are not risking the lives of others...

But we don't talk about it. Of course, convenience trumps everything...

[coralreef]

Getting into a car is a necessary risk to living a fulfilling life.

Taking up smoking has little upside.

[mikelyons]

There are plenty of arguments that are more valid than these claims that smoking is part of a fulfilling life and riding in a car is not.

[coralreef]

But yet you didn't post any?

[babyrainbow]

>Getting into a car is a necessary risk to living a fulfilling life.

Haha. Really? These car advertisements really work.

>Taking up smoking has little upside.

Again. Really? Are you saying there is no fun in smoking?

[coralreef]

Yes, some people need to get into a car to get to work. Work is a significant part of a fulfilling life. Driving allows you to visit places, see family, maintain a hobby.

Smoking has some utility, in that it feels good by delivering nicotine. It also has great downsides, like cancer and heart disease risk.

What I'm saying is the two aren't without risk, but one is a clearly more sensible option than the other (you brought up the example of cars).

[babyrainbow]

>Yes, some people need to get into a car to get to work....

Can't take a Bus?

>Driving allows you to visit places, see family, maintain a hobby.

Can't take a bus?

I wasn't taking about the driving where you are the only passenger anyway....

>What I'm saying is the two aren't without risk, but one is a clearly more sensible option than the other (you brought up the example of cars).

And. You say smoking has some great downsides. Have you spent some time in a traffic jam or red signal, where you are surrounded by exhaust from other vehicles. In some countries you might have a truck or bus with your exhaust directly in your face or open window....

So, one is not "clearly more sensible option", But one sure is more socially acceptable. Surprise surprise!

[coralreef]

Some people live in rural areas or sparsely populated areas, so yeah, they can't take a bus.

[HeavenBanned]

I knew I wanted to become a programmer after being a temp nobody working at a tech company and shooting the shit with the smoking programmers who were relegated to the garden outside to smoke at the top of every other hour. I learned more from the programmers who worked on the floor above me than I did from my own coworkers and the salesbros across the room. I was able to get months of conversation in and learn about programming's ins and outs. Smoking has a lot of upside for me, at the least, in the form of a social tool. But there may be other better ways to facilitate that. Smoking as a social facilitator goes back thousands of years. I think the advent of puritanism has demonized it because of health concerns. But who cares, really? We're all heading to the grave anyway. May as well facilitate it with a buzz no different than a cup of coffee. Swedes have Fika, why can't we have our smoking circle?