On Behalf of Cigarettes

Enough of this preaching. Enough of this ‘smoking kills’ overdose that is reiterated by non-experts over and over again until it gets me absolutely, totally irritated. And tired. There are the moral police. And then there are the cigarette police. How many of you cigarette-haters have ever bothered to check the numbers? Or look beyond the propaganda bombarded our way everyday?

No, I am not a smoker. Not fond of others blowing smoke all over my face either. But for once, I feel for them. It’s not always peer pressure or a lame craving to appear in vogue that gets people to smoke. (In any case, today the fad is to hate smoking, it’s simply not cool.) Has anyone considered the possibility that one may smoke simply because one likes to smoke? Ah, but yes, nicotine is addictive. So all smokers simply must be a bunch of lying addicts desperately trying to give up the habit, only sinking in deeper and deeper as they scramble harder and harder to disengage. Just another cliché! A lot of the smokers I know do not over do it. Perhaps a cigarette or two, once a day. Everyone has a way to de-stress themselves. Some have an ice cream or a chocolate (the latter is also, if I may add, highly addictive. And we even feed it to kids!) Others have chips. Are they really that much safer than cigarettes?

Obesity has become a much bigger threat among youth today. What about all those Maggie packets that come without any warning label whatsoever? Is there any propaganda and cant to hammer it into people’s heads that Maggie may damage our brain cells? Tobacco companies at least warn us. Do alcohol bottles come with a danger sign? Alcoholism is often followed by domestic abuse, which is, once again, a far greater concern today. And drunk driving. The consequences of smoking at least are, more often than not, limited only to the smokers. As for that matter of cigarettes may causing lung cancer and respiratory problems, the pollution in our cities is ten times more potent and chooses its victims much more indiscriminately. The possible dangers of smoking are over-rated and over-hyped. And do you anti-smoking tyrants ever give a thought to the fact that this cancer is only a possibility and not a certainty? I mean, how many things are actually NOT carcinogenic these days?

Anyway, smokers hardly even have a place to smoke today. Like one of the T.V. channels pointed out, there are few places apart from the bathroom and the bedroom where one may inhale these ‘obnoxious’ and ‘nauseous’ tendrils of poison in ease. So fears of the perils of passive smoking may lie at rest. Give them a break, for God’s sake! If you hate cigarettes and think them fatal, it is your decision and choice. Do not impose it on others. Let us choose for ourselves. Let them choose for themselves. They have made their choice. We all know that cigarettes are potentially (only potentially!) harmful. They have been warned. Let those who still choose to smoke, lose themselves in that haze in peace. It is our and their liberty. Smoking may kill. But so may eating, driving, swimming and flying. Indeed, even hiding under your bed or standing under a tree is potentially deadly. You’re going to die anyway. What matters is living your life, your own way.

Meanwhile, thank you for smoking.

(P.S. I’ve written this because I remembered our resolution to maintain continuity and carry further each other’s articles. Karishma’s tirade against smoking just reminded me of my own in favour of it. That was a very well-written post, but I disagree with the content more or less completely.)