ISU Bengal

Issue date: 3/7/07 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Kevin Manning Jennifer Breeding, 18, right, smokes a cigarette on the steps of Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis, Missouri. She said that her parents were aware of her smoking, and that it was ok with them as long as she bought her own cigarettes.

Editor's note: This article is an opinion, and as such may greatly offend some readers. If you are easily offended, then read at your own risk. The opinions expressed here are not representative of the opinions of the Bengal newspaper or it's staff in general, and are solely those of the writers.



Smoking is a one of those types of issues with a bigger bandwagon effect than the New York Yankees, though most sane people probably hate the Yankees worse than smoking. Honestly, how anyone could be a fan of that abomination of a baseball team is beyond me, but I digress. It is all to easy to attack smoking and automatically pronounce it as disgusting, unhealthy, and an expensive waste of money; it is almost as easy to attack smokers with the same pejoratives. Granted, these titles are not unwarranted, and in fact are quite accurate in most cases.

Yet, why all the fuss over a personal lifestyle choice? Are there no positive aspects to smoking that can be held up by smokers to counter all the arguments presented by 'the man'? Here are some cool menthol-flavored arguments you can use against the tobacco Nazis the next time you light up a cigarette and they attempt to crucify you.

One of the best responses smokers can give when asked why they smoke is simply that it makes them look so entirely cool. James Dean smoked, Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack smoked, and even Keanu Reeves smoked himself death in the smash hit 'Constantine'. Yes, all the cool people in Hollywood have smoked, and as everyone knows, Hollywood is always right on everything, and should be regularly consulted when deciding moral and social dilemmas. That being said, many Hollywood elites have now come out against smoking, so smokers should ignore them and stick with the examples of the old Hollywood stars, and Keanu 'The One' Reeves.

As a political science major, I love to complain about the government every chance I get, which is why I'm jealous of smokers. They get to complain about the government all the time, as 'the man' is constantly oppressing them. Indeed the plight of smokers is great, but at least they can sit around in a haze of toxic fumes and whine about how unfortunate it is that they can't smoke inside the daycare or bank that they work at.

Continued...

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