Friday, 02 July 2010
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Is Smoking Still Cool?
'Tis the season for taxes and it came as no surprise that the tax on cigarettes went up. The average pack in New York City costs around $10.80. Compare it to a couple of years ago when the average was around $5. With clove cigarettes and flavored blunt papers outlawed, it doesn't seem probable that the war on the tobacco industry will stop any time soon. As cigarette prices escalate, will they lose their cool factor?
There are many reasons why smoking cigarettes has been considered “cool” behavior. Smoking is accessible (you can get it anywhere and don't have to wait until you are 21), you can multitask when you smoke (the same can't be said for drinking), and it gives off a very nonchalant air about the person doing it. The “I don't give a damn” image was certainly why I tried my first cigarette. But now with cigarette prices skyrocketing (and the omnipresence of quit smoking ads), this bad boy icon of insouciant behavior might just come crashing down.
When cigarettes were cheap, people bought packs with the same ease as they would buying beer or a pack of gum. But at $10.80, quite a bit more consideration is put into the purchase. The next time you go light up a cigarette, you might just end up asking yourself if you really NEED to smoke that cigarette or save it for a later time. The higher the cost of the product, the more the product becomes a luxury item. There are alternatives of course, like the electronic cigarette. It's healthier and cheaper but it's just not the same. It's not really smoking if your cigarette doesn't produce any smoke.So will there be a new cool bad behavior to take the cigarette's impending vacancy? Is it possible to find another product that will become as prevalent in everyday life and culture as cigarettes have been for the last couple of centuries that doesn't involve illegalities? Yes, people will keep smoking. It's an addiction, after all. But the cigarette will lose the edge, especially its hold over teens and people in their early to mid-twenties. Whatever the cool new fad may be, I just hope it's not bro- icing or else Joe Camel might start crying in the fetal position.
Be honest, did you start smoking because you thought it looked cool? What do you think will be the new “cool” bad behavior?
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About the Author
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- From: ChristineZee
- About Me: David Bowie wrote "Kooks" about me.
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Comments (115)
I have never met one person who actually thought smoking was 'cool' whatever the hell 'cool' actually means. They all, as well as myself, started smoking because we knew it would make us feel less stressed. For me it was during my parents very nasty divorce that I started smoking. I could be so riled up and the cigarette would take the edge off. That's all. Anyone who would smoke to be cool.. I can't even imagine that level of stupidity. It would be like if someone saw a celebrity in a Pepsi ad and actually decided to switch from Coke to Pepsi because of it. Holy shit.
@theDevilWeeps@xanga - Yes, we know it's unhealthy now, but didn't intuitively they know that a bad smell that takes getting used to, was a bad thing, but ignored 1st feelings to join their friends? I say that because as a child (like all intuitive children, just feeling things as they are) the 4 of us would sit at the table for dinner. There were good and bad foods, but all of it could be rescued, in my mind, by drinking my glass of milk at the end. My mother's cigarrette smoke would float over to me and I was not allowed to make a face or wave it away. It would seem to linger over my glass of milk as if it was warming it or messing with it in some way. I started drinking it down before the waft reached it so it wouldn't get "spoiled." I was absolutely 100% sure I'd never smoke, and I never did. Still don't know what the forced inhalation once was for - I kicked and screamed but had to inhale once - for them. (**Really good parents despite the description.)
@SummerShrinkDown@xanga - Sounds like you're still very stressed.
@AlanE - Hehe, yes, yes I am.
@SummerShrinkDown@xanga - I'm glad you smiled about it. What brings you back down more permanently than a cigarette, would that be the ticket? Glass of water and a few deep breaths, you say? Well...at least it won't cost $10.
@AlanE - Oh don't get me wrong. I hate smoking. It's expensive and it smells bad. And it makes me have to hack in the morning. The first year or so was fine, no real symptoms and the cigs made me feel better. But then I got addicted to the nicotine and now I smoke because I'm hooked. Though I have been able to reduce my cigs per day slowly over the past couple of seasons.That's why it irritates me, the topic of smoking being cool. People should debunk that fiercly and point out how awfully stupid it is, so any teen thinking about lighting up to look cool knows he/she definitely does not. But yeah, my comments are a little on edge sometimes. I can laugh about it, no worries.
@SummerShrinkDown@xanga - Then that makes a lot of sense, "a good myth to debunk" I totally agree. And previously I did not. Haha. I didn't then because for many people it was to be with their anti-establishment (read "against parents old and hurtful ways," or "cool") friends. To be able to continue talking when friends go in the smoke pit - smoke, too. But you make perfect sense. I'm battling with (my distaste of site building mostly, or is it a battle in my mind only?) creating a profile. Away from home for "a long time" I'm stealing my Facebook pics, save as and all, to create a delineated spot so reading comments is easier on others (for one!). Your abs caught my eye immediately and - g-r-eat job. It's not easy for some, harder for others. Always possible.
@AlanE - My abs? Do you mean my profile pic? Oh no lol. XD
I belong to an ED habits community. Most of our profile pics are either ED related images or what is referred to as thinspo until we feel comfortable enough to post our own pics.
In reality I am a short brunette. :P
Sorry to have tricked you without meaning to, as I am part of a warped little ED culture. I do not usually even think about my profile pic when commenting outside the ED community, since I am mainly here to blog about that issue and those who share the issue. Whoops. :x
@SummerShrinkDown@xanga - Your honesty is as beautiful as you really are. Thanks for telling me. You'll get where you aim.
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i dont think so ..never thought smoking was cool :D
I started because it was the first thing I grabbed when I needed something.
I have capnolagnia.
Don't be so full of yourselves. You don't smoke. So what? You are not any more special than those who do smoke. NO ONE has ever pressured me into smoking and NO ONE ever will. Smoking is cool. I have never been one to buy a pack even when it was less than $5. Now I only smoke when I'm out drinking and having a good time. It adds to the vibe and is cool. You holier than thou assholes. As for cancer, how much red meat are you consuming? How much do you have your cell phones to your head? Dumbasses!
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