Tobacco Is The Devil

[Poisonshady313]

Don't quote me on this but isn't nicotine sort of one of those natural pesticides some plants have?

Yes.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Smoking is pleasurable no?.

After your body adjusts to it, it is. But I first started using tobacco by dipping and that's a very different experience because it's much stronger.

 

[shawn001]

Don't have to add the religious undertone to the devil and Tobacco. But its very additive to some, myself for an example, wish I never started and that I could quit and am trying.

That said, the fact we subsidize the industry with Tax dollars is way wrong.

also ever seen the movie "Thank You for Smoking" if not its worth it.

Thank You for Smoking (2005) - IMDb

 

[Rick O'Shez]

Our whole UK system is completely riddled with masonry.

I reckon that Nigel Farage is a bit dodgy.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

Bacon is evil.

 

[shawn001]

 

[shawn001]

LOL

 

[amorphous_constellation]

Bacon is evil.

Quite frankly I think that bacon is like transcendent divinity when I recall those moments I've had with it. I should go buy a weeks worth of it, along with some jalapeno cheese, sausage and eggs. Every day before going to my 2nd shift job I'll put all that together in a sandwich at noon and call it God.

 

[Glaurung]

No. It's an illusion of pleasure. Have you ever heard of a smoker tell you that the first cigarette was wonderful? Isn't usually a scene of hacking and coughing? Seems like the opposite of pleasure. The only sense of relief given by smoking is of the stress caused by the desire to have another cigarette... which was only caused by the previous cigarette. The relief of this craving is confused for genuine pleasure.

Oh come now, if smoking wasn't pleasurable no one would do it. It's an acquired taste to be sure, much like beer and coffee, few people claim that they loved either one straight off the bat. My first few espresso shots were incredibly bitter and I can't say I enjoyed them, but now many years later I'm a two to four cup a day person because espresso coffee is the best thing in the world.

Not everything can be immediately appreciated, but that doesn't mean that they're not enjoyable once you acquire the taste for them.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

Quite frankly I think that bacon is like transcendent divinity when I recall those moments I've had with it. I should go buy a weeks worth of it, along with some jalapeno cheese, sausage and eggs. Every day before going to my 2nd shift job I'll put all that together in a sandwich at noon and call it God.

 

[oldbadger]

I reckon that Nigel Farage is a bit dodgy.

Well........... yes.
In that way.
The % of such folks ion villages such as Downe could be quite high.

 

[fantome profane]

Karl Marx once called religion "the opium of the people." What if addictive substances are evil? What if tobacco is the closest thing we have in the real world to the serpent, the seductress, the devil?

I'm all for a good metaphor or mythological allusion. But there is no need to actually attribute some supernatural element to this in order to understand that tobacco smoke is toxic.

I think a better question might be are tobacco companies evil?

 

[Stevicus]

Point being - in today's societies, almost NONE of us are "doing right" by our bodies and biology with respect to food - cutting our life-spans shorter in the vast majority of cases. So let's all hunker down with a plate of evil and call it a day.

I probably look at it more like these guys :

 

[FTNZ]

Don't have to add the religious undertone to the devil and Tobacco. But its very additive to some, myself for an example, wish I never started and that I could quit and am trying.

That said, the fact we subsidize the industry with Tax dollars is way wrong.

also ever seen the movie "Thank You for Smoking" if not its worth it.

Thank You for Smoking (2005) - IMDb

I was able to quit using the medication Chantix/Champix (Varenicline). Within a few days I had no more desire to smoke. It really is a great medication, no other method of quitting worked for me.

 

[A Vestigial Mote]

I probably look at it more like these guys :

Reminds me of the whole "pizza as a vegetable" qualification used to explain away its prevalence within school lunch programs. Oh food - why must you be so delicious?

 

[Poisonshady313]

Oh come now, if smoking wasn't pleasurable no one would do it. It's an acquired taste to be sure, much like beer and coffee, few people claim that they loved either one straight off the bat. My first few espresso shots were incredibly bitter and I can't say I enjoyed them, but now many years later I'm a two to four cup a day person because espresso coffee is the best thing in the world.

Not everything can be immediately appreciated, but that doesn't mean that they're not enjoyable once you acquire the taste for them.

Tolerating something and getting pleasure from something are two different things.

The pleasure from smoking is the temporary relief from withdrawal. Withdrawal that was caused by smoking in the first place. It's like scratching an itch that started from scratching when there was no itch. If you stopped scratching, you'd stop itching, but you believe you can't stop itching unless you scratch. That's not pleasure.

I'm not just making this up. Allen Carr smoked between 3 to 5 packs per day for 30 years. After finally stopping, he helped millions of smokers struggling to quit to do so by removing the struggle and making it easy. He has more than just his own story and/or the stories of a few friends. He personally interacted with and received feedback from thousands of smokers/ex-smokers during the next 20 years. Few in this world are more qualified to speak of what smokers go through than him. I read his book, and it made sense. I have recommended his book to smokers struggling to quit, and I have seen it work.

Out of the 47 times the man uses the word "illusion" in his book, 20 of them are in direct reference to the "enjoyment" or "pleasure" of smoking.

In finding out this bit of trivia, I stumbled upon a particular passage that addresses this very conversation.

"Many smokers believe they enjoy the taste and smell of the tobacco. It is an illusion. What we are actually doing when we learn to smoke is teaching our bodies to become immune to the bad smell and taste in order to get our fix, like heroin addicts who think that they enjoy injecting themselves. The withdrawal pangs from heroin are relatively severe, and all they are really enjoying is the ritual of relieving those pangs.

The smoker teaches himself to shut his mind to the bad taste and smell to get his 'fix'. Ask a smoker who believes he smokes only because he enjoys the taste and smell of tobacco, 'If you cannot get your normal brand of cigarette and can only obtain a brand you find distasteful, do you stop smoking?' No way. A smoker will smoke old rope rather than abstain, and it doesn't matter if you switch to roll- ups, mentholated cigarettes, cigars or a pipe; to begin with they taste awful but if you persevere you will learn to like them. Smokers will even try to keep smoking during colds, flu, sore throats, bronchitis and emphysema.

Enjoyment has nothing to do with it. If it did, no one would smoke more than one cigarette. There are even thousands of ex-smokers hooked on that filthy nicotine chewing gum that doctors prescribe, and many of them are still smoking.

During my consultations some smokers find it alarming to realize they are drug addicts and think it will make it even more difficult to stop. In fact, it is all good news for two important reasons:

1 The reason why most of us carry on smoking is because, although we know the disadvantages outweigh the advantages, we believe that there is something in the cigarette that we actually enjoy or that it is some sort of prop. We feel that after we stop smoking there will he a void, that certain situations in our life will never be quite the same. This is an illusion. The fact is the cigarette gives nothing; it only takes away and then partially restores to create the illusion. I will explain this in more detail in a later chapter.

2 Although it is the world's most powerful drug because of the speed with which you become hooked, you are never badly hooked. Because it is a quick-acting drug it takes only three weeks for 99 per cent of the nicotine to leave your body, and the actual withdrawal pangs are so mild that most smokers have lived and died without ever realizing that they have suffered them."

 

[sojourner]

Its also chemically addictive, which other poor lifestyle choices like mcdonalds arent.

Fat and sugar are also addictive. Which is why McDonald's' "Mccardboard Burgers" are so popular.

 

[McBell]

Karl Marx once called religion "the opium of the people." What if addictive substances are evil? What if tobacco is the closest thing we have in the real world to the serpent, the seductress, the devil?

Beauty is in the eye of the perceiver, not in what is being perceived.

 

[McBell]

My brother died at the age of 44 due to alcohol abuse. I can tell you that addiction did appear to be evil to me for awhile. But, in reality, inanimate objects aren't evil; it's what we do with them. A glass a wine can be beneficial, etc. That said, I see no value whatsoever in tobacco.

Nicotine treatment for ulcerative colitis