mellowtigger | smoking is stupid (and so are some anti-smoking campaigns)

The most common factor that I hear mentioned among all the reasons that people start smoking is the "cool factor". People have the impression (reinforced via film and advertising) that smokers are tough, imposing, and rebellious. People slowly committing suicide are not cool, okay? To paraphrase one person I read on Facebook a few weeks ago:

"Oh, yeah, I smoke as a critique of social conformity too."

A recent study from Israel collected some very interesting data about smokers. They studied more than 20,000 recruits in the Israeli army, including some recruits who were brothers. They found that the population of smokers had a lower I.Q. than the population of non-smokers. That alone was fascinating news. The most interesting tidbit (or so I believe) is this one:

"An analysis of brothers discordant for smoking found that smoking brothers had lower cognitive scores than non-smoking brothers (adjusted ES = 0.27; P = 0.014)."

So even when considering the impact of socioeconomic environment, the effect still remains. They seem to be taking the theory that people with lower I.Q. scores will exercise poorer judgement about the long-term consequences of their actions, leading to the practice of smoking (among other high risk conditions like obesity and drug addiction).

"People with lower IQs are not only prone to addictions such as smoking," Prof. Weiser adds. "These same people are more likely to have obesity, nutrition and narcotics issues."

That idea seems reasonable. I do wonder, however, if smoking ends up lowering mental acuity because of all the horrible chemicals that are included in cigarettes these days. They can't be good for the brain. When considering cigarette smoke and lower I.Q., which is the cause and which is the effect? I'd want to see I.Q. tests done on young people, then followed up a decade later to see who has taken up smoking and who hasn't. Has I.Q. lowered only after exposure to smoke?

I know that I've jokingly mentioned before (to

dangerdhotrod and others) my theory that a former smoker would make a great boyfriend because of that oral fixation that they need to satisfy. *wink wink* *nudge nudge*

I think I need to retire that joke. Now that I've seen it used graphically, I can see just how crude and offensive it really is to make light of a deadly serious problem.

As The Advocate reports:

"A series of posters released Monday by the Non-Smokers' Rights Association each feature a male or female who appears to be in their late teens kneeling before a fully clothed adult male. A cigarette hangs from the teen's mouth, extending downward before seeming to disappear into the man's pants. The caption beneath the image reads "Smoking Means Being a Slave to Tobacco."

Um, yeah. A serious and life-threatening addiction should not be made into an opportunity for a giggle. The humor value of my joke is now gone.

I still dislike watching people slowly kill themselves by inhaling that garbage. I can't quite imagine what I would feel while watching a boyfriend do something like that. I still want to help people everywhere quit their addiction. Curiosity (do smokers develop an irrepressible oral fixation?) still roams my thoughts, but it's no longer a laughing matter.

smoking is stupid (and so are some anti-smoking campaigns)

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