Should I start smoking?

[Evil Cheese]

Back in high school health class, when the teachers told us that "wanting to act cool" was one of the reasons teenagers started smoking, I always thought that was bullshit. I always thought it was one of those things adults used to try and explain something that they didn't really know anything about. Just now, I saw someone who was legitimately trying to use that argument as an excuse to start smoking. Congratulations, you proved them right.

On a more helpful note, I work in an alternative school for "at risk" kids. Almost all of those kids smoke cigarettes amongst other things. Anytime something happens that makes them "stressed" or their blood pressure rises they have to go outside and smoke (despite most of them being underage). Do you honestly want to live that way? Every time something upsets you, you have to smoke to calm yourself? Think about what that means, don't just pass it off as me not knowing what I'm talking about. I'm not saying everybody who smokes acts this way, but chances are if you are smoking because you want to look cool, you don't have the self control to keep yourself from becoming addicted.

[fyre]

Im, not going to get into it, but asking the internet if you should do something lifechanging to be cool would be funny, thats why i thaught it was a joke,

:-\ It is a joke.

I do appreciate all the serious posts both sides have made in this thread, but I honestly thought I made it pretty clear that this is a joke.

If I ever do decide to smoke (which I probably won't) it will be my own decision. The one thing that isn't a joke is that since I don't like the smell, and I have other ways of getting a buzz, the only reason I would ever do it is because it looks cool. Which isn't really reason enough for me, given the fact that it is dangerous.

I got your back, Fyre.

But smoking makes you look cool like those peoples in movies. I just smoked two cigarettes on the way home and you could see in the faces of passers by how much respect they had for me.

Hell yeah.

[Tragic Hero]

I do appreciate all the serious posts both sides have made in this thread, but I honestly thought I made it pretty clear that this is a joke.

You did.  But regardless of it or not I thought someone should come into the defense of smoking.

I did my senior year in high school, and did not gain more than 5 pounds. Fast food does not cause obesity, fast food coupled with laziness causes obesity. Cancer from smoking, on the other hand, is completely dependent on luck. You can smoke 4 packs a day and never have a cancer scare, and you can smoke one pack a week and end up with lung cancer when you're 40.

Granted, I don't know why everyone's focused on the health issues, the reasons not to smoke are a lot simpler:

Pros of smoking:
buzz a couple times until you get used to it
???

Cons of smoking:
Look like a jackass to most people who do not smoke, and probably to half the people who do smoke
Smell like a jackass to everyone who hasn't had the pleasure of clogging their nose with cigarette smoke
Waste of money

You make a pretty good point although I don't agree with the looking like a jackass part.  I've never became a social pariah as soon as I pulled out my cigarettes. 

[Surf314]

The thing I enjoyed about smoking when I did smoke is it was an excuse to be on someone's porch with a bunch of friends shooting the shit.  It's hard to find an activity to replace that with the same atmosphere.  You got no distractions cuz you are kicked out of the house, you got nothing to do but talk, smoking makes you wanna chat more for some reason, and everyone sort of feels like an outcast together.

I don't miss smoking but I do miss being kicked out of somewhere and bonding with fellow outcasts.  Maybe I should buy a motorcycle?

[Luinbariel]

Ugh.

If I were your friend and you suddenly started smoking, I would no longer be simply because I hate that smell, I hate how it attaches to my clothes simply by being near it, and I hate how it makes my throat all scratchy.

I think it's a retarded waste of money, for one, as smoking is not necessarily the cheapest habit. I also think that it's lame to suggest that, because the quoted rates of lung cancer are low, you are ok to start smoking; you know that you can get cancer in other areas from cigarettes as well, right? Like in the mouth? Do you know how fucking disgusting that would be?

It's in the nature of carcinogens to be, as someone else said in one way or another, totally random. You really could smoke for years and years, such as my parents used to, and not get cancer or to simply smoke a handful and be riddled with it. It all depends on how the cell(s) are corrupted and whether or not the carcinogen is able to damage the genetic material directly in a cell or to alter cellular metabolism so that they replicate malignantly and wham, more or less, you have cancer.

I always remembered this part from high-school biology because it just struck me as insane how anyone would subject themselves and others (yes, you would have to realize that every time you smoked you really were subjecting others nearby to the chance of getting cancer, though not as high) to this kind of chance. I remember thinking of it as being a lot like trying to hit a penny somewhere in a hay-stack with an arrow.


Just don't do it. It's not worth it on all sorts of fronts. As far as I'm concerned, if someone thinks that wasting money and trying in the most ineffective and uncertain method to kill themselves makes them look cool... well, they REALLY aren't.

[Geoff]

I lost all respect for you when i realised which part of this isnt a joke

seriously, your not allowed to talk to me anymore, any post you make on my threads will not be looked at, and i think your a twat.


Im, not going to get into it, but asking the internet if you should do something lifechanging to be cool would be funny, thats why i thaught it was a joke, but if your full on serious about taking up smoking because you think you will look cool, your a twat, end of, we cant be friends anymore.


this is the most annoying thread ever, its even worse that karths youtube poop shit

you fucking worm.

HAHAHAHA

[MrGrey]

Geoff, I cant stop laughing.  I really can't.....

youtube poop SHIT.

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA

[KarthXLR]

[quote author=Dave link=topic=2613.msg74288#msg74288 date=1238757566]
I lost all respect for you when i realised which part of this isnt a joke

seriously, your not allowed to talk to me anymore, any post you make on my threads will not be looked at, and i think your a twat.


Im, not going to get into it, but asking the internet if you should do something lifechanging to be cool would be funny, thats why i thaught it was a joke, but if your full on serious about taking up smoking because you think you will look cool, your a twat, end of, we cant be friends anymore.


this is the most annoying thread ever, its even worse that karths youtube poop shit

you fucking worm.

HAHAHAHA
[/quote]
wut

[cannedpeahes]

If you do decide to start, make sure before you get too into it that you're the kind of guy who can stick to a rigid diet of cigarettes, say, 1 or two a day. Don't let yourself escalate, and you should be okay. And quit as soon as you start noticing symptoms too negative.

[rumsfald]

    "a classy way to commit suicide"    ....  "sometimes suicide takes time."

[ScottyGrayskull]

[quote author=Dave link=topic=2613.msg74288#msg74288 date=1238757566]
I lost all respect for you when i realised which part of this isnt a joke

seriously, your not allowed to talk to me anymore, any post you make on my threads will not be looked at, and i think your a twat.


Im, not going to get into it, but asking the internet if you should do something lifechanging to be cool would be funny, thats why i thaught it was a joke, but if your full on serious about taking up smoking because you think you will look cool, your a twat, end of, we cant be friends anymore.


this is the most annoying thread ever, its even worse that karths youtube poop shit

you fucking worm.

HAHAHAHA
[/quote]

poop

[rumsfald]

I'm considering these "should I" threads spam, and I'm locking all of them.

Psst. Scotty.
Over here.
Look, forum owners should
not contribute to SPAM
threads. Tsk tsk,
you need to
catch up on
your secret message
board before
you commit another
faux pas.

[fyre]

inb4relock

[Benito Mussolini]

Applauds Scotty

[Dave]

Applauds Scotty

mines more of a 80s movie building clap, rises to a soundtrack!

probably GOLD! allways beleive in your souuuul

[WTF Joel]

I don't appreciate being called a fascist Rummy.

[shoopfox]

Weed is cheaper

[Sponson]

Quit being a bitch.
Smoke Cigars.

[ScottyGrayskull]

[quote author=Joel link=topic=2619.msg74506#msg74506 date=1239028765]
I'm considering these "should I" threads spam, and I'm locking all of them.

Psst. Scotty.
Over here.
Look, forum owners should
not contribute to SPAM
threads. Tsk tsk,
you need to
catch up on
your secret message
board before
you commit another
faux pas.

[/quote]

Sorry, but not all of us spam with fancy words.

[SBCrystal]

If I were your friend and you suddenly started smoking, I would no longer be

Luin! Does that mean if I started smoking you'd stop being MAH FREND? Especially since you've stuck with me through worse shit than that. ^_______^

For real, though, people do what they want and I really don't give a crap. I used to smoke cigarillos but only when I was drinking, I liked them much better (especially the flavoured ones!) and it was one of those things you could just do every once and a while without worrying about addiction.