since I moved I have been watching alot of tv (due to the scourge of digital cable and the fact that I do not get out much) and one of the things that has made me chuckle over the past few days is a repeated anti-smoking commercial. now do not get me wrong, I do not think smoking is healthy at all. but I believe that no one thinks it is. what I have a problem with is the blatant bait and switch lies they use to promote their view. you would figure with the simple fact that smoking is not that healthy of an activity you would not need to go out of your way to lie about how bad it is. and yet time and time again the propaganda machine uses false numbers and shoddy research to make their point. which leads me to wonder why? is there something they are trying to hide. or is just that the actual numbers do not support their views in any way shape or form.
I mean does smoking cause lung cancer. well it certainly does not help it at all. but to get an accurate study of that you would have to take a subject and put them in a completely sterile enviroment and subject them to an amount of smoke that the normal smoker would experiance. only then could you get an accurate result. unfortunatly this does not happen. many things contribute to lung cancer. hell driving to work in rush hour traffic contributes to it quite a bit. possible more so that smoking.
also to be able to believe the hype you have to know what they use as a definition for smoker. is it a pack a day. two packs. two cigs. one cig a week. until the viewer knows that the numbers are meaningless. I could go out tomorrow and say that 90% of the population smokes pot. hell if I picked my test group right I could get that number to 100%. the same goes for any activity at all. name it and if you define it loosely enough you can prove that whatever thing it is (either good or bad) is the majority.
so in conclusion I will continue to use common sense and I urge others to do the same. if some one resorts to a song and dance routine to make their point. thats just what it is. a song and dance
