Tobacco Documents Online

Why Does Anyone In This Netion Still Smoke Cigerette.s? '' WAS HAYINO e physical exam the olher day, and the ee.mtner - a fellow I had • nerer mel before - was going down hla ' checslGl of queslions. -- ---- -- - --- you fmoke cl`ar.ltesT' ha mid. 1 ald. .'11aa you everY• be eald. "No." ( ald. and be morsd on lo H+e nest • quesllon.- Bul I was ooly htlt Ilstenfnl to ; hlm, I was-thlnklnR how amnelnelf h lhaf antr a11 lhese yean. anyone In the United : Slalea sllll srnokes at all. ~ I hare written angry columns about • smoklnt aed I have rrlllen a11AcaI col- :umrtr about smoking. I have written col- umns gently laying out the er`uments n/,nlnsl smohlng, and I have written columns ucunR orerklll in dncrlbGqmeharwrdr of smoking I have used every rhelorlcal de- vlce I could think of to_ polnt out tbe folly of smoklne. None of tl has mattered In the leesl.--- - - ------ -- ---- ---------- --- Bob Greene tofof number of clprettes smoked is rhlnl. The only Irulh you-can Ilean from all of this b that smo_ke_rs apparently are determined -- - --- -- -- --- ------------ to rmoke. Admllledly, tlU wnimoker, I am pre- cbely Ihe wrong person to eaplaln thb pha• nomenon. 11 b Jusl so battling to me. So lo- day Insieed of arguing against smoking spin. I will approech th6 In a different manner. Today's columofs addressed In Ihe form of questions to those of you who smoke. The quef/lom I ask here are not meant In /esl. They are not meenllo be mrcaullc. I would seriously like your enswers. The ques tlons are ones tha/, to non'mokers, seem tesltlmele; apparently we are wrong. Ilme to llme, pM to twe what the resl of you you thh, but the very corporaflan that sell ere do1n1, ere perplesed. The taste and you your cJprettes tell you the same thing every tlme you purchase apack.-ISO you thlnkIhlf (s fomellrl_n6 they w_enl to do7 Ir the manufacturer of any kind offood prod- Mllllone upon mII11orM ef people continue to smoke, and It should be clear by now that the anllsmok/n1 forces are desllned to 101e. Every time that government s1a11stlcs Indf• cate thepercenlale ofsmokerf tdgnlnl down, another sel ofslatlsllca seerna to Indl• cale the precentage of heavy smoken Is going up. Erery Ilme Ihe sUlBt/n ay that the number ot cigarettes smoked per caplta b fatfln& a sephrete set of sullstlo says the 'f It fun to smokeT You musl thInk It d, et you k!ouldn'1 do II, but those of us who have Inhaled IhaYmoka from e cllarette from phys/cel sensalbn are so foul; It b hard-for as lo understand Ihat you are ttctually Aerflr- fn1 some sense ofpleaeure. Are you? Do you-lhtnk R b an atlraellve faee/ of your personeltlyt Yoe must: but fhese of as who see the grimy butts plied In ashtrays on your de+ks, who smen the roul odor en your breath and on your clolhes• wlro-enler your cars and your homes lobe asuauited by the stench Ilalb left erer from your yean of smoking - we have trouble endentandlng Apparently you aee yourself as doing fome- (htnl pleasant. or at least InoBensive; this puules w. . . Do you think the ctpr_ ette companies put Iho.w IIt11e dlxlalmers on their paktltes end to their ads because Ibey wanl toTil Is clear to theresl of us that overwhefming evidence suggests your smoking habit Is plnllo hurryou, Ifnol kltl you; it woutd be one IhIn1 If we were the only ones te111n1 Caalle+ed Pr+m PW HI Ihey wanl lo nava awayt + ever mkedlheiny when you first pufa eew cigarette Into your . 09 you nof t:are whel others thlnk etalA ymly moulh, do yoa thlnk that somethlnll{ood Is hap• . 6ranted, your aet6lma`e Is more Important Ihan panlns? Nhea the smoke hlts your Ihroaf, 1s R • the precey/lon of you that sa hel-d by olhea. Bul saliffyln+ In any-weyl And H It N. caold you 014, S do lou re.ny think you are alfnIn the days of flne It? 1s sucklnl cigarette smok_e Into year James 6on_ d, wAen people saw a person taking I Ihroat belter, sey,-Ihan sucking In e breath of ~ drel on as ciprette and a.umed he was aophlslt• clean efr?-And If Itls, whyT nttd .M worldly? Gn you possibly not rcenra I will be Iratefetlf I get seme ens.ren te Ihex ~, that people see you amoklnl and a.vume that you questbnat I lhlnk Ihef Ihose of us who doaY smoke : are .lepld and unclean and aelfdeslruNt+e7 Do are genuinely curleuf. Th1a Isn'1 one of Ihose cot- ; you not know that people do not whh to fll eeal lo amnf desltned to plck a nlhL 1 really waol to -; you In reftauranta.buses, alrplantl and wa11/n1 know how you feel about all of Iheme poestlons. '~ rooms7 Does M mean nothing to you that when lyl devote a futere cotumn to fout amwers. a cigarette In your-moulh; •caKqel~wv..e ----- -- ; people see yor with .- 8VVVg9szoz uct put a label on every /ar or hos lelllna you that the contents were-Aotns lo mekeyou slck, would you go ahead and buy that Jar or box? -- Do you have no respect for your faml- lles? It seems to uslhat youdon't. There is a cerlaln devlt-may care recAtessness that some people like to aftect, pul those of us who don'I smoke cannot understand a per- son dragging his er her family Into the plc- lure. Weassume Ibat If you smoke, you'n Ie111nR your famlly that you're not phrtlcu- larly concerned about what's folnt to hap- pen to theminihe f0fure;-we wonder what your spouse and your chlldreh eey, or thlnk, every time they see you light up. Ifeve you See GREENE, Pqe Sy ~: