yakko -- << Why did your friends smoke if it was bad for them? Didn't they know that inhaling smoke would cause problems? Didn't you try blaming companies before for the choices your friends made? >>
PISS UP A ROPE!!! :|
I'm fifty-nine years old. I have never smoked, but when I and most of my friends were kids, movies, radio and TV shows regularly showed their leading characters smoking. Of course, we didn't know that these product placements were paid for by the tobacco companies. We just saw the images. :Q
There were also radio, and TV ads promoting the health "benefits" of one brand over another. Did you know that more "doctors" prefer Brand A than any other cigarette? This was before any health warnings were issued by anyone. When they finally did start to appear, we were told that Brand B's new Kryptonite filter traps more tar and nicotine than any other filter, leaving only the refreshing flavor. Uh-huh! :|
There were plenty of magazine ads showing young, healthy people "enjoying" their cigarettes. There were (and are) thinner cigarettes that are supposed to be "feminine." :Q
As kids, my friends had no protection against that onslaught. Your lame idea of personal responsiblity utterly meaningless in the context of huge companies knowingly working to addict children. It is equally stupid to assign that responsiblity to their parents, who, as a prior generation, were at least as uninformed as their kids. By your standards, we don't need bank insurance. We should just blame ourselves for trusting the safety of the institution if we put our money in an account and lose it if the bank gets robbed. :|
Lastly, regardless of whether people should be responsible for their own actions, tobacco companies must be held responsible for theirs. They were, and are, out for nothing but greed at the expense of whoever they manage to entrap!
For that, they should DIE!!! :|