57 Comments
Photo via Gipsy Bokeh's photostream
Little kid, maybe 13 years old, wearing a backpack walking with classmates. With a concerned look at the ashtrays outside of Hamilton:
“I know there’s a lot of peer pressure at college, but why does everyone have to smoke so much?”
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57 Comments
@Anonymous I don’t smoke and I don’t like the smell of cigarettes, but I do think there is a definite aesthetic appeal to smoking.
@um yes, smoking is unhealthy, but it is a drug and it does do something. obviously its a bad decision to stop smoking, but it is really weird that nonsmokers have some conception of cigarettes as dried bark or something. smoking IS pleasurable to people that smoke. its not like we’re suffering through something just to look cool. maybe thats how it is for some teenagers that start, but the vast majority of adults that smoke aren’t doing it for image issues.
i understand that cigarette smoke doesn’t smell good. i can’t even stand ambient cigarette smoke, and i’m a smoker. but many nonsmokers seem to have the impression that the reason smokers smoke is basically either to piss off nonsmokers, or to look cool. but in reality theyre just people doing what they find nice without much of an agenda.
@lol omg no! smokers are evil demon spawn who are conspiring to make me breathe nasty things whenever i walk my over-achieving ass out of butler! i will type furiously until they stop! MARK MY WORDS YOU VILE UNHEALTHY BLACK LUNGED HIPSTERS.
@wait wait wait All right, so I know there’s the whole pleasure factor involved, and you can’t just say “use a different drug” because the other popular, legal drug of choice isn’t something you can consume in public, and when imbibed in larger quantities has deleterious effects on one’s ability to function at normal capacity or whatever.
But I guess what I just can’t get over is why start, when it looks like the negatives are so much more numerous and problematic than this single positive aspect. The drug feels good. Great! But it’s also designed by a market, a market that wants your money, and so is going to get you addicted ASAP and, well, is really good about that too. And the way the market goes with your rampant consumption of the product, you’re doing serious damage to your body if you don’t go through the immense effort to quit. It just seems like the kind of situation you don’t want to put yourself into. So I feel like I have to be missing something.
@wait wait wait Is there ANYONE (or, y’know, multiple people) who can explain to me why people still start smoking? It is NOT healthy (no health benefits, killing you slowly, blah blah blah). It is a money suck (designed to addict you). And we’ve all been told what a bad idea the habit is since like age three!
So come on, smokers. Anyone want to clue me in? I’m just baffled. I’d really like to be less so. Am I misinformed or what?
@Non-smoker It gives you a slight buzz.
Also, it makes you look cool.
@Anonymous Plus, it will inspire a satisfying shit and make you not feel like eating for a while after!!!!!!! Best diet ever
@have you ever smoked a cigarette? or a joint, spliff, etc? The actual process is really satisfying. I don’t smoke cigarettes regularly but I can understand why people do (aside from the addictive qualities).
@wait wait wait A joint, yeah. But I dunno. No sign that’s going to give me horrible, debilitating cancer during which I will continue to use the drug responsible for my pain. I can’t really get over that part.
@lol probably so they dont have to be associated with whiney little self-righteous shits like you. LOLz
@wait wait wait Hey, sorry to come off as offensive. I’m genuinely curious ’cause I don’t get it. Got anything more constructive to add?
@um i’ve never encountered this “thick cloud” of smoke outside butler. more like a few whisps which you smell for, oh my gosh, all of five seconds as you walk by. i dont get everyones ridiculous problem with people who are smoking outside. its nothing like second hand smoke inside, not even close. you are OUTSIDE. there is literally a near infinite amount of air for smoke to disperse into, and thats what it does, disperse. quickly. it does not hang there in a cloud.
@Anonymous Imagine that you have to walk in front of Butler EVERY SINGLE DAY. Wouldn’t that get annoying, holding your nose while running past the smokers, in a desperate attempt not to breathe in cancer fumes?
@... if a couple of people occasionally smoking cigarettes in front of the library generates daily feelings of desperation for you, it might be wise to ring up 212.854.2878 and schedule an appointment with counseling and psychological services. obsessive compulsive disorder does not have to control your life anymore, there are effective treatments.
@huh? Why do you have to walk in front of Butler every single day? Unless you are going into Butler, there are ways around it. I can’t tell from your comment if you are just going inside Butler a lot or just walking past it. And if you are going inside, either pick a new library or suck it up, it’s just a few seconds of smoke that you smell.
@lol imagine that you have to read insolent bwog comments EVERY DAY. wouldn’t that be annoying, trying to keep up your rapidly dwindling faith in humanity when some people pick the pettiest things to bitch about?
@Anonymous I fucking hate cigarettes, but let them smoke.
We could be saying the same thing about alcohol imbibing “douches.” They seem to be the biggest douches of all. Nobody seems to have a problem with them.
@well I have a problem with them – I just keep quiet about it. But then again, this is kinda an apples and oranges comparison based on the external effects and discomforts of the habits – they exist in both cases, but tend to be more of a problem for smoking than alcohol.
@... the problem with smoking on columbia’s campus is that it tends to give people who love the sound of their own voice too much already yet another excuse to use it.
@Anonymous peer pressure? nonsense… it is actually the non-smokers who succumb to the pressure of the media and governmental advertising. smoking is fun, relaxing, and addictive. it ain’t supposed to be cool, but making a stand against the cultural dopes kind of makes it cool too.
@Anonymous you are an idiot
@Anonymous an idiot? care to tell me why? i obviously do not question the scientific evidence that indicates some harmful effects of smoking… and you sound like the kind of person who may find consolation in knowing that i am more likely to die sooner than yourself, so please, be my guest and revel the feeling. i am just sick of the militant anti-smokers with their banning frenzy… your desire to ban things and your herd mentality are all the basic ingredients of a nazi-like mindset. if your leader tells you that smoking is actually cool, you will be the first one to do two packs a day.
@What? “your desire to ban things and your herd mentality are all the basic ingredients of a nazi-like mindset. if your leader tells you that smoking is actually cool, you will be the first one to do two packs a day.”
I agree people can get out of hand with this smoking ban thing, but when you use the nazi analogy every time you perceive your ‘rights’ being threatened you do sound like an idiot.
And to say peer pressure has nothing to do with smoking also makes you sound like an idiot.
As does suggesting that peer pressure against smoking is a negative thing.
@Anonymous maybe some people do enjoy smoking. and yes blowing smoke at others is obviously douchy but not everyone smokes to look cool.
@Anonymous I am so sick of walking through a cloud of smoke every time I go in and out of Carman or pass by Butler
@Anybody around 114th street just hear the really loud, definitely projected sex sounds? Better, does anyone know what the hell that was about?
@hella mad kyle schmidt has a megaphone…or so I hear O:)
@Anonymous carman boys
@Anonymous Smokers are douches. I hate walking out of Butler to a thick cloud of second-hand smoke. No smoking within 100 ft assholes
@A Non-Ymous smart kid.
@Anonymous Either you’re comparing smoking (which is non-essential and harmful to the smoker and those around the smoker) to eating, or you’re comparing smoking to overeating (which is non-essential and harmful to the overeater). In the first case, you’re stupid. In the second case, you haven’t really said anything new.
@Anonymous no. I’m comparing smoking to overeating (which is non-essential and harmful to the overeater and disgusting to those around the overeater). I would gladly take the effects of infrequent second-hand smoke if I never had to be around people who were disgustingly overweight.
@dude i’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but the world doesn’t actually revolve around you and what you find aesthetically pleasing. yes, people who are severely overweight should do something about it, but if your reasoning is simply that you don’t like looking at fatties and thus they should lose weight, you have no argument. you just sound like an asshole.
@I think.. … you two should get it on.
@It's cuz they're too many GS hipsters on this campus
@i feel this comment is directed at specific people?
@Maybe I'm too biased but.... every time I see a student smoking on campus, I think the smoker = a douche trying to look cool.
@Cig Yes, we’re just too smart and well-bred to smoke for any other reason than striking a pose. Unlike those poor black folk with their menthols, or those blue collar boys with their red Marlboro breaks. They’re just so authentic–unlike us Ivy Leaguers, caught in inescapable circles of self-reflexive gesturing.
Or, maybe everyone smokes because they’re some douche trying to look cool, and maybe everything that anyone ever does is done because we’re all trying to look cool.
Fuck it–I’m stepping outside for an American Spirit.
@no, but really... Why do you smoke? I don’t mean this in a mean way. I’ve just never heard a compelling reason for it…so I don’t really understand. Help me get it?
@mhm Seconded, I would really like to know.
@surfin' UWS Well because, BILLY, they don’t make a patch for nonchalance towards the establishment and creative zeal.
You conformist little shit.
@well done this is my favorite comment ever posted to bwog. I appreciate you sharing your wit. (this sounds sarcastic but I wish I could express exactly how hard I laughed when I read this comment and then proceeded to show all of my floormates.)
@Anonymous I just want to ask \why?\
It isn’t like we don’t know the effects of smoking.
@Anonymous AWWWWWWWW!!
@Anonymous every time i see a fat ugly person eating food i want to smack the food out of their hands.
@Anonymous me too. more dangerous habit.
@Anonymous Second hand fat is a huge problem.
@hehe owned
@Anonymous but seriously. it is. fat people often eat/travel in groups.
@every time somebody blows their cigarette smoke in my direction while walking through campus i want to smack the cigarette out of their mouth
@Anonymous so true
@senior (citizen) except you wont. because you’re passive aggressive like that.
@Reality I don’t think that’s the primary reason he/she won’t.
@Anon I wonder the same thing when I walk past some douche who is standing outside of Butler sucking on a cigarette while trying to look cool.
@wow this is awesome
@Anonymous Your guess is as good as mine, kid.
@Except his guess is made up by bwog staff.