Persuasive Essay

Adam A Bentley
English Comp. I
Professor Singer
January 31, 2012
Persuasive Essay, I’d Rather Smoke Than Kiss In times like today, people have mixed views on smoking and on the effects it has on the human body. Most people who smoke, feel that non-smokers are against them, and believe in the myths that are portrayed by cigarette companies. They do not realize how addictive cigarettes are, and end up stuck with the burden. I feel that her entire article is truly opinionated and biased about non-smokers and she really doesn’t have the hard evidence, just personal experience. In “I’d Rather Smoke Than Kiss,” Florence King states that no matter what American society thinks, says or does, it will not convince her to quit smoking. King 's choice of words suggests that the government purposely tries to segregate all smokers from non-smokers, by making signs or segregating areas for smokers to go. She implies that all non-smokers are against smokers and will do anything in their power to stop them by passing laws. A lot of cigarette companies tell people that if they stop smoking, it will put a strain on the economy, “Strategies”. King 's article is important because her arguments exemplify different observational situations, which society imposes on smokers in the United States and offers knowledge about some of the issues of discrimination towards smokers by combining personal experience and actual situations that smokers encounter everyday in life. Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, “Strategies”. It causes serious illness among an estimated 8.6 million persons, it cost $167 billion dollars, in annual health-related losses, and it kills approximately 438,000 people each year. Worldwide, smoking kills about 5 million a year, “Frieden and Blackman”. Through these statistics, you think people would realize that smoking is not something that should be messed with. Most of the reasons why smokers keep smoking is because they are given myths about the product. The first myth that is pretty common is light cigarettes are less harmful, “Frieden and Blackman”. By this being said, people continue to buy cigarettes, thinking that light means that the content in the cigarette is low, like how diet soda is. However, there is no standard definition of what constitutes a light or ultra-light brand, and tobacco companies admit that this is used to describe the taste of the product. Secondly, Smokers think that all they lose is a couple of bad years at the end of their life. The average smoker, who dies from tobacco-related causes, loses about fourteen years of life, “Frieden and Blackman”. Not smoking will extend life and not smoking around other people will extend their lives. The last myth is tobacco is good for the economy. The tobacco industry argues that tobacco creates employment, raises tax revenues, and contributes to the national gross domestic product. They neglect to inform people that in the United States, smoking causes annual economic losses of $167 billion per year, including health care expenses and productivity losses caused by premature death, “Frieden and Blackman”. So the deaths by tobacco use and expenses for healthcare, out ways buying the product today. In King’s article, she calls non-smokers “anti-tobacco Puritans, Misanthrope, and Health Nazis.” These are pretty harsh words for somebody to call a large population of people. Name calling such a large group of people is very wrong and offensive. Just because some of the people that she has encountered have tried to restrict her smoking, doesn’t give her the right to bash non-smokers. Although Florence King has a good argument on the way non-smokers treat smokers, she doesn’t use a lot of statistics to convince. Smoking is a person’s choice each person has the freedom to do so, just not around non-smokers. In my opinion, I think that smoking around somebody that doesn’t like it is, rude; if they want to smoke, they can do it in a designated place. Not everybody wants to be around cigarette smoke. In fact, second hand smoke is just as bad as the person smoking cigarettes themselves, “Strategies”. The biggest thing about smoking is that it is not healthy, and smokers really could benefit from cutting down or even quitting. All through this article, Florence King is unhappy about how smokers are getting treated by non-smokers, and she feels that they are being cornered from all the limitations that have been placed on them. But most of the people in the United States just want to be there and help people quit because they know it is not healthy. They also know that it is very addictive and hard to stop. Smokers have the freedom to smoke. It’s not illegal. However, people who don’t smoke shouldn’t have to sit and breathe all that smoke into their lungs. That just isn’t fair.

Work Cited

Frieden, Thomas R., and Blakeman, Drew E. "The Dirty Dozen: 12 Myths That Undermine Tobacco Control." American Journal Of Public Health 95.9 (2005): 1500-1505

King, Florence "I 'd Rather Smoke than Kiss"" 15 Jan. 2012. Web.

"Strategies For Reducing Exposure To Environmental Tobacco Smoke, Increasing Tobacco-Use Cessation, And Reducing Initiation In Communities And Health-Care Systems." MMWR Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report 49.44 (2000): 1
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Cited: Frieden, Thomas R., and Blakeman, Drew E. "The Dirty Dozen: 12 Myths That Undermine Tobacco Control." American Journal Of Public Health 95.9 (2005): 1500-1505 King, Florence "I 'd Rather Smoke than Kiss"" 15 Jan. 2012. Web. "Strategies For Reducing Exposure To Environmental Tobacco Smoke, Increasing Tobacco-Use Cessation, And Reducing Initiation In Communities And Health-Care Systems." MMWR Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report 49.44 (2000): 1 .