Lately, I chanced upon anti-smoking slogans like the one to the left posted on social media; this particular one on Facebook. Seems like there's a resurgence of anti-smoking drives which have seen an all-time high (pun intended) in the days of the "Yosi Kadiri" campaign of the DOH.
Yet just like their predecessors, most anti-smoking slogans, especially those that give us, the public---smoking or non- smoking---a Science lecture pregnant with jargons and gobbledygook, would end up in smoke (pun intended, again).
Faced with facts and figures about the bane of smoking, a smoker---addicted to the smell and taste and effect of nicotine, not to mention the "coolness/sophistication" factor surrounding it---can easily justify his actions. Add to that the ads, jingles, and TVCs (TV commercials) of tobacco companies: the smoker is persuaded to continue the habit, even with overwhelming evidence of cigarette use to the contrary.
Yes, smoking kills. So does the air we breathe. If inhaling naturally kills, inhaling nicotine with its concomitant relaxing effect couldn't be worse.
Yes, cigarette kills. So does everything else you put in your mouth: the disease-ridden beef that makes you mad; the pork that clogs your arteries; the insecticide-laden vegetables; the arsenic and mercury-spiked galunggong; and whatever else anyone puts in his or her mouth, chemical-treated prophylactic included.
Yes, smoking kills. So does sex. Or walking at night alone. Or texting and driving. Or using your cellphone in public, with snatchers and robbers more than eager to stab you at the slightest defensive move.
Yes, smoking kills. So does excessive drinking, excessive eating, excessive piousness and religious fervor, excessive prescription drugs, excessive stupidity, and excessive anything for that matter.
Yes, smoking kills. But for smokers, if you can't get to enjoy life while you can, any way you can, you might as well die or get killed.
The reason anti-smoking drives that bludgeon people with data and do's and dont's is that it's easier to counter them with other facts and figures: "Rise in sea levels will inundate Cities A,B, C in 2015"; "China's and Iran's nukes could wipe out Asia and the Middle East"; "Drunk driving kills scores daily"; "Terrorists blow up cathedral; hundreds dead";" Cellphone signals cause brain cancer"; "Mercury in fish poisoned village", just several of the number-crunching headlines we read and hear everyday. Of course I made all these up, but they can't be further from the truth.
Smoking kills. So does many other activities. It's just a matter of choosing one's poison or manner of death. But to a smoker's mind, you might as well relax and enjoy with a puff on your way there.
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