Because You Never Asked

TOBACCO: THE BIG TRICK

     (This is the second in a series starting with the essay “Cigarettes”. It was written in 1994 and placed on this website in 2006. The new essay “Social Engineering” should be read after it. It appears in the “Propaganda“ section of the Table of Contents.)

     There is a stage in life when the gulf between what you think you know and what you really know is at its widest. This stage is called “adolescence”.

     Much adolescent energy revolves around a search for security and acceptance. The average adolescent is on a quest to find some wonderful image he or she can emulate or make their own, usually something beyond their grasp or simply non-existent. As one grows older, your life experience, in varying degrees, gives you the tools to close this gap between perceived knowledge and real knowledge, and much of this posturing and bluster is left behind. Perhaps the width of this gap is the true measure of intelligence.

     Almost all people who travel the tooth-yellowing, breath-fouling, taste-dulling, lung clogging tobacco highway, have begun this epic odyssey at the foolish stage of their lives just described above. No teenager has ever lit up their first cigarette, looked up in a watery-eyed blur after having coughed, hacked, wheezed and choked, and proclaimed, “hey, this is great!” No. This is all being done for the wrong reasons, reasons only an adolescent could take seriously. The boys want to look like mafia studs, the girls like worldly sexual prizes, and everyone wants to not look like the one thing they most definitely are --- kids.

     Kids this age do many foolish things. They drive too fast, play music too loud, they dress funny, put rings in their noses, curse a lot, fight too much, torture their teachers and parents, and, as we’ve already said above, begin to smoke cigarettes. Most people, having navigated this rocky, white water stretch of the river of life, reach that steadier flowing part of the river and these manifestations of youthful recklessness become moderated. You cast aside such adolescent theater. You grow up and get on with the serious work of life.

     But the tobacco habit doesn’t let go of you. It imposes itself and you don’t feel physically comfortable unless you keep doing it. What was once just a silly manifestation of adolescent insecurity is now a degenerative habit, and, unlike the fast cars or silly hairdos, it is very difficult to cast aside. You are hooked.

     That’s a dirty trick to play on anyone.

     The corporate seven dwarfs mentioned in the previous essay are the great tricksters. They sell images of smile dazzling, leggy models, of rugged, handsome cowboys, the very picture of health and self confident fulfillment. They deal dope to kids and lie about it. It is said the cocaine barons of the South American cartels never touch the stuff. I wonder how much of the white collar work force in the tobacco industry smokes?

     I’d never be in favor of a prohibition style “war on tobacco”, just as I am against the absurd fakery known as the “war on drugs”. I say “fakery” because the sincerity of the war on drugs must come into question when one considers the gargantuan amounts of money involved, much of which has surely found its way into the world’s legitimate financial system. The war on drugs keeps illegal substances expensive. It is not unreasonable to conclude that almost everyone today has a stake in it. If an honest person has borrowed money to open a business or buy a house, there is no telling where that money came from.

     If what I’ve just said is totally off the mark, I’d still be against the war on drugs, because turning a social problem into a criminal one is far more costly, both financially and psychically. However, I do believe the government could do something in a prohibitive way, far short of pure prohibition, which might cut into the tobacco habit. Considering the adolescent root of nicotine addiction, why not raise the legal age for sale and possession of tobacco to 21? The obvious retort is to say that such laws have done little to stop teenage drinking, and even the total illegality of “recreational” drugs has been ineffective amongst this target group. But there might be a difference with regard to tobacco. Why?

     When one uses alcohol, one of the desired results is a state of inebriation. When using drugs, one gets high, low, or somewhere different from where you started. These altered states of being are specifically being sought, especially by adolescents. Some people handle these urges reasonably, others let them destroy them. So it goes.

    But tobacco use has a whole different mind set. Most kids smoke for no other reason than to be seen smoking. They like the way it makes them look.

     “Cool”.

     If this option to be seen smoking is taken away, there seems to be much less point in doing it. You certainly didn’t start smoking because of taste. It doesn’t get you high. By eliminating the juvenile posturing, perhaps we can get many more kids across the white water rapids of adolescence without being defeated by nicotine. As adults, their vulnerability to the habit is greatly decreased.

     Is it not worth a try?

     Relevant Material: “When you are really good, you know how good you’re not.” Spoken by my old softball teammate, Dave “Plenty of Room” Bloom.             

back to the Table of Contents

Email: JerryG@postcman.info