There is an interesting piece in the "Observer about smoking, fashion and film which would be OK if the writer Euan Ferguson wasn't so obviously ashamed of being a smoker.
He says some things I totally agree with like the anti-smoker industry doesn't have to rely on evidence anymore to push through even more bans - even on our privately owned properties - but then goes and spoils it by saying things like even smokers don't like the smell of smoke and would take to task other smokers smoking in restaurant doorways. I think he should quit. Denormalisation has obviously got to him and hypocritical smokers like that are "friends" we could do without.
I've never stood outside of anywhere with other smokers without having mutual angry conversations about the way we are being treated.
Euan Ferguson talks about John Wayne who died aged 72 and how he supported the anti-smoking industry after formerly supporting the tobacco industry because he got cancer. The writer then goes on to say it was "because (smoking) does kill" and it killed John Wayne. I disagree. Cancer killed John Wayne in old age. 72 would do for me. I don't want to live to be 100. If this hatred continues, I don't want to live to be 60.
There has also been talk about how Wayne appeared on location somewhere as a younger man where nuclear tests had been done and many of those who appeared alongside him also died younger and later from cancer as well.
I truly believe that not enough research has been done, because of the waste of resources on one lucrative health issue, to determine what other polluting factors that we are in contact with daily also cause cancer. As my son says when I warn him about fizzy drinks with aspartame in them : "Mum, EVERYTHING causes cancer these days."
I did admire the spirit of artist Maggi Hambling in the above linked article and smokers like that I can relate to.
She said : "... I don't even go out to a dinner party unless there's a guaranteed ashtray. I hate anti-smokers. I did three, three, sculptures of Oscar Wilde. Bronze, steel and then hardened steel. In each case some lunatic anti-smoker managed to saw the cigarette off the end of the hand. The last one must have taken a real effort."
Maggi, apparently, quit five years ago but said : "...I started again the Thursday before last. I have to tell you – cigarettes have never tasted better!"
Taking a break to fully enjoy the taste again would be the only reason I'd ever consider quitting. I admire those smokers who are proud to be smokers. I hate those too cowardly to stand up for their beliefs. Smokers who hate smoking are just as much our enemy as those rabid anti-smokers who made them feel that way.