My Feeling’s towards “I’d Rather Smoke than Kiss”

 

            Ms. King begins her essay by explaining her background.  She is a 54 yr old woman who started smoking around the age of 26.  She explains that she didn’t start smoking out of teenage rebellion.  That her mother had started smoking long before she was born and that she was a heavy smoker.  She goes on to explain that the reason that she started smoking was that she is writer and that she is thrifty.  One day while out at the store she noticed a box of cigarettes that had a drawer like opening.  Deciding that those boxes of cigarettes would look very nice with her paperclips in them she decides to buy two boxes.  She empties out the cigarettes in a drawer and replaces them with paperclips.  A while later she decides that instead of leaving the cigarettes loose in the drawer the reason she bought the boxes for the paperclips for.  She would use the cigarettes and make sure that they weren’t wasted.

            Ms. King finds that she enjoys cigarettes and the activities that were found with smoking and the company she kept.  Ms. King then devotes the rest of the essay in the battle against the “smokist.”  She describes them as passive misanthropes that instead of being full blown bigots.  The “smokist” has chosen the route of passive hate.  Smokers were content to die solitarily, until it was found that second hand smoke could kill.  The “smokist” uses this argument, as the basis of their complaint.  The “smokist” then went on the hunt for smokers; restaurants, airplanes and airports were the initial battlegrounds. 

            The essay briefly goes over the consideration the Federal government has given to the plight of smokers.  It has noticed that the smokers don’t live to the full age that their non-smoking counterparts live to.  This is good in regards to the budget that is allotted to social security.  She summarizes that the author of the government report that has this information notes that it is a public crusade and not an attempt to save money.  To end the subject of government intervention in regards to smokers; she quotes the governmental representatives who are working with the Citizens against tobacco smoke.  They are going to try to remove smoking from all forms of public transportation that is funded by the government.

            The end of the essay is devoted to comparing the smoker to the new minority. She describes that the smoker is now look down upon in society as below average.  That the blue collar worker is the new generation of smokers.  That the college educated individual is more likely not to smoke than the blue collar worker is.  Finally, that the tobacco companies are now targeting the poor, white females of this country as a new outlet to sell their products to.  She ends that the smokers are being categorized as substance abusers and that this losing battle to non-smokers is non-democratic.

            When I first read this article back in high school I found that I agreed with the non-smokers.  I was a non-smoking high school rugby team captain.  The ideals spouted by Ms. King seemed valid concerns, but didn’t really affect me on a personal level.  Towards my senior year in high I actually started smoking cigarettes.  My friends all had been smoking since we were in middle school and I was curious what all the fuss was.  I became a prolific smoker and at my pinnacle I was smoking 2 packs of cigarettes every three days.  I was also smoking cigars and pipe tobacco.  I have never tried chewing tobacco and never wish to.  I have recently quit and will only smoke cigars at very special occasions i.e. bachelor parties, and record releases to name the majority.  After becoming a smoker and a quitter I found that Ms. King does have a valid point.  There are those people amongst us that are very pleasant to be around until they find out that you are a smoker or that you were a smoker.  I can personally attest to a good number of women that were interested in dating me or friends until we mentioned the fact we were/are smokers.  This hatred and fear for smokers I do not understand even after quitting for my own health.  I feel just as strongly as Ms. King does against those that prejudice smokers for being just what they are.

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