Several people have written me to address my stated view that people have a right to kill themselves, even with cigarettes, if they so choose. Here's one from Ruben Arellano…
I have to disagree when you state a smoker can "decide it's an acceptable trade-off of pleasure versus death and doctor bills, that's their choice". I think the terms "pleasure" and "choice" are misleading here. I can't see that there is any pleasure in smoking, and the choice is mostly removed with the intense addiction that drives most people to continue their "habit." When I see people struggling to light their smokes up in a stinking back alley in the dead of winter, in the rain, I really can't see that is their little pleasure time.
It's just easy for people to do the easy thing, that is continue what their addiction drives them to do. Not many people have the werewithal to make major life changes like that, never mind one that is driven by chemical addiction.
I would go so far as to say it should be entirely illegal for companies to sell tobacco, as they are basically poisoning society for no good benefit except financial gain. I can't think of any other industry that is allowed to do that in such an obvious way. But big tobacco is too much a part of our economies to let that happen.
(sorry, didn't mean for that to turn into a soapbox rant).
To stay on topic about your posting, I think it is fantastic that Olbermann stated what he did, and I find it appalling that more public figures don't do the same.
I'm not the best person to argue that smoking gives some people pleasure. As I said, I've never smoked. It never looked to me like anything that could possibly be pleasant. But other human beings do a lot of things I could say that about. They have parts of their bodies pierced. They ride roller coasters. They bungee-jump. Some people even — and I know this is hard to believe but it's apparently true — pay good money to see The Dukes of Hazzard.
I agree with you that people shouldn't smoke, but I think there's a limit as to how far government should go to protect them from doing what we think they shouldn't do. As inconceivable as it may be to some of us, there are people who enjoy smoking…people who, if you tell them it may shave X years off their lives, will decide that's an acceptable risk. I don't think they should be allowed to do this in a room where their smoke will affect me. I don't think my health costs should go up because of their choice. But I do think they own their bodies and have the right to pollute them. I hope they don't, and I do what I can to dissuade friends from electing that option, but I think it's ultimately an individual choice. I will say that when I encounter a real-life example, such as the one provided us by Mr. Olbermann, I feel less militant about that position. You may yet get me over to your side on this one.