Terminate the Tobacco
An Opinionative Article by Aishabella Sheikh
Tobacco is
ruining people’s lives. It causes disease, wastes money, contributes to poverty
and damages the environment. So why do people continue to smoke? Out of their
own selfishness, of course. It is a dirty habit that affects many around the
world, including the children who are unfortunately exposed to second-hand
smoke in public or even in their own homes. Some may think it makes you look
“cool” or that it reduces stress, while others are disgusted by this filthy
habit that causes so much trouble. Well, let’s look at both sides, shall we,
and explore what is behind all the smoke.
First and
foremost, the cigarette contains poisons so deadly that just the thought of
inhaling them into your sensitive lungs is frightening. But even the fact that
you could get lung cancer, emphysema or bronchitis doesn’t scare those hard
core smokers. Even the disturbing images of people who have been dreadfully
affected by tobacco smoking and what it can do to your body don’t seem to faze
them. What about the smokers with children? Do they seem to care about their
kids’ health and future? Though some smoke away from their kids, what about the
risk in public areas where there is no safe place to breathe without inhaling
cancer? An estimated 200,000 workers die every year due to exposure to smoke at
work, and second-hand smoke is responsible for 3,000 lung cancer deaths yearly.
Smoking is not only ruining the smoker’s health, but also everyone around them,
and only because they are “stressed” or “too addicted to quit”.
Tobacco smoking
is not only spoiling health, it is also connected to third world countries and
how the tobacco industry is expanding its markets by selling it to the poor who
then sell it on the streets just to survive. 84% of the 1.3 billion smokers
worldwide live in developing countries, and they are more vulnerable to the
Industry and need support. People living in developing countries are going
hungry because land that was once used for growing crops is now cleared for the
production of tobacco plants. It also contributes to a higher illiteracy rate,
since money that could have been used on education is spent on tobacco. And the
advertising convinces the poor to buy cigarettes when they should be spending
the few amount of money they have on food and health care. So every time you
light up, think of all those poor people starving and illiterate because of
your selfishness.
Smoking also
destroys the lovely environment, something that we are losing every day for
numerous other reasons, but smoking is adding to the problem, day by day.
Cigarettes are wrapped in paper, which is stripped from millions of hectares of
forests that are home to many animals depending on it to survive. Plus, 10% of
fire deaths are ignited by cigarettes. There are also less direct impacts to
the environment, such as the resources used for packaging cigarettes. Given
that tobacco has no benefit for society and the environment, these costs
further highlight wasted resources.
But what about
the smokers’ point of view? Many smokers began in the result of peer pressure,
fitting in with modern culture or stress. At the time they might have felt they
had no choice, and accidentally fallen in the wrong crowd, and kept smoking
without doing anything about it. That's the problem with tobacco; it's
addictive, and once you start, there is no turning back. But how hard is it to
quit? Some people try for years and just can't seem to stop, while others have
the will power to just put the cigarette down and give up. If you think about
it, quitting the habit is all in the mind. It depends how determined you are,
and thats how you can control it. But others who don't plan on quitting say
it's their choice and they shouldn't be pressured to quit; that it is a free
country, therefore the people should make the decision wisely about whether
they smoke or not. All this conspiracy about smoking is causing even more
stress, and why should we care about what other people do? Unless it affects us
in a way where we can't avoid it, why are we trying to control other people's
habits? Why can't we just mind our own business?
There are so
many people in this world trying to make a difference, whether it is saving the
environment or giving advice, but trying to stop a habit that has been going on
for decades would be a miracle if achieved. It would also save millions of
lives, and millions of trees, so it would definitely be worth the effort. But
how much effort does it take to just quit? Many people quit things every day,
so why can’t people quit smoking? Yes, it’s addictive, but think of this; is it
really worth it? Is it worth polluting the atmosphere, destroying the sensitive
lung tissue, and starving millions in developing countries? But most importantly,
is it worth risking your own precious life that you only get one shot at?
Bibliography:
Persuasive
Techniques :
Assertion
Biased Language
Emotive Language
Facts & Statistics
Generalisation
Rhetorical Questions
