Current events

[Locke]

This thread will probably be a big failure, given that the board is still pretty quiet (and from what I understand, a lot of you just talk via messenger - which must've been especially nice when there was no forum - or maybe in other places, so color me slightly jealous of your charisma/wherewithal). I was in the store today when this first issue came up, and it has me incensed (yes, actually angry enough to sit down and post something). Good old Trump has a way of inspiring that feeling every time he moves, or opens his mouth.

...apparently you now have to be 21 to buy tobacco in the US. I was surprised to see that today. I kind of wonder where the outcry and publicity was (or is everyone just okay with it?). Why is the answer to these things always legislation - ceding more control of your body to the government - and not personal responsibility?

If you're 18 - a legal adult - and you want to smoke, I think you should go ahead and do it. Unless your parents have been keeping you locked in a shed or something, it is impossible to reach that age without knowing the associated risks of tobacco use. I'm not sure what the rationale for the extra years is supposed to be (besides, maybe, "there's not enough support to make it illegal yet, which is what we want, so let's just pass any law against it we can get away with"). Anti-smoking activists are priceless.




What does being an adult even mean anymore? There's still porn, if you want to buy it at a physical store for some reason, and lottery tickets (...but are they REALLY ready to handle the risks of gambling?).



I guess you still have the right to join the military; that hasn't changed. We're fine with letting 18-year-olds kill - and be killed - by gunfire and bombs, but we don't think they're responsible enough to decide whether or not to smoke tobacco? You're going to tell a twenty-year-old whose buddy just took two to the chest that he can't have a cigarette later, because it's hazardous to his health, and he's not mentally ready to face a choice like that? I guess he has to try to stay alive for one more year if he wants that kind of responsibility.



As far as I know, nobody's proposing a change to the enlistment age.



You don't even have the impaired judgement/drunk driving risk to pin this law on, as you might argue with alcohol. You know who I don't trust with decisions about what I put in my body? The government, but they're empowered to make virtually all of them. Why are people okay with this stuff?

[mizal]

Current event: buckle in for another 20 years of killing turban men in sandy places


But cigs will still kill waaay more Americans. Something like 470,000 more a year, last I checked. My cousin's husband died a couple weeks ago, actually, on Christmas night after months of agony. Lung cancer turned to bone cancer and I don't think anyone that's been through that with anyone they remotely care about even once can ever just shrug it off as a harmless habit.

Not that I think changing the law will do anything to slow down the number of kids that are already addicts.

I wouldn't consider myself an "anti-smoking activist" but do you ever stop and wonder who the pro-smoking activists are and what their motivations might be? Because it's just white knighting companies that make literal billions every year. Hell, they spend billions a year on marketing alone, for the purpose of addicting more people to a substance that gives no benefit and kills them slowly, for $7 a pack. Gotta keep bringing in new customers to replace the ones that die off.

[End Master]

Still not smoking as much as Australia currently is.

[mizal]

Still not smoking as much as Australia currently is.

Okay, I loled.

I heard they've been rounding up almost 200 people they're charging with arson. Not sure how they'd identify arson at this point, but a lot of them were kids so maybe they livestreamed themselves setting the entire continent on fire social media or something.



And Locke, CYS has a Discord server, but it's only Endmaster and myself in there that you'd recognize. Link's on the forum though and it's open to anybody.