This charming man
Tuesday, April 20, 2010 I had a rather fractious conversation yesterday with a man about cigarettes and cancer. I didn't handle it very well but I wonder if he was the same person who rang Forest last week and asked to speak to me. Told that I was out of the office, the caller replied:
"Wouldn't it be ironic if he was in hospital dying of cancer?"
He then asked my colleague:
"Do you smoke?"
"That's my business," she told him.
"Well," he said, "if you do I hope you die a long, slow, painful death."
Charming.
The man who rang yesterday has a 19-year-old son who intends to smoke (against his father's wishes) and it's Forest's fault apparently because our website "encourages" people to smoke.
"No, it doesn't," I said firmly.
"Yes, it does," he said. "It says that people enjoy smoking."
"Well, lots of people do," I said, "but we also make it clear that there are serious health risks associated with smoking."
The man told me he had a relative who died of cancer ("Have you ever been in a cancer ward?") and how selfish smokers are to put their family through such an experience.
"What about bungee jumping?" I said, trying to change the subject. "Would you stop people from bungee jumping as well?"
I didn't quite catch the answer because we got cut off. He rang back a few minutes later.
"That was very rude," he said.
"We got cut off," I said. "I didn't do it on purpose."
It didn't matter what I said, there was no reasoning with him. I shouldn't have raised my voice, though. I was walking over Magdalene Bridge (in Cambridge) and even my daughter began to edge away as my voice floated over the Cam and people began to turn and stare.
Eventually we agreed to disagree.
"Thank you for calling," I said. "I appreciate the feedback."
Click.
Reader Comments (11)
I would report him for making abusive phone calls. Mind you on saying that the bloke in question has given us more proof of the anti’s in their true light.
There are people (and they are many) who believe and feel foolish and absurd things, whose own sacred certainties are their only source of strength in a world where Truth sometimes makes greater demands upon their fragility than Falsehood.
There are people who believe that:
'9/11' was the work of a madman called 'Osama'
America is bringing Freedom and Democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Kennedy was killed by a lone, neurotic gunman.
Western governments would never harm 'their' people.
All Muslims are terrorists (I heard that one three days ago).
Carbon dioxide is destroying the planet.
Socialism is all about Kindness and Caring.
Tobacco, the people who enjoy it, and the people who sell it are evil.
"I'm entitiled to my opinion", even when that 'opinion' is wholly unsupported and in fact wholly undermined by any and all demonstrable evidence.
There are only two realistic ways of dealing with such people.
Shoot them.
Or ignore them.
Simon's caller is such a person..............
Yep, anything untoward that happens is always someone else's fault. It's the new common sense.
I had a relative in law who came at me with something similar years ago.
The usuall you should't smoke line.
Anyhow after a while she said her husband died from cancer because he smoked.
I said oh i'm so sorry how old was he ?
The answer ... 78.
Errrr, ummmm.
I said loads of people who don't smoke don't even make 40.
I'm sorry but 78 is slighlty above the average life expectancy for a person.
You see this fallacy of long gevity tied to lifestyle is not entirely true.
The bottom line of you will live longer if you follow the so called guidlines isn't either.
I think it just leads to disappointment.
Better off doing what you enjoy ,you'll never see that No 17 bus when your crossing the road. When your demise is meant to be your cellestial ticket will be well and truly punched .
A friend I know had a sister who unfortunately became ill with bowel cancer. Sadly, she died as a result.
When she first told me about it though, the first words out of her mouth were "I can't understand it. She doesn't smoke so why has she got cancer?"
It's unbelievable what people think. More non-smokers get cancer than smokers, but the propaganda is so rife, people come out with ridiculous statements like this.
It's no wonder that our country is so far behind the rest of Europe in cancer care, with the majority having been brainwashed into this type of thinking.
I often wonder is there is some sort of 'hidden' agenda. The funding pumped into life-style choices has alienated millions, and as a result, many of these millions now refuse to give to many medical charities - and it isn't half showing.
No wonder we're one of the worst performing countries with regards to health and cancer care on our continent.
It's no wonder that our country is so far behind the rest of Europe in cancer care, with the majority having been brainwashed into this type of thinking.
It's so far behind because cancer research don't spend their money on finding a cure but funding events & conferences, and not only smoking, as was admitted at one of the WHO conferences, but it was decided to keep it discreet.
I stopped giving to CR when the smoking ban experiment was introduced. I won't contribute to the propaganda used to demonise & dehumanise me.
As for the man Simon, spoke to, being polite to imbeciles like this gets you nowhere. A simple eff off would have sufficed. which would've really given him something to moan about. Why should smokers or advocates of pro-choice have to justify their stance. As a smoker I won't justify my smoking to anyone, let alone the zealots and gullible idiots who are trained nanny robots, who can't survive without state intervention into their lives.
The hate in me grows eberyday.
Mary -
Yes, I agree.
For too many people these days;
Cancer = Smoking, and
Smoking = Cancer.
Unless, of course, you're an Eskimo, a Hunzakut, an American Indian, or hail from Japan or Hong Kong.
The Japanese are, of course, still relatively free of lung cancer, but ARE showing an increased incidence of colorectal cancer - which seems to correlate with the increasing popularity of Western (ie American) 'food'.
This anti-smoking idiocy is immoral in my view, not merely because of its innate anti-libertarian stance, but because it is drawing valuable funding away from research into perhaps the answer to the most important question of all:
Why do certain people, and certain groups NOT develop cancer ?
It would seem that the existence of (relatively, if not completely) cancer-free groups is as unwelcome an irritant to the Health Lobby as the Medieval Warm Period is to Global Warming alarmists.
For rather similar reasons, I suspect.
Even the NHS 'Choices' website declares that "Around HALF of all regular smokers will die from the habit."
What drivel !
You might in fact say that:
"Governmental bullshit is the single, most preventable cause of hysteria in the West today."
I just wish I could see some light at the end of the tunnel. Where does the hate-fest directed against smokers end?
I love my cigarettes, but increasingly I feel like a leper. Even five years ago, I didn't feel that way. Ten years ago, I was still an accepted (and acceptable) member of society.
Ano -
The propaganda has even had its effect upon smokers.
Only the other day, two of my work colleagues expressed surprise that I should actually smoke IN MY HOME !
How did THAT happen ?
I mean, isn't that why they invented things called 'ashtrays' ?
I'm all in favour of a little purity in our lives, but come on !
No wonder the Child Psychiatry business is booming...................
Im 14 and a regular smoker. Yh I know what yr gonna say. so what. I dont drink like lots of me mates do so whots th big deal about the odd fag now an then? U lot sound ever so old on hr but thats not a bad thing in fact its pretty kool coz it prooves smoking dont kill ya dont it.
Cal
In the wake of the Scottish ban CRUK spent lots of money festooning the sides of double deck buses with "smoke free and proud" ads.
On the first anniversary the same again, "One year on, still smokefree etc etc"
I thought it was a "charidee" but its just part of the cancer industry obviously.