[HN Gopher] Pinhookers and Pets: Review of 'The Cigarette: A Pol...
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       Pinhookers and Pets: Review of 'The Cigarette: A Political History'
        
       Author : pepys
       Score  : 15 points
       Date   : 2021-02-11 21:43 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.lrb.co.uk)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.lrb.co.uk)
        
       | gxqoz wrote:
       | Not mentioned in this article, but I learned recently that
       | cigarette use increased in the 1930s as the Great Depression
       | drove Americans away from more expensive cigars. This caused a
       | big depression in Tampa, the home of the US cigar making
       | industry.
        
       | analyte123 wrote:
       | >the smoke-free world, Milov writes, is 'a harsh and stigmatising
       | one', where 'the death of a smoker can be met with the thought -
       | sometimes tactlessly expressed aloud - "What did he expect?"' It
       | would be hard to find a question more revealing of the neoliberal
       | worldview, which makes responsible self-maintenance a near sacred
       | duty, as well as the fullest expression of citizenship.
       | 
       | Tobacco use and age are the only reasons you can charge someone
       | more for health insurance in the United States, not binge
       | drinking, not obesity, not extreme sports, reckless driving, nor
       | getting arrested for violent crimes. That society believes "self-
       | maintenance" a duty is completely contradicted by the obesity
       | epidemic (which now causes more death than smoking) and the
       | response to it. No, to me it seems there is something very
       | particular about anti-tobacco sentiment that is not applied to
       | other types of self-destructive behavior.
        
         | slingnow wrote:
         | I can eat in peace at a restaurant with an obese person sitting
         | at the next table. I can't say the same for a smoker. They are
         | infinitely more aggravating to have nearby and I think that's
         | the reason for the extra ire.
        
         | cafard wrote:
         | It is possible that the millenials have not experienced the
         | level of tobacco smoke that the boomers grew up around. Neither
         | my brother nor I was ever tempted to smoke, and for my part
         | that was largely because I remember riding in a car with
         | anywhere from one to three smokers. It was not pleasant.
         | 
         | As late as the early 1980s, the only social gatherings I could
         | expect to be smoke-free were for a running group I belonged to.
         | Another guy in the group said, Runners' parties are great--an
         | hour after they start you can still see across the room. I can
         | recall another gathering in those days where I was one of two
         | non-smokers, and we stood as close as we could to a cracked
         | window.
         | 
         | As for "What did he expect?", I suppose that happens. But I
         | know how addictive cigarettes can be, having watched my father
         | try to kick the habit for a dozen years or so before he
         | succeeded, and having seen an aunt relapse. I have never seen
         | hassling smokers ever do any good.
        
         | fhood wrote:
         | Probably, but it seems to me the effects of the stigma are for
         | the most part positive, and not entirely undeserved. Does
         | tobacco use deserve to be singled out among the examples you
         | mentioned? Maybe not. But I feel that whatever is being
         | implicated by your final sentence should probably be spelled
         | out if there is any further point (outside that of those
         | illustrated in the review) to be made.
        
           | analyte123 wrote:
           | Well, the point illustrated in the review makes a sweeping
           | and inaccurate critique of a strawman. Overall, I thought
           | that this was a kind of flaky review of an interesting
           | sounding book. I can't tell if the book is making the same
           | critique or if the reviewer is just trying to shoehorn things
           | against the so-called neoliberal worldview.
        
       | phillc73 wrote:
       | In modern British use, a pinhooker is someone who buys yearling
       | thoroughbred horses, hoping to sell them for a profit when
       | they're two year olds.[1] Until this article I did not know the
       | origin of the term.
       | 
       | [1] https://bradleythoroughbreds.com/services/pinhooking/
        
       | 11235813213455 wrote:
       | Cigarettes are probably the worst exported products/trend from
       | USA (starting from WWII), more than fast-foods in my opinion (not
       | sure which has the worst impact on population health)
        
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       (page generated 2021-02-12 23:02 UTC)