Thank you for smoking

Just saw 'Thank You for Smoking' yesterday. I was intrigued by the title and the fact that Rotten Tomatoes had given it an 87% fresh rating, made it at least for me, a 'must see'. Centered around a lobbyist who works for big tobacco (Aaron Eckhart) and has flexible moral convictions, the film explores the morality of big tobacco companies selling cigarettes while still being aware of the obvious health risks of smoking.

The film explores the moral ambiguities of the climate of lawsuits against big tobacco companies by long-time smokers who hope to receive a large settlement from the defendant, or if the case goes to court, a juicy award by a sympathetic jury. The film asks whether the individual who chose to smoke while being fully aware of the health risks should have some ownership of the problem.

In a particularly funny scene, one of the hero's drinking buddies asks him "When a plane crashes due to pilot error, do you sue the Boeing Company?" Ironically, someone actually tried to sue the airline and Boeing for a crash that occured due to pilot error, claiming that the airline did not provide adequate training to its pilots, and that Boeing made its planes complicated to operate, causing the pilot to make the error resulting in the crash.

Tobacco companies dearly want to keep selling cigarettes to an ever expanding market, but the inconvenient fact is that the more their customers use their products, the less likely they are to be around in the long term. Big tobacco attracts more revulsion and public derision than any other category of company. But they quietly go about their business, making smoking appear cool and selling cancer sticks to poor pathetic losers.

The tobacco industry is probably the only one which spends billions of dollars in campaigns ostensibly intended to keep people from using their products. But their revenues keep increasing.

Altria, the holding company that was previously known as Philip Morris owns the Marlboro and Virginia Slims brands amongst others, is a $97 Billion corporation whose revenues grew 9% from 2004 to 2005. From all accounts 2006 looks like it will be a banner year as well.

But revile them as you will, the libertarian in me believes that for as long as there are people in this day and age stupid enough to believe that they look cool when they smoke or that they will lose weight if they smoke, the tobacco companies deserve to sell them cigarettes and despatch them to an early grave.

Think about this: Wouldn't we be doing a lot of good to clean up the gene pool of the world if the idiots who are dumb enough to smoke, wiped themselves off the map? And paid handsomely for the privilege too?

There is sweet irony in that. Thank you for smoking, indeed. Here, light up another.

Smoking
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Thank you for smoking