I get you 100% mate and don't need to be schooled on perspective. I've been forced to study human toxicity thanks to heavy metal poisoning 3 times, starting at age 8.
I agree with
almost all of what you're saying too and don't want to be drawn into this debate; the thread's about vaping, after all.
However, out of respect to you I'll respond:
Let's get a few things straight, mate, and we need to have a proper perspective. Are you telling me the shit that you smoke is the same as what has been smoked for thousands of years previous?
Yes. Organic tobacco is chemical-free, straight-up dried tobacco leaves. I've grown it too.
In addition to that, I only have it once-in-a-while; it takes me 3-6 months to get through a packet.
You do realize cigar smokers are not big inhalers, right? Ever try to suck back on a cigar as you would a cigarette? And over all those years, smoking was a pleasure at the end of the day, after a hunt, etc. (when people were far more physically fit, to boot), not sucking one back every hour, or a pack a day like many people do.
Agreed.
Doesn't negate my belief that even those who lack temperance should be allowed to make choices for themselves.
And so, let's continue on this journey of how those individuals from olden times never had cancer. Isn't it interesting that so many today die of cancer who don't smoke? What does that tell you? The garbage food, low immunity, radio waves, etc., all contribute to this, which makes your body weaker, even for the organic stuff. Unless you look at everything as a whole, your argument is weak as shit.
Weak as shit eh?
I figured the cancer thing out 42 years ago. Studied the human condition when it comes to personal responsibility for health since that time. I've heard nothing new in decades, so yeah, I get it mate.
The cilia lining your trachea move crap up and out of your lungs at, IIRC, 1mm/min, 24/7/365. BBQ / campfire / bushfire smoke's soot is one of those components. Organic tobacco's only real "tax" on the body is that gunk, which is basically just plant-derived carbon.
As you seem to know, the thousands of chemicals added since, I'm guessing, the '50s, to "modern tobacco", are a deadly cocktail of crap. IMHO if most peeps were aware that there were organic alternatives, they'd be all over them and we wouldn't have the problems we have with smoking health.
The only "permanent" potential damage from the organic alternative, and this applies to all tobaccos, is alveoli scarring. This is caused by inhaling hot embers that the ultra-thin membranes surrounding them cannot withstand and therefore incur tiny pit marks (scars). These build up over time and the lung's capacity to absorb oxygen therefore diminishes. Big, little-known issue for smokers of conventional cigarettes. Drawing the smoke through a water pipe 100% solves that, of course.
I haven't smoked in the conventional way since I was 19 FWIMBW, when I figured that stuff out.
Obviously this is where I agree with you - big money has prevented this basic knowledge from attaining "popularity", much to our demise.
The freedom to choose in this case, when I say it, takes into account that there are indeed peeps who research things and make "responsible" decisions. They shouldn't be punished because of the ignorance of others. IMHO. The "dark" side of freedom is that the ultimate responsibility for what we choose to do is our own. Some take it seriously, others don't, to their detriment.
As for alcohol, there may be the odd person who has a few drinks on the weekend, but come on... anyone who is a drinker likely drinks regularly. I would bet money that a majority of people who do drink are alcoholics, and I'm not talking about stumbling idiots who can't function. I know of several people who drink daily, and usually 2+ glasses of wine with meals. I actually don't know anyone who drinks the 'odd time' (not talking about having a glass of something at Christmas or at a wedding, but "I will only have one glass of wine on Saturday." Maybe they exist, but I don't know them.
You do now; I'm one of them. I might have 1 beer on a Friday night. I might not have another for 3 months. If I had to average it all out, I'd say I have 1 beer every 3 weeks or so, but the pattern is so-random that I actually went 15 years without a sip of alcohol at one point. Clean beer, of course.
Of course I agree that there's a
huge alcoholic problem in the world. Probably has been for thousands of years. I've lost 2 best friends to it, one was only 31.
Now, couple in the FACT that our food is of far lesser quality, our soil is pretty much depleted, people are in worse shape, we are bombarded with tech, air pollution, etc., and what people could do years ago, they cannot do now, thanks to the gov't. And then we can look at the historical nature of pot and alcohol. As for alcohol, people used to drink beer quite a bit in the 1800s, but it was 1%. Even kids drank it, because clean water was not always available, whereas beer used distilled water. Hard liquor, gambling, junk food, etc., all came about in the late 1800s, and I won't bother addressing who and why. Today's pot is only 50 years since the 1970s, when it was mild, and a person could smoke a big fatty on his own. Now, you take a few hits with this new crap (compare today's 'organic' tobacco to the stuff PEOPLE USED TO GROW THEMSELVES, INCLUDING MY PAST RELATIVES), and you can't function or barely think straight. Glad they legalized that!
Pretty much agree with all this.
You didn't mention wine 'though, so the 1% beer thing is a bit of a straw man. Wine's been around for thousands of years too, and I doubt it was ever only 1%. The bible mentions alcoholics, specifying wine as their vice; it was the alcoholic drink of choice in those times.
Anywho, thank you for taking the time brother and I hope we can leave this here and get back on-topic.