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"Very few consumers are aware of the effects of nicotine.
ie - it's addictive nature and that it's a poison"
- The Truth Behind the Curtain quoting what a tobacco
executive said in 1978 - nearly 25 years ago.
"According to recently uncovered documents, a well known
tobacco company planned on boosting sales of cigarettes in the
mid-90's by specifically targeting gays and homeless people.
What did they call the little plan? Project: SubCulture Urban
Marketing also known as Project SCUM. But I'm sure they meant
that in a good way."
- The Truth Behind the Curtain having Donald (apparent
homeless guy) read their ad.
October 27th, 2002
Okay, maybe it's me.
At least once a week, I'll be in the middle of
watching something on TV and my senses and intelligence will
be assaulted by one of these stupid "Truth: Behind The
Curtain" ads against smoking.
I hate them.
It's like watching a bad episode of something
Michael Moore put together. Except instead of going against
the corporate machine with things that can't be denied as fact
they take a fact and reach an exaggerated conclusion.
It's this thing I have with sensing that someone
is trying to pull the old Jedi Mind Trick on the younger masses
and I'd hate like hell to see kids become more slaves to media
driven principles or propaganda. What's worse is that it's coming
from the Gen Xer's that can't possibly have a clue about anything.
I think more than anything it just annoys me.
I am a casual smoker. What does that mean? It
means that every once in a while when I'm either in a bar drinking
or having a really stressful week or month - I'll smoke a cigarette.
Is that such a bad thing? I don't think so.
What I'm trying to figure out is: What are they
trying to accomplish?
Seriously. What are they trying to accomplish?
Is it that the Truth people think that most 18 year olds DON'T
KNOW smoking a lot of cigarettes for years at a time might cause
cancer? Of course they do. Despite what damage the Joe Camel
"head looks like a penis" ads did. The "don't
smoke" message has been in the works since I was a kid.
I remember the "We mind very much if you smoke" commercials.
I knew smoking was bad. I was a rational adult partaking in
a vice. I was over 21 when I decided I wanted to smoke.
I also don't know what will happen if everyone
does stop smoking. If we live longer, is it a future we will
want to see? Personally, I don't want to be remembered as the
old guy who peed himself while drooling on his shirt at age
110. I am aware of what I do.
I know that if I were to smoke a pack of cigarettes
a day - every day, that something would happen to me.
I also know that if I drink a bottle of whiskey
everyday, I'll get cirrhosis. Here's something that really flew
over the Truth propaganda machine: the concept of moderation.
I got this from one of their "truths".
There are something like 300 poisons in one cigarette. It only
takes one to kill you.
Huh?
Alcohol is a poison. I drink it a couple of times
a month. Arsenic is a poison, too. Do you know that Arsenic
taken in small doses is actually good for you and was used medicinally?
Do you know that the human body can also develop immunities
to poisons if taken in small amounts over a long period of time?
That's the theory used for allergy medicines.
How about this? Some things that are good for
you, taken in high doses WILL KILL YOU. For example
Vitamin E, taken in large doses will give you brain hemorrhages.
Typically, Vitamin E, is good for your skin and will help fight
against senility. But take too much and you're a vegetable.
A little something that came up with Pateur,
the concept of antibiotics. That's when you take a dead or dying
virus and inject it into your body. This is the basis of immunology.
But I'll wait for the "Truth against Antibiotics"
campaign to come out before I go that route.
Here's another good "truth" fact. Ready?
They add ammonia to cigarettes for flavor. Okay, fair enough.
How about some truth of my own. This comes from The Amonia Treatment
of Tobacco*.
The document states that as tar levels decrease
in cigarettes, so too does the amount of nicotine. Therefore,
"the smoker desires more organoleptic effect than the low
tar cigarette delivers." Lorillard wanted to enhance the
organoleptic effect of nicotine by increasing the amount of
free nicotine in smoke. They mention several ways of doing this,
the most promising of which was treating tobacco with ammonia
or ammonium ion. They determined this was inexpensive and safer
than adding metal alkali. Also of interest is the fact that
they mention that treating tobacco with ammonia decreases its
combustibility. This may be a reason why tobacco companies add
chemicals to cigarette paper that keep cigarettes burning.
There you have it. Adding ammonia to cigarettes
reduces tar and burns slower. - Duh. Pick your poison. What
do we do when we make smelling salts or mop floors? We use ammonia.
We have clean floors but we are still alive. Also, not many people outside of the cooking and restaurant world know this but chefs add a drop of amonia in boiling water to restore the color and firmness of broccoli. Most of the finer restaurants do this. Imagine that. The truth against fine cuisine.
What kills me is that they seem to imply that
by smoking even one cigarette, you'll die. They take a fact
and they make the worst case scenario of that fact. It actually
sounds like a game. Let's play.
- Gravity causes things to fall to the
earth. That's a fact. Let's take this to the "truth"
conclusion. - Stay inside your house or gravity will make
an anvil fall on your head and you will die. This is something
that the anvil companies and physicists don't want you to
know.
- Sunlight causes skin cancer.
That seems to be a fact. Long exposure to the sun over the
years will cause skin cancer. Truth conclusion: Stay in your
basement all the time because going outside will give you
skin cancer and you will die. This is something that the doctors,
beach owners, and astrophysicists are hiding from you.
- People can die in car accidents.
That one works. Fatalities can occur in car accidents. The
truth conclusion: Never leave your house to go anywhere because
even if you are a pedestrian, you can get hit by a car and
die. Just by being near a car is hazardous. Cars emit carbonmonoxide,
if you breathe this in - you will die. This is a truth that
the automobile manufacturers and the gasoline industry are
trying to hide from you.
- Eating cheeseburgers are fattening.
I think we can all agree on that one. If you eat enough cheeseburgers
you will eventually be the size of a house. Truth conclusion:
Don't ever go to McDonald's! They lie in wait to kill you
with their two all beef paddie poisons. If you eat a cheeseburger,
you will have a heart attack and die. And if you die fat enough,
you'll kill your pall bearers when your coffin lands on them
with that dangerous gravity stuff. This is a horrible truth
that the fast food industry and undertaker's guild are trying
to hide from you.
- Coffee has caffine. I'm a big
backer of that. And the Truth conclusion: Don't ever drink
coffee! Coffee contains caffine - a dangerous stimulant that
can cause your heart to explode! More deaths occur due to
the ingestion of coffee than by car accidents, sun bathers,
anvil deaths, and cheeseburger eaters combined. This is a
truth that Miss Olsen (the Folger's lady), Juan Valdez, and
Mr. Coffee are trying to hide from you.
I think I've made my point. A fact taken to it's
absolute worst extreme and brought to an outlandish and frightening conclusion.
I usually file this kind of stuff under the "second
hand smoke kills you" category. Question: How do you test
that? I think I know how Mike Bloomberg and the guys at Truth
came up with it. I think they took a rat and had a smoker blow
smoke in it's face constantly for about 18 years. With each
puff from the smoker, they asked the scientist, "How is
the rat, now? (puff) Okay, now? (puff) How about now? (puff)" And so on. Eventually,
I'm sure that the rat died of boredom but the cigarette industry
got the blame.
Another "truth". Cigarettes contain urea
- the same as your pee. That's good.
Pee contains water, too. Should I stop drinking
that? Water contains hydrogen. The same stuff they make bombs
out of. Whew! I'd better be more careful in the future.
Another one. I love this one. A young girl reads
a CEO issues book. In light of health studies why do you stay
in the tobacco business. Their official answer - We believe
we can continue to operate our business successfully. She now
states her Gen X Jedi Mind Trick opinion - So, 440,000 people
die each year, and that's a success.
No, I'm sure that's not what they meant, though.
I'm sure they meant that there are still many people out there
that are willing to pay for cigarettes and don't give a rat's
ass who else has died smoking.
Here is the real truth.
The Truth people, once again, don't consider
that there are people on this planet that actually like smoking.
There are also people on this planet that enjoy drinking alcohol,
smoking pot, shooting heroin, and snorting cocaine. There are
also people that enjoy bunji jumping, crocodile wrestling, lion
taming, and race car driving. All of these things done the wrong
way can kill you. The tobacco companies did not put a gun to
these people's head. They don't say, "Smoke cigarettes
or else!"
But the truth people forget yet another thing.
This is America: The land of freedom. Each individual has the
freedom to do whatever he wants with his life. If taking a toxic
substance that won't immediately kill him is his wish, it's
his or her choice. What scares me is if they are successful
in shutting down cigarette companies what happens when it's
the next thing... like coffee or cheeseburgers. When will it
be bunji jumping or skiing? I treasure the liberties I have
now and hate having any of them taken away.
I'll make the choice of whether I want to smoke
or not and I don't need any Gen Xer or some Politician telling
me I can't.
It all boils down to - Do you want to smoke or
not?
It's your choice.
Latest comment
1/2/2003
*- This was taken from Tobaccodocuments.org
they tell the reasons behind all of this. It's all out there
for you to find.
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