The Dangers of Not Smoking
As with other strains of puritanism through the ages, the stop-smoking inquisition may well be connected to the crisis of our times
David Warren - July 30, 2007
But I am more interested in the fate of South Korea and Japan, where only a decade ago smoking seemed so universal as to be mandatory among men, and advisable among women. These were also, incidentally, the two countries at the very top of the world's life expectancy tables. While the death rates are now increasing in both countries, I'm not sure this can be attributed to anti-smoking activism, but rather to the other postmodern phenomenon of demographic collapse.
While a glance at comparative national mortality statistics might make a compelling argument for the more general health benefits of smoking (Africa has had for decades the lowest rates for both smoking and life expectancy), I am more concerned with the specific area of mental health. In first-hand observations among smokers, non-smokers and ex-smokers, I have noticed that smoking is the only reliable cure for neurosis, and that people who give it up quickly become strident, interfering and unhappy.
Indeed, I think much of the crisis of postmodernism is caused, directly and indirectly, by non-smoking. Political decisions that were once made in smoke-filled committee rooms are now made in sterile, well-ventilated, televised environments. Think of the consequences of that.
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