Burnt cigarette buds littered the sidewalk in front of me.
Standing at one of the city’s busiest intersections, my friends and I had been waving “Let Harlingen Be Smoke Free” posters for the past three hours. I secretly wanted to go home already, as any other fourteen-year-old boy would, but I knew we had a goal to accomplish. Our mission, as members of the Harlingen Smokebusters, was to help the city pass a non-smoking ordinance.
The Harlingen Smokebusters is a student group that brings public awareness on the dangers of tobacco and cigarette smoking to other youth in South Texas. In 2013, our group’s focus broadened upon hearing Harlingen’s plan to become a smoke-free city. This was our chance to make a lasting impact for our community.
Secondhand smoke can cause much more damage than people can imagine. It is the cause for severe asthma attacks, respiratory infections, ear infections and sudden infant death syndrome in children. Although the people being affected by secondhand smoke aren’t smoking themselves, it is a very growing problem around the world. There are many big companies that sell cigarettes such as Newport and Marlboro but organizations also exist in the world that are trying to influence smokers to stop smoking. In the very clever and moving advertisement released in April 2008 by CONAC, also known as the Chilean Corporation Against Cancer, the corporation uses ethos, pathos, and logos to express the idea that smoking isn’t just dangerous for the smoker but for everyone else around them especially children. The company’s goal is to influence smokers to stop smoking around them.
Do you smoke? Such a question has been asked to most people at one time or another. The topic of smoking certainly requires a thorough analysis, whether you smoke or not. It’s also an issue which seems to polarize people. In this reading we’ll compare contrasting viewpoints by two different individuals. As I present the arguments, I’ll dissect them to truly understand their inner-workings. Both Dr. Haviland and King touch on many subjects yet seem to ignore others. I think a balance must be struck when it comes to smoking, both through individual rights and a social responsibility.
The film industries over the years involving Native Americans tend to display various myths and negative portrayals of indigenous people. However, some films like Smoke Signals and Rabbit Proof Fence show real experiences and lifestyles of indigenous people.
People mistake the Indian culture for living in T-Ps and going to powwows and always being drunk. But Smoke Signals really shows how the Indian culture really is. It includes how their culture is different from the white man but the stereo types that people put out for Indians are really inaccurate. Victor and Thomas not only take us on this interesting adventure to see his dad but they show us all of the Indian stereo types.
The film Smoke Signals, screen written by Sherman Alexie, examines the small, ordinary Native American life of a boy that lives on the Coeur d’Alene Indian reservation with family problems. The story is set in 1998 but also has flashbacks throughout the lives of Thomas Builds-the-Fire and Victor Joseph. Both Victor and Thomas must go on a trip to take care of Victor’s father’s business since he has passed away. Victor and Thomas both must be saved from situations throughout the film. In the film, the theme of salvation preserves both Victor and Thomas from death and conserve Victor from living a life of hatred toward his father and others around him, which allows him to understand why his life is filled with pain due to his father’s actions.
The campaign Truth focuses on giving facts, truths and statistics to its viewers to become educated on the topic of tobacco. Underneath the large text from above, the second fact states that “90% of them started as teen smokers.” Many adults that have become addicted to smoking cigarettes began the habit as teens. There are many people that believe smokers are not good people and that they are going to be ill. That is what the artist of this picture is portraying. Truth’s most recent campaign, ‘Finish It’, has a strong theme: “be the generation that ends smoking for good.” This has been presented and shown through social media and popular television shows. Through the exposure of the deathly, and eye opening facts through social media, it has been a great impact to teenagers. On Truth’s website they state that “We’re not here to criticize your choices, or tell you not to smoke. We’re here to arm everyone—smokers and nonsmokers—the the tools to make it change” (thetruth.com). Many other anti—smoking campaigns shame and make smokers feel guilty but Truth is mainly about exposing the facts and making people more knowledgeable about tobacco.
The identified community need is “to reduce the adult smoking prevalence rate and exposure to second hand smoke in Brazos County (Bryan/College Station)”
Recently, in Mr. Hutchins 9th grade honors literary composition class, we watched the film Smoke Signals. Based on popular author, Sherman Alexie’s book Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven the movie stars, eccentric, awkward Thomas-builds-the-fire (Evan Adams) and fiery, aggressive Victor Joseph (Adam Beach), who embark on a road trip out of their Idaho reservation to Phoenix, Arizona to retrieve Victor’s father’s ashes (Gary Farmer). There, a friend and neighbor of Arnold, named Suzy Song (Irene Bedard) greets them. Not only does Victor find and retrieve his father’s ashes, but he finds himself in the process.
From Fire to Ash: A closer look at "Smoke Signals" and "This Is What It Means to Say Pheonix Arizona"
Smoking cigarettes is a detrimental practice not only to the smoker, but also to everyone around the smoker. According to an article from the American Lung Association, “Health Effects” (n.d.), “Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., causing over 438,000 deaths per year”. The umbrella term for tobacco use includes the use of cigarettes, cigars, e-cigs and chewing tobacco. While tobacco causes adverse health consequences, it also has been a unifying factor for change in public health. While the tobacco industries targets specific populations, public health specifically targets smokers, possible smokers, and the public to influence cessation, policies and education.
Smoking is a lifestyle, a habit, and a trend. Smoking has become a social activity among teens, connecting them through the craving of a smoke. Smoking is seen as seductive and cool in the media and movies which influences teenagers to smoke even more. The World Health Organization has stated that “Tobacco kills around 6 million people each year. More than 5 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while more than 600,000 are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.” As of April 2016, only 7% of teenagers in the U.S. smoke, but it is said that tobacco use will kill 8 million people annually by 2030. 99% of adult smokers start in their years as teenagers. Smoking is an epidemic that has taken control of people’s lives since 1881 and the media since the early 1900s. Smoking currently kills about 440,000 people a year in the U.S. I feel that it is an issue because it is the #1 most preventable way to die, but people still continue to smoke because of how it looks and how they are perceived as a person if they do. The fact that people become addicted to a trend that will attribute to their death for the sake of being thought of as cooler, is a problem that needs to be addressed.
The article “Smoke Signals”, by the New York Times and the New Jersey Sunday edition, presented an overview of for the state of New Jersey’s recent decline in cigarettes bought in the last year. The article starts off by explaining to the reader how smokers took a financial beating at the cash register every time they went to a convenience store to buy cigarettes. In a smokers reduction movement the state of New Jersey doubled the sales tax on cigarettes forcing smokers to spend an extra forty cents on every pack they bought. Len Fishman, the state commissioner of Health and Senior services, stated that the tax increase was meant to drive down the consumption entirely. As Mr. Fishman traveled around the state he discovered that many people were already trying to quite smoking, they just never had the right physical motivation to pursue their goal. These people explained that the dramatic increase on tax was the finale straw that broke the camels back, and provided the right motivation for them to quite smoking. The tax increase put New Jersey behind only Hawaii and Alaska at $1 a pack, and Washington state at 82.5 cents a pack. Over a six month period the revenue collected from cigarette sales had dropped by 12 percent. For 1998 the revenue earned by cigarette sales should have been roughly 54.2 million cartons, but with the tax increase that number had been dropped to 47.4 million cartons. This gap represents a 6.8 million carton difference, an outstanding decrease in cigarette sales.
Each year 440,000 people die, in the United States alone, from the effects of cigarette smoking (American Cancer Society, 2004). As discussed by Scheraga & Calfee (1996) as early as the 1950’s the U.S. government has utilized several methods to curb the incidence of smoking, from fear advertising to published health warnings. Kao & Tremblay (1988) and Tremblay & Tremblay (1995) agreed that these early interventions by the U.S. government were instrumental in the diminution of the national demand for cigarettes in the United States. In more recent years, state governments have joined in the battle against smoking by introducing antismoking regulations.
This problem, which plagues all Americans, should have action taken on a local scale to help protect the health of the public. The Ames City Council is in the process of debating a city ordanince which whould ban smoking in all public places, with the exception of those designated as "smokng areas". A public place shall be defined by Subsection 142B.1(3) Code of IowaAmes City Council, Current Odrances, http://www.city.ames.ia.us/Whatsnew/smokingban.htm).
In recent years, smoking has started to take over the lives of many teenagers. The number of teenagers smoking has increased dramatically in the last several years. This is a major problem because smoking can lead to sickness and major diseases that can lead to death. Teens tend to participate in this while out of the presence of an adult figure. Although teens should not be smoking in the first place, an adult figure should be around to help insure that their children are doing the right things, even when they are behind sealed doors with their peers. Teenagers as they mature become a model for younger children and when they set the example of smoking can ruin their respectable image to the children that look up to them.