Smoking Fallacy Analysis

Have you ever seen a cigarette commercial that shows people who have suffered severe health consequences because of smoking? This causes the viewer to associate smoking with these really sick people, even if those consequences don’t happen to the majority of smokers. After seeing the commercial, it is believed that most people would want to either stop smoking or never start. There are many public advertisements that suggest smoking will kill you, but I strongly disagree. These mistaken beliefs that render an argument invalid are called fallacies. There are many other things in life we should be worried about other than the consequences of smoking in my opinion. In my representation of a fallacy on smoking, I will explain that the author of

While smoking no doubt may be bad for your health, not everyone dies from it or gets diagnosed with cancer or some other illness. The author gives twenty-seven names of real life smokers and their stories of what types of consequences they suffered from. Each story is different, and each is trying to get you to see the dangers in cigarette smoking and what it can cause. The article also gives a brief tip on where to find help to quit smoking, such as in Beatrice’s story where she describes techniques used to successfully quit smoking. Many of the others in this article did not however find the courage to quit and are faced with many difficulties. In Brandon’s story he “describes losing his foot, fingers, and other body parts to Buerger’s disease, a disorder linked to smoking.” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 3). In his commercial, Brett informed viewers that he had acquired a gum disease and by the age of 42 had lost most of his teeth due to smoking. Julia was diagnosed with colorectal cancer at age 49, which nearly killed her. Marlene stated that

The author of the article from Centers of Disease Control and Prevention tries to scare people into thinking if they smoke they will be stuck with some type of health condition. What we don’t know is, who these people are in the ad. We know nothing about their medical or family history, how much they smoke in a day, or their daily activities. They could sit on the sofa all day smoking a carton or cigarettes with a heart condition that was passed on from a previous family member while the author is trying to tell us that smokers live unhealthy lives. For many smoking becomes a habit. Most begin smoking at a early age because they see the people around them doing it. All of these factors come into play when determining if smoking actually is harmful to your body. There is no doubt in my mind that smoking may cause some sort of mild health problems like shortness of breath or coughing, but to say smoking will kill you is a little extreme. Cancer as well as other health conditions come from age, genes, and environment. Not all smokers are diagnosed with some sort of health deficiency; you could have never smoked a day in your life and still have throat cancer. You could get in a car wreck and lose your leg due to it being crushed instead losing it to Berger’s disease. You could lose your eye sight due to old age, or get liver cancer from drinking too much alcohol.