• Mnemnosyne@sh.itjust.works
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    4 months ago

    Consider this question: how is it that anyone under the age of 40 today has ever smoked?

    By the time they were born, the bad effects of smoking were well understood. By the time they were teenagers, not smoking should have been as obvious as not jumping in front of a train. People already addicted find it difficult to quit, but it in no way explains anyone starting.

    The question is different and yet very similar, because the things you mention wind up in a similar way. Somehow people start in that route even though it should be obvious not to. And these things you mention are much easier to fall into than smoking because parents, family, etc are all pushing it on people. Smokers generally aren’t pushing their kids, nieces and nephews, grandchildren, etc to smoke, and somehow smoking still proliferates to some degree, just consider how much more difficult to avoid it is for those whose families are actively encouraging them to fall into these methods of belief and hate.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Somehow people start in that route even though it should be obvious not to.

      Nicotine provides a short term mental stimulus that’s great for people who feel exhausted or have trouble staying focused.

      That’s why lots of people start smoking in school and lots of professionals continue smoking well past the point at which the health effects are obvious.

      I know a pulmonologist who smoked until he was in his thirties. Literally “how do you expect me to do my job without this?” was his response when I pressed him on it. Lawyers still smoke like chimneys and for the same reasons

    • LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      4 months ago

      For me as a non-smoker, but vaper, it’s not as if I “fell” into anything. I actively choose to vape and like it. I quit before and did not like it. I get way more benefits from nicotine than downsides. These are factual benefits.

      It’s a poor analogy for right-wing political beliefs which don’t really work. They do not really lead to the goals they claim.

      • Charzard4261@programming.dev
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        4 months ago

        The guy wasn’t talking about vaping though, but smoking. The one we know for sure gives you a ton of issues and health problems.

        Whilst I agree it’s not a great analogy for right wing beliefs, I’d say it works as a good analogy for incel behaviour. I knew a guy who had fallen into that trap but managed to find his way out. When I asked him about it, he said it helped him cope, that it was easier to believe that it wasn’t his fault things were so shitty.

        I really respect how he was able to realise that the things he and the people around him were saying was bullshit, and it made me realise that a lot of these people are being taken advantage of by “influencers” spewing this harmful rhetoric.