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>Abbott and Donald smoked a cigarette in the bathroom and sorted through the grim math So they can afford cigarettes? I have a hard time feeling bad for peopl
by IanDrake 12y ago
>Abbott and Donald smoked a cigarette in the bathroom and sorted through the grim math
So they can afford cigarettes? I have a hard time feeling bad for people with low income and expensive vices.
- osi 12y ago.. but if the vices are expensive primarily due to taxes...
- ctdonath 12y agoMuch of such taxes make vices expensive precisely to discourage indulgence in those vices.
- llamataboot 12y agoSmoking is an addiction, and it is highly correlated with poverty for a variety of reasons, some of which I'm sure you can find if you step off the personal responsibility high-horse for a moment.
- MrZongle2 12y agoSo at what point are the individuals themselves responsible for their actions? Or is it addictions, poverty, and other external and unavoidable tragedies all the way down?
- mikeash 12y agoThe point is when you're talking about large populations as a whole. It's like the saying that if you owe the bank a million dollars, you have a problem, but if you owe the bank a billion dollars, the bank has a problem. Here, if one person is stuck in poverty because of poor life choices, they have a problem. If ten million people are stuck in poverty because of poor life choices, we all have a problem. Rather than point fingers and talk about "responsibility" and all the rest, it would be much more useful to simply talk about why this happens (both internal and external reasons), what can be done to help, and whether those actions are worthwhile.
- sheltgor 12y agoClearly you've never dealt with an addiction before. For some people cigarettes aren't just an expensive 'vice', they're a physical need due to chemical dependency. It certainly doesn't help that the most prominent cigarette ads tend to be in low income areas.