A Brief, Nasty Thought
Next time you’re in a grocery store or some similarly public place and you spot somebody with an O2 tube up his nose, do your own humanity a favor:
Wipe that *Tsk-tsk, poor bastard, but (sigh), he* did *bring this painful, oxygen-starved, slow death upon himself, didn’t he?* look off your smug, fatuous face.
September 4th, 2005 at 2:53 PM
It’s been a spell since I dropped in here, so I was pretty shocked to hear the news of your recent illness. Fucking *pnuemonia*!? Holy shit! Good thing you got the help you needed in time.
Take care of yourself man and get better soon.
September 4th, 2005 at 4:18 PM
People assuming you’re a smoker?
My father, who was a lifelong smoker, developed emphysema later in life. He didn’t have to sport an oxygen tube, though. Ultimately, he WAS responsible for his affliction. But damn, I think that kind of anti-smoking contempt stinks.
I’m not a big fan of lifestyle police, from the left or the right.
Granted, one could make an argument against smoking as a public health issue; ie., it helps to raise everyone’s rates, etc. But it’s rarely framed like that, is it? It’s always, smokers are stupid dupes at best, and downright evil at worst. Feh.
I know, this was addressed in an earlier post. Just my 2 cents.
September 5th, 2005 at 6:10 AM
It’s not anti-smoking contempt. It’s contempt for a lesser evolved human being emanating from an even *lesser* evolved subspecies.
September 5th, 2005 at 9:02 AM
Well, the first person I came in close contact who had to take an oxygen tank was a lifelong non-smoker, non-drinker and vegetarian. As such, I was rather confused by your piece; it never occurred to me that it might be their fault.
September 5th, 2005 at 1:59 PM
Whenever you’re confronted with such sanctimonious pomposity, spare a thought for Jim Fixx, the jerk turned jogging from an obscurity into a national obsession. And who dropped dead of a heart attack whilst jogging.
That always cheers me up.
September 5th, 2005 at 3:52 PM
Alex: It was Jim Fixx’s heart condition, which went conspicuously unpublicized at the time, that spurred him to take up jogging. He might well have died ten years earlier if he hadn’t.
September 5th, 2005 at 7:40 PM
It’s contempt for a lesser evolved human being emanating from an even lesser evolved subspecies.
This is surely related to the contempt accorded to the poor and sick left stranded in New Orleans.