due to the fact that i got such depressing results for comms, i am going to take the opportunity to use a topic and be all angsty about it. it has been bugging me for quite some time now, and well, here's the chance to let it all out.
to all smokers,
how did you feel when the gahmen kept increasing the price of ciggarettes? angry? yes? but did we protest? no. from $3.50 a pack, it has come to $11.20 for 20 sticks of ciggs. we showed no signs of disapproval other than to puff our stress away even more. THEN, they decided to put disgusting horrific, SUPPOSEDLY true pictures on each pack to show us what harm smoking can bring us. did we protest? no. instead we sniggered, laughed about it, even created a collection of the pictures. THEN, what did they do? slowly slowly BAN places from us smokers. BAN. yes. BAN. first it was the air-con places (duh), then it spread outwards to bus stops, queues, coffee shops (partially..but i will comment more on this) outdoor places that we all just love to chill, have fun and enjoy a stick or two with our friends. its getting OUTRAGEOUS these days. because NOW, they ban even more places like CARPARK, door entrances, staircases and MANY MANY MORE.
what have we done to you non-smokers? exactly what?! do we blow our smoke into your faces? do we PURPOSELY stand next to you while smoking and let you inhale our smoke? yeah yeah. stop the nonsense on second hand smoking okae? if you're so scared, when you see a smoker, RUN for your life.
i myself, have been very tolerant with such beings. when i see a morsel of distortion on their face (ie. cringe) when i light up a ciggarette, i would move away. i also dont smoke when im near children, or at least i wont blow the smoke in their direction. if im crossing a road, and i happen to be holding a stick, i would walk at the outer most section of the crossing and not be in between people to spread the smoke around. most of my smoker friends are like that too! so if WE can be considerate to all you non-smokers, why must you keep denying us places to smoke? it gets unbearably irritating!
last time, i LOVE the fact that i can always choose the alfresco of a restaurant so that i can smoke. that is of course if my non-smoker friends dont mind, (see, we seek approval to show our consideration for others).it is a lovely feeling when you have eaten to your heart's content and then smoke afterwards. its heaven.( all you smoker get your hands in the air and say HELL YEA!) but what have they done? they made EVEN the alfresco, the open air part of the restaurant to be non-smoking. or even if they allowed, they only have up to TWO tables for smokers. what in the world...see...to all you non-smokers..at first, restaurants set up alfrescos for people who smoke and for those who cant take the cold of the air condition. unless you are one of these people, STAY INSIDE. dont be bothered with what goes on outside. and if you're the latter, the ones who cant stand the cold of an air con, and HATES the smell of smoke..tell you what...BRING A DAMN JACKET AND STAY INSIDE.
oh and im not done yet. SOME OF THE MORE IRRITATING non-smokers, would sit in OUR table. yes. OUR table. the one that allows us to sit there and smoke. see, again, it goes two ways now honey, if you dont want us to smoke at your non-smoking table, then jolly well dont take up our seats if you're not smoking. kapish?
then, yet another brilliant idea to irritate smokers is the "no smoking at door entrances, 5 metres of every building, multi-storey carparks and...OH. your mum's house!" annoying jfd&$%#. you know how annoying it is that singapore is SMEARED with buildings all over. so for a smoker to not be able to smoke at door entrances areas and 5 metres of every building, thats as simple as saying that we cant smoke ANYWHERE! because every 5 metres or so, we're into the 5 metre radius of yet another building!! and and, why cant we smoke at multi-storey carparks?whose life have we endangered there? bearing in mind that cars emits smoke too. so no one should use a car. because if you smell car's exhaust fumes, you may DIE.
oh ridiculous ridiculous. AND. they set up this small yellow boxes outside of shopping malls where they appear to be smokers-friendly. BUT if you scrutinize further, they're actually torturing us even more. the boxes are small. so if ten smokers were to obediently follow the law and smoke there, we will all be crammed up. andi've always realised that NONE of the smoking boxes EVER offered chairs. i mean. we'rehuman beings too you know! let us have a place to sit or something. smoking is to chill out and relax. not to strain our veins on our calves and feets!
oh the rantings can go on. how does this even relate to COMM 101 you ask? its all about the media theories we learn. this example can cover at least three. that is, the agenda setting function, media hegemony and the cultivation theory.
agenda setting function
media's ability to raise importance of an issue in the public's mind through repeated coverage. hmm. remember those disturbing advertisements that they show on tv about smoking. how one of them end up to be totally faked? yes. the fact that they have "no smoking" signs repeatedly showcased everywhere? yes. the fact that they intentionally link all sorts of health issues to smoking? whereas in the past, they only focused on healthy diet pyramids and eye exercises? yes. change of focus. we become the target. case closed.
media hegemony
media represents the views of the powerful elite. how many of our ministers smoke? maybe discreetly, we dont know...but in the public eye, none of them are smokers. furthermore, the gahmen wants to create singapore into a health hub. therefore, unhealthy habit (see..not habitS) should be eradicated. realise that gambling is also an unhealthy habit? but what? what did you say? the IR will be ready soon? ohhh. great for singapore's economy i hear. case closed.
cultivation theory
message in media do not influence audiences attitudes directly but, cultivated indirectly. in the past, when more places were allowed for smoking, even those smoke-haters cant say much. those neutral parties say nothing and accept life as it is. but now, with the placement of those horrible signs, the smoke-haters now have a reason to say all they want and involve the law to outcast the smokers. neutral parties will be swayed to think likewise, since now, the law is involved. its a gradual reconstruction of perception. slowly, people might just associate smokers with druggies. -shake head-
its a sad sad life now for the smokers.imprisoned in their own land. outcast by society. and we're only left with the company of those 20 loyal friends that come in a pack and ease our tension, stress, sorrow away.
(ps: i've always been a supporter of the gahmen. but not this one. defnitely not this one)
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Haha.. sounds like incessant ranting of an abused smoker. I feel you.
ReplyDeleteThe rules about no smoking in Car parks is just bulls**t in my opinion. Why the hell would you ban smoking in a place that is already smoked out by car exhausts?
And more recently, they have increased the fine on littering... to catch people flicking their cigarette butts. Talk about driving smokers to the wall. Us smokers have already been forced to side alleys, road sides and under the hot sun just to have a quick puff, but now they're even trying to make it even more difficult for us.
Look at the bustop outside SIM. A perfect illustration of what happens when you don't give proper designated areas for smoking. The amount of cigarette butts littered on the ground will most probably be able to fill 10 whole ashtrays!
i feel you too..but did you really have a collection of those pictures on the cigarette packs?? i really feel you.
ReplyDeletei have this feeling..one day we smokers will get fined..if we smoke whilst walking/on the move...hmmm.. the day is nearing.
ReplyDeleteYES. I agree with you totally! The yellow boxes are all unsheltered and when it rains, where do they expect us to smoke?
ReplyDeleteAnd, double thumbs up to the point where non-smokers are sitting at our table in cafes and/or coffee shops. It is very frustrating to not find a place to sit for a meal and slack afterwards.
Why on earth do they ban smoking at multi-storey carparks?? Furthermore, there are more and more places going smoke free. So where do they expect us to smoke? As long as we smokers are considerate enough not to purposely blow smoke to the non-smokers, i don't see why we cant smoke at non- airconditioned places.
As a "malaysian" point of view its full of CRAP... More and more sporeans are coming over to Malaysia over the weekends just to have a nice day chilling at their favorite coffee place and enjoy the moment smoking their cigg.. for sure no one will stop them. MALAYSIA BOLEH!
ReplyDeleteOnce when i was driving in spore, being so paranoid about this issue, i called a buddy of mine just to ask him "weh, driving can smoke?" And a sign of relieve when was told its still ok.
why is there a ban in multistorey carparks? if we were to smoke there, is there any harm done to the carpark.. they will give reason like the place will be litter'd with cigg butts, so install more rubbish bins than.
Ciggs is actually a source of income to the gomen.. imagine the amount of taxes the cigg companies are paying the gomen so that they can sell their products here. inorder to survive with the huge amount of money being paid to the gomen, cigg companies increased the prices of cigg as it is today.
Cost price of a pack of cigg :S$2, Selling price: S$12, Gomen share: 90%, Cigg Company: 10%
THEY could have bann ciggs, but THEY know it will bring THEIR economy down, instead they increase the prices as sporeans are lancy, sure buy without protesting.
This rule wont apply in Malaysia as more than half the members of Parliament here smoke. So if they protest, sure malaysian gomen goyang...
Although we know smoking is harmfull, i bet half you people out there are willing to quit smoking if you can. here's some info:
Nicotine is being transported all over the human body by the blood stream. Our blood actually delivers less oxygen in order to accommodate the nicotine.
Nicotine completely leaves your body within 48HRS of the last puff you had. After that your body wont be craving for a fag. It is actually the mind that urges you to get a fag in between your two fingers and to start puffing away. So its a mind over body thingy.
"Adam said...
i have this feeling..one day we smokers will get fined..if we smoke whilst walking/on the move...hmmm.. the day is nearing."
i bet in the next 2 years, you can only smoke in your own house.
Why are ciggs in Malaysia cheap? about S$3 for a pack of Marlboro's 20s.
Malaysia have a lot of resources like coal, rubber, oil palm and etc. The gomen benefits from these stuff to boost their economy rather than ciggs unlike our neigh-boring country(sing-siow-pour) who has nothing, elek. Even water also buy from us and than so kerek. Good luck drinking toilet water people!!
BilBil
I 100% agree with u guys... I won't be surprise tat the bloody GARMEN will one day put out a new regulation state that Smoking is a Crime in S'pore... Smokers are Criminal... BAN ciggs from selling in singapore... n same old shit...Singaporeans smokers will juz follow
ReplyDeleten keep their FU**ING mouth shut...
If theres a sign shows a smoking corner... There also must have a sign NON-SMOKER are not allow to sit at smoking areas...
Singaporeans are afraid of the bloody GARMEN... N afraid to protest... U know y?!?!...U really wanna know y...B'coz too many ppl in singapore are WERKING for them...
Even GARMEN PPL who r smoking contraband ciggs catches ppl who r smoking that...i mean...WTF!!!.. If all singaporean... i mean every single FU**ING SINGAPOREANS are to gather n protest... tell me what will happen... They are afraid to protest b'coz majority of singaporeans are getting the FU**ING money from them!... Bloodyhell!!... Singaporeans also money face!
Singaporeans lifes are control by the FU**ING GARMENS...
Wake up Singaporean Smokers...BLOODYHELL WAKE UP!!!...
eH ADAM!...JGN BANGGA NGAN SINGAPORE LAH!!
ReplyDeletelast time i learnt econs regarding taxes, the tax stick of cigarette in S'pore cost 37cents. 37cents x 20 = $7.40.. my pack of viceroy cost $9.80. thus, 7.4(tax)/2.4(cost price) x 100 = 308%. therefore i'm being taxed a whoppin total of 308% of the cost price everytime i buy a pack at the mama shop nearby my house. You know what, ima start my *$%#^ thesis with supporting the ban on smoking in most of places in this place we call home. ok.. here goes nothing.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, many smokers feel angsty like our friend kamaliah who has written a lengthy post regarding the ban itself. Now, im sure smokers have felt that the gahmen(thats how kams spell it anyways, so im obliged to follow) earns alot thru the aforementioned tax. Even i have written about it, calculatin it hits a 7 figure sum regularly. But, before you start a protest in front of Parliament House or Istana, you never stop to think the economic implications that smoking has on the country. A typical smoker would incur medical cost thats phenomenal in a country. I quote the case of the United States of America. A male smoker would incur $19 000 of JUST medical costs in his lifetime whereas a female smoker would incur $6800 more. Now, that is just one individual. 1/3 adult smokes. 220741391 smokers in the world. Ceteris paribus, disregarding different currency rates and blablabla, and assuming the male and female population is 50/50, the cost of medical treatment smokers in the whole world could solve starvation in Africa, ah ^#&$* the whole damn world for 10 generations or even till Judgement day cometh'. So its kinda case closed on why taxes are imposed on cigaretes in S'pore. Its a damn negative externality that adds up to social cost and thus no equilibrium. Nobody likes a disequilibrium. Not so for a pseudo authoritarian gahmen like ours. So understand why its being done.
Secondly, the limited places that we can smoke is a measure to make it inconvenient for us to smoke. To limit smoking, to limit second hand smoke that as we know is more harmful than smoking itself [ then why not the non-smokers pick up smoking.. but this world isnt perfect. haih.=( ] Its rather effective. Its to prevent all this. Thus, -ve externalities come into place again.
HOWEVER, I AM TIRED OF MOVING TO PLACES JUST TO SMOKE. STANDING IN THE GOD DAMNED YELLOW BOX TO SMOKE LIKE SHEEPS WAITING TO BE HERDED TO BE SACRIFICED DURING HAJ. THO I THINK THATS KINDA THE SAME, BUT THE EXECUTOR IS CANCER. HAHA. BUT ALL THIS HAVE TO SUCK IT UP. JUST SMOKE AH. THERE IS NO WAY A TOTAL BAN ON SMOKING WOULD BE PUT INTO PLACE. WE AIN'T NO BHUTAN HOMIE. SMOKING AT ALFRESCO WHERE THERE IS A DESIGNATED AREA, HOWEVER SMALL, DO WHAT I ALWAYS DO. BLOW YOUR SMOKE INTO THE DIRECTION OF THE NON SMOKING AREA. LET THEM SUCK IT UP FOR ONCE. CARPARK IS AN AREA WHERE THEY CAN CONTROL TO NOT SMOKE. ITS A SLOW TIDEOUS PROCESS LAAA. FIRST CARPARK, THEN UNDER THE BLOCK, THEN THE WORLD! ACTUALLY IM QUITE TIRED AHH. I WANA SLEEP. DAMN TIRED. SMOKE ALL YOU WANT. CAUSE SMOKING IS COOL. KAMS AKU DAH PENAT...
This comment started quite promisingly but fizzled out like an old ahpek with erectile dysfunction. I apologise. Thank you for smoking. All this writing makes me worked up. I wana go smoke. tata.
Oh man, ANGGSSTTYYYYYY *cowers*
ReplyDeleteI wish other other smokers are as considerate. They practically puffed the smoke into my face when walking past.
But I do know that other much more considerate smokers do try to be nice. My uncle who smokes always walks to the kitchen window to smoke when others(non smaokers) are around. And I see people smoking standing further away at bus stops.
So to all considerate smokers: THANK YOU!!!
as mentioned above, smokers are categorized into the considerate and the non-considerate and its somehow sad to say that the considerate people remains as the minority among the smokers population.
ReplyDeletewhat i can say 'bout the implementation of more and more restrictions of smoking is to eventually 'help' the world? like you know, all the ' OUR WORLD IS DYING! LESS SMOKEE LESS GREENHOUSE GASES... ' and the list goes on. so if you round up all the smokers in the world, i guess the smoke production can equate to a few factories working at full capacity?
message from the gahmen: until we see a significant decrease in the no. of smokers ( or total ERADICATION ), we will not stop restricting you guys. so i guess, smokers will have to live with it :S
The first thing that struck a chord with me was your claim of the smoker's innocence. I thank you Kam because yes you are one very considerate smoker. But that doesn't make the twenty others behind you queuing for a pack of fags angels. You can vouch only for yourself, I believe at most your family members and closest friends, but not the entire smoking population no?
ReplyDeleteA man brushed his lit cigarette against my arm and didn't even bother offering an apology. This happened at a bus stop.
A bunch of mats smoking made the alfresco area of macs near my place had a chimney
Ah bengs smoking in the presence of adolescence outside shopping malls.
These are common scenarios that perhaps the gahmen are trying to eradicate. I'm sorry you feel targeted and victimized and i know no form of action can vindicate the gahmen in your eyes but be thankful they have not banned cigarettes yet. Have you ever thought of that? I mean they banned chewing gum, what are cigarettes to them?
"whereas in the past, they only focused on healthy diet pyramids and eye exercises? yes. change of focus. we become the target. case closed."
im sorry kam i feel i totally missed your point here. All sorts of health issues linked to smoking? Huh? The ones associated to smoking are the ones meant to be associated to smoking, no? Healthy diet pyramids were used to address obesity and eye exercises for myopia. I don't recall ads screaming DONT SMOKE YOU WILL GET DENGUE FEVER.
And im sure you have to understand that health issues in a country evolves with time. They don't stagnate. If they do, we'd probably have a cure for everything and achieve utopia by now. Even the food pyramid isn't that relevant now and they're modifying it into something better.
The only thing that I can sympathize with is the fact that some of the little liberties that's left for smokers are being inhibited by the non-smokers like the smoking chairs. On that part I would agree that yes, the population of the non-smokers who do that are a bunch of incorrigible self-centered retards.
like diki, i died halfway. lol.
and in response to the obviously more kerek msian fella, yeah we lack resources. but at least our leaders got grey matter. just look at the state of your current political affairs lah. ade resources banyak2 pun tak guna if all of them are gonna be squandered by intra-domestic squabbles.
cheers. mata aku dah kero.
in response to hassa, i do admit that my range of 'considerate smokers' may have well been too narrowed down to just 'my friends and i'. and i do acknowledge the existence of smoking imbeciles who do as they please and create a worse stereotype of smokers.
ReplyDeletei guess my emotionally-charged ranting distracts readers on my true intention of posting this up. hence i shall clearly define it now.
i'm very much perplexed as to why the gahmen chooses to emphasize the social cost or negative externalities (as diki puts it) of just smoking. and act only upon the damages that smoking brings. or at least, act drastically. whaat about other habits tthat induce the same social cost? i clearly do not see as much effort or similar drastic measures to reduce the problems.
some examples would be drinking. people who drink (alcoholic beverages) can cause social problems as well. the increasin no. of drink driving that occurs in singapore resulting in various road accidents, most involving fatalities or permenant bodily damages to driver as well as other innocent parties should be a cause of concern too no? other than an increase in regular road blocks to check for drink drivers, what other drastic measures are meted out?
drinking also causes various health problems like liver cancer.which in turn may also incur some medical cost,much like smokers who suffer from say, lung cancer. drunkards are also likely to cause fights in public or be a social nuisance when they vomit all over or just lay flat on the ground, unconcious. again,how much restriction were enforced against drinkers?
other social problems would be gambling addictions. addiction to gamblings triggers a bigger chain reaction of social probs like loansharks, robbery, abuse ( physical assault to family when depressed over losing a bet?). yet, a CASINO is going to be erected and ready for some big playoffs! what have they done to try curb this problem? advertisement on some quit helplines, increase in recruitment of psychologist to deal with such addiction. nothing to really restrict. but a rather gentle approach to dealing with the problem.unfair to smokers yes?
with regardss to your question on the linking of health issues, of course they will not advertise abt dengue, since the cause of the illness is widely known. im talking about things like miscarriage and GANGRENE. no doubt they can be one of the common causes, but do u know that in the case of Gangrene,drinking excessively is also one of the common cause? you dont see them pasting a picture of a rotting feet on a vodka bottle do you? its dramatisation of the effects of smoking and neglecting other possible causes no?
also, with respect to the complete banning of ciggarettes, i guess BILBIL have completely nailed it on the head on that one. i agree with his view that the only reason that they have not banned ciggarettes is because, ciggarette tax have probably contributed largely to singapore's economy. along with fining contrabands and littering of ciggarette buds. OF WHICH, why dont people who litter (tissue, gum, food wrapper, etc) get as heavily hunted as smokers do? a thot to ponder.
see, the whole grudge i feel is the inequality in treatment and the extent of drastic measures that are meted out. and the whole, "we're doing this for the benefit of others and you". im just left unconvinced of their true intentions.
oh just one more thing to add, please refrain from insulting coutries AND keep language at PG rating. lets all be civilize and be involved in a thought-provoking discussion rather than a heated argument. okie?! thank you.
ReplyDeleteother than regular road blocks, we see policeman stationed at the clubs as well. I mean yes their presence is actually to deter fights but i believe it plays a part in curbing drink driving to a certain extent. We also have ads pasted on buses, mrts, near clubs and also aired on the radio and tv. "drink driving shatters lives" with a photo frame broken. remember that?
ReplyDeleteone point you clearly missed out is the fact that drinking by itself isn't hazardous. it may actually promote mental health with ref to Stampfer, M.J., et al. Effects of moderate alcohol consumption on cognitive function in women. New England Journal of Medicine, 2005, 352, 245-253; Heslam, Jessica. Women age better with a fine wine: Study: Alcohol helps memory. Boston Herald, January 20, 2005; Stein, Rob. Study: Moderate drinking good for cognitive health. Washington Post, January 20, 2005. Excessive drinking, now that's a problem. Drink driving? Bingo numero uno that's a problem. But how do you curb these habits? You can't have the gahmen banning drinking. It's equivalent to banning food. Food in moderation is essential but in excess you get obesity which will eventually lead to other health hazards. You can't have them pasting stickers that says "oh you can drink but only a lil k?" . So what do they do? Address the problem directly (drink driving) and have ads and awareness campaigns. Fines, caning and license revocation are measures to curb drink drivers aren't they? Maybe if we impose a 600% tax on tobacco the gahmen will be able to raise enough cash to fund an R&D project to make cars malfunction in the presence of alcohol. From there you will definitely see a drop in drink drivers. Hmm.
Cheers.
As much as I abhor smoking. It comes down to personal choice and that's our basic means (or lack of) freedom. I will not deny smokers that. Hell, I even embraced them in my days in the jungle.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it certainly is so that the govt is coming down hard on smokers, slow as it may seem. Its a gradual process to first 'ostracize' these individuals and let time do the rest. Children are brought up to label cigs as poison and a domestic taboo. Gone are the glamorous days of smoking. They no longer grace our screens as a 'cool accessory' but as an awful habit to curb, a stereotype of the villian/low-life or generally the cause of death to 'lives of great potential'.
So, no. I won't be surprised if a complete ban is to be implemented. I mean. Its Singapore. Chewing Gum anyone?
That said, with the ever rising cost of cigarettes, smokers either turn to illegal means or are simply reduced to the privileged few. For all i know, this knowledge alone may even revive the smoking craze.
I Smoke - I Atas.
Bringing the topic back to home, I've noticed over the past weeks that guards have been mobilized to shoo smokers off campus grounds. Personally i find it freaking ridiculous to have them shoved to the bus stops to share their smoke with the unappreciative public. If u want to project a 'clean' image of the damn institution, either FINISH the job or DON'T BOTHER AT ALL. People aren't going to drive/walk/fly by and think: oh those smokers CAN'T be FROM @#$. Besides that open space is just about the PERFECT wide opened space for smokers (save for the lack of shelter). Its now simply a shitting ground for the feather-folk.
Retards.
Oh Gawd. Yes. I just recall there's this new campaign, urging the public ranging from Old Men to Innocent Doe-Eyed lil girls, to tell smokes to smoke in designated places.
ReplyDeleteI find that ridiculous, its like urging the public to go around macdonalds/eateries/restaurants/wherever-the-hell-la and pull people out of there: OMGOSH U CAN'T EAT OUTSIDE FOOD HERE U KNOW!?
How'd u react!? Non-violence will be very admirable.
I asked a smoker friend recently and he said: Oh I'd punch his face in.
So if u guys are related to any lil doe-eyed queers- U've been forewarned