I first read the novel Thank you for smoking several years ago when I was living in shitty hospital on-call rooms in some non-descript place in the West Midlands. I can't remember exactly where I was (I was moving about a fair bit at that time) but I loved the book.
Christopher Buckley was once a speech writer for George Bush senior. I realize that based on this fact I should refuse to read any of his books but they are so good that I can't help myself. He is an intelligent guy and I just have to listen to a few extra Jello Biafra records to atone for my sins.
Anyway I love the book. It's about Nick Naylor, a man who is a lobbyist for the tobacco industry. He is a 'spin-master' who has the job of promoting smoking and denying that any links exist between cigarettes and ill-health. He is the smiling face of death and he knows it. He hangs about with similar publicists for the fire-arms and alcohol industries.
In the book events conspire to make him think about his job.
The film is a pretty faithful adaption. I liked it. The cast fitted my mental image of the characters from the book. It has been simplified enough to appeal to a minstream audience but it's still pretty intelligent. I urge you to try and see it.
It also touches on some issues that I've written about before. Public health and the nanny state. I hate smoking with a passion because members of my family have died of lung cancer or other cigarette related diseases. I meet people on a daily basis who have horrible diseases that are limiting their lives in terrible ways mainly because they smoke.
Smoking sucks but I believe that people should have (some) right to choose while tobacco is still legal in this country. I do support the smoking ban in public places in Scotland because I hate being in a room where people smoke and I hate smelling of smoke. On a recent trip to England I really noticed people smoking in pubs and it was unpleasant,
In the past lung cancer was a rare disease. Hopefully that will be the case again in the future (as Harry Burns, Scottish chief medical officer, recently said).
Until then, check out the film or the book. I hope they will make you smile.
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2 comments:
I do feel that it ought to be banned as a product, and I'm a smoker. I can't say I totally enjoy it, but it reaches a point where the addiction can be difficult to handle or deal with, I liken it to other addictions (the type that 12 step programs are attached to), where a person (who's done it for years on end) goes on the wagon, falls off, and then it's that up and down cycle.
At the same time I think prevention is better than 'cure'. I can't say I agree with the use of drugs like zyban either. I tried that, and my doctor didn't even bother explaining that it was an anti-depressant, and I couldn't handle the changes it brought on.
I'm glad that there is more education now, and that kids are exposed to the real data that today's adults weren't exposed to in the last twenty or so years. I think if it was always the case, less people would be wrestling with smoking.
ps: I do want to see this movie, it's recently been released here, and I didn't know it was a novel, so thank you. I'll be looking for it at the nearest bookshelf.
Glad you liked the post,
I've already replied at your myspace site. Hope you manage to stop smoking (if you want to stop)
N
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