Let me start by setting the record straight and making myself CRYSTAL clear:

I HATE smoking in every one of its vile forms. I hate the stench and I hate having to breathe it in everytime a poor, addicted sap stands closer than the law allows to my office building during a five-minute moment of weakness. And I hate people who complain about having to go outdoors to smoke a cig, showing little to no respect for my personal aversion to their foul habit.

That having been said, smokers and smoking proponents don't switch off! I do not begrudge anyone the right to smoke if they want or need to. I'm not an anti-smoking activist in any way, shape or form. I'm just one of those just-don't-blow-it-in-my-face types.

I was watching some good, old-fashioned, quality prime time programming on one of the network channels last night, in an attempt to unwind from a day of chasing after the governor and half the state legislature for reactions to the executive budget. I just wanted some unstressful, mindless distraction.

Well what I got was more mind-FULL than anything else, and as a result, I couldn't sleep AT ALL last night.

Apparently, the New York State Smokers Quitline has launched a series of the most graphic anti-smoking advertisements ever released on television. And by disgusting, I mean cutting 38-year-old brains in half with cleavers and letting viewers see clotted blood vessels (the apparent result of a long-time smoking habit) explode. The message intended is: "that's what happens to you if you smoke, so think again before you light up."

I was too shocked at first, and too busy afterward to register that the ad was supposed to make you not want to smoke. Seriously, how many people in the US smoke? Millions? A third of Spain's population are smokers. And how many people do you see suffering from these alleged horrible effects of smoking? Um, I don't have the exact figures here but I'm pretty confident that it is only a fraction of the whole.

And I'm not saying the health effects of smoking aren't real. But don't take the most extreme, rarest, most disgusting effects of a habit more than half the world doesn't have and take away my much-needed sleep. And what about young kids watching? That's that kind of thing that can screw up a kid--not explicit sex and senseless violence.
Most of the smokers I know are deathly afraid of some of those purportedly insane effects of smoking on health, but still smoke anyway. Scare tactics only breed denial.

I understand the motivation to get people to quit, but fer chrissake, I wasn't going to start puffin' anyway!