@xnuvax Said 
Do you feel less empathy or sympathy for those who suffer from lung cancer as a result of long term smoking?
A person in my sociology (tutorial) class mentioned, that those people deserve no sympathy because they caused harm to themselves voluntarily. His other example was people who suffer health problems from obesity. He says that people who smoke themselves to death or eat themselves to death deserve no respect or sympathy.
I disagree with it. I think it is just as devastating as other illness which aren't a direct result of lifestyle. Smoking and overeating (or eating fattening foods) both are unhealthy, but can be a coping mechanism to emotional problems. It does not mean that these people "deserve" to die. They chose an unhealthy lifestyle, and it was a mistake, and they deserve some sympathy, at least.
What do you think?
To say they don't deserve respect is just downright ignorant on that moron's part. This guy sounds pretty self-righteous. Those types make me sick.
As far as the sympathy part...I, myself, am an addicted smoker, so I feel okay to say that I won't ask for sympathy when my lungs are rotting some years down the road...nor will I drain the health care system's finances to treat something I walked head-on into. I'll simply accept responsibility for the choice.
Jun 14, 2009 @ 22:55:03
