Reply #21: But just because an activitiy is hard to quit, does that validate it

[Telly Savalas]

as being acceptable?

Rather than asking more of my dumb cryptic semi-rhetorical questions, let me clarify my position:

At DU one frequently encounters two criticism of people's consumption patterns:

1. People are obsessively materialistic and engage in "mindless consumerism"
2. People consume products made by businesses that engage in unethical practices (including donating money to the GOP)

I don't necessarily buy into either of these arguments. (On point 1, the definition of what constitutes "mindless consumerism" is extremely subjective and arbitrary, and on point 2, it's pretty damn hard to find ethical suppliers of a lot of necessary products.)

My point is that tobacco could easily be the target of either of these arguments, but rarely is around these parts. Fingers get pointed at people who go to big box stores on Black Friday, but smokers get a free pass. Does the fact that smoking is extremely addictive justify this double-standard?