[ Post a Response | The Sublime Desire of Cigarette Smoking ]
Posted by closetfascination
on May 18, 2009, 3:45 pm, in reply to "Re: "Do I?" / This Week's Forum Header Image"
"I disagree completely.
But please don't misunderstand me. Just because a person does this one Bad thing - smoking - does not make that individual a Bad person overall. We are ALL "sinners" and "saints" to varying degrees (i.e., human animals), and the implications of these contradictions and this inherent complexity is what makes life interesting. As you point out - especially in this day and age, awareness of the Badness (Taboo) of smoking is utterly inescapable, and I believe that almost without exception, some degree of Rebelliousness is required to want to start smoking, and to do it socially, for the same reason."
Despite the fact that you disagree completely with me, I do not disagree with your rebuttal 
I think I was meaning "bad" and "rebellious" in the more stereotypical notions of their meaning. I have to agree that going against societal norms is a form of rebellion.
And the meaning of a thing can appear one way in a social context, and can mean a very different thing when considered from a private, internal point of view. Externally, that which appears to be the antithesis of a stereotype might actually be the longing to embrace it internally.
Therein lies my problem...
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