The main article on Slate at the moment, asks, in torturously huge text: WHY DO GAYS SMOKE SO MUCH?
Great piece. Caustic, logical, just like I like 'em.
Ah yes, every morning when I wake up, one of my first thoughts, (along with "What the hell am I doing with my life" and "Will I ever have a brood of children??" and "Let's get the momentum going here, Sheila, let's make something happen today") is: "Jesus, I really want to know: WHY DO GAYS SMOKE SO MUCH?"
The opening couple of paragraphs give you an idea of the piece:
I've just learned from NPR's All Things Considered that in California, gay men and lesbians are 70 percent more likely to smoke than the general population. In a sterling example of why I try not to listen to too much NPR, reporter Sarah Varney immediately segued into the perceived need for more anti-smoking ads targeted specifically at gays.In other words, Varney implicitly assumes that gays are either too stupid to have gotten the message that smoking is bad for you or too irrational to have modified their behavior accordingly.
Oh God. Why can't people just have a little bit of sense....
Posted by sheilaVarney is probably doing everything in ten second sound bites and it doesn't give her enough time to think.
Yet, think of using one of those huge signboards on Hollywood Boulevard and the great impact it would make, but damn it, just what would you say?
Posted by: howard e. at August 6, 2003 03:48 AM