---Bryan Hyden <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> >Uhhhmmm, actually you would want to total all costs involved as well
> >as all the costs that are avoided in looking at this issue.
>
> have you done this? i didn't think so....
Neither have you so what...ignorance does not make one correct. I
have read a little about this subject and the numbers indicate that
the early demise of smokers does provide a "savings" for society since
they do tend to die prematurely.
>
> To argue
> >that since families incur large finacial burdens thus so does society
> >is fallacious reasoning.
>
> actually, he mentioned the rising costs of medicade and health
insurance....
> so even if he doesn't have any numbers on the issue, his reasoning
is hardly
> fallacious....
Not quite. What is at issue here is do smokers impose a net cost or
benefit on Society. It is pretty much accepted as truth that smokers
do not live as long as non-smokers and as such they do not consume as
much in the later years as non smokers. This "savings" has to be
compared to the costs incurred from the chronic illnesses that smokers
often die from. He could be right, but with out looking at the
numbers there is no way to tell. One can argue that the emotional
losses suffered far outweigh any "savings" that society recieves from
the early demise of smokers, but that was not what he was arguing.
> and as for commenting on final comments, nice touch steve, you're
really
> showing your true colors....
Yeah, well I am not going to roll over for appeals to pity, force,
popularity or most other forms of fallacious reasoning. If you want
to convince me you have to have the facts (or at least some form of
evidence) and use sound arguments. Or to put it as Jim Lau (a wing
chun [a Chinese martial art] instructor) did
"I can defeat you physically with or without reason, but to change you
mind I must use reason."
Steve
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