Quote:
Originally Posted by Villages PL
Poor RJ Reynolds, it's not fair that they should have to pay so much money.
They were just minding their business with honesty and integrity. They are really very nice people, once you get to know them. 
I'm a big believer in taking personal responsibility. I quit smoking at age 30. I don't smoke, drink or eat junk food. But I understand that not everyone is the same; some, as stated earlier, knew the risks but can't stop smoking because they are just plain addicted.
What about RJ Reynolds? They knew the risk too, I mean the risk of being in the cigarette business. They should have quit selling cigarettes but couldn't because they became addicted to making billions of dollars off of self-destructive smoking addiction.
So the smokers and the company have a lot in common: Neither one can help themselves - they can't help what they do. Perhaps, in a strange way, they deserve each other.
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Of course, there's two sides to every story, but what you say makes sense. The only point where my thinking veers off is where the tobacco companies targeted the teenagers. If nobody ever fed me chocolate, I wouldn't know how good it tastes. But alas, they did.
So somewhere along the line the teaching of little kids that smoking is bad has to be strong enough to overcome teenagers' immaturity during the "acting out" years. Somehow I doubt that's going to happen.