"Vaclav Havel, a heavy smoker, died today" - CBS News

[trof]

Goddamit, that pisses me off.
Why the gratuitous, smarmy, holier-than-thou, "heavy smoker"?

The guy was in his late 70s.
That's when most of us die anyway, from any number of causes.
Was his death 'smoking related'?
Who the fuck knows?
Certainly not CBS.

OK, smoking isn't good for you.
But this kind of 'slip-a-little-anti-smoking propaganda-in there' crap just really pisses me off.

[Autumn]

1. Kudos to him

I'm impressed that a heavy smoker lived till his late 70s. There is hope after all.

[teddy51]

2. Heavy drinking or heavy Politics are not good for one either, but who gives a crap?

The way the world is heading I don't think that any of those vices will matter in the short term.

[seabeyond]

3. it is offensive. just say, he deserved to die and should have died sooner.

i agree.

i feel the same when a car accident is reported and they have to clarify.... he wasnt wearing a seatbelt. the person who dies when they wear a seatbelt does not get that comment. it FEELS like they are saying the person deserved to die. that is sick to me.

[Old Guy and his pipe]

4. When ya got no game make one up.....

Anti's thrive on false info so why not add some when they can?

[catabryna]

5. Disgusting...

My husband died because he was fat and couldn't control himself and got cancer. My dad will eventually die because he smoked and drank. My mom will die because she smoked and was overweight. I will die because I'm a smoker. My son will die because...???

Please... do gooders... get over yourselves.

eta: My other mom will die because she's pumped up with legal drugs supplied by major pharma and her physicians. Ouch, hurts doesn't it?

[The empressof all]

6. My grandmother was heavy her entire life

When she died in her eighties it was all the family talked about Of course Irreverent trouble maker that I am blamed it on that box of Christmas cookies she ate in 1965

[seabeyond]

9. good for you.... nt

[MADem]

11. I had a great big great grandmother, married to a skinny guy, who outlived her husband by decades.

He died in his seventies, she lasted through her nineties.

Sometimes, it's in the genes. Look at George Burns--never without a cigar, lived a century.

[pacalo]

7. Good call, trof!

[Honeycombe8]

8. I'm guessing that means he died of lung cancer or some smoking-related disease.

That's what I would take that to mean. Instead of saying he died from emphysema or lung cancer, they said he died and was a heavy smoker.

But I agree. I would've left that reference out. What does it matter now? He's gone. No need to turn the knife that he smoked.

This anti-smoking thing has been out of hand for some years now.

Would that broadcaster have said, "Elizabeth Taylor, a massive overeater, has died?" Or "Rock Hudson, a homosexual, has died"? Or "Dick Van Dyke, an alcoholic, has died"? Of course not.

[hughee99]

10. Given the state of journalism today, I would suspect the opposite.

Or that the very least, they don't know exactly what he died of. Rather than actually finding out and reporting facts, they'll just threw this little nugget in here to lead the reader to an answer without actually having to support it with any information.

[trof]

13. Yes. It's a 'guess'.

That's "NEWS"?
Nope.

[trof]

12. Thanks for your support. Really.

I agree with you all that the 'anti-whatever-lifestyle-choices-you-made' nannies have gotten out of hand.
Most of us do one thing or another that we'd be better off not doing.

Over eating, drinking, smoking, doing drugs, TEXTING WHILE DRIVING, etc., ad infinitum.
OK, TWD is WAY more immediately life threatening than all of the above.
That will kill you and innocent bystanders a lot quicker than all of the above.

[EFerrari]

14. I was set back on my heels one night

when staying up to watch a police attack on Occupy Oakland. All the videos from our local news channels were sponsored by national banks. It was amazing. They were "reporting" on their own funders. Yeah, right.

[Ron Obvious]

15. Agreed

I'm a lifelong anti-smoker and both my parents almost certainly died from it, but I'm in complete agreement with you.

It might have been appropriate to mention in the body of the article, but it has no place in the title. It's sanctimonious and besides, what other causes of death could be attributed to personal lifestyles as well? John Smith, lifelong absent-minded professor, died after being hit by car while crossing the road? Do me a favour.

[RebelOne]

16. Same here. Both my parents died from smoking related illnesses.

And I am a smoker and have been trying everything to stop. But I am already 72 and I have had a good life. So if I die from a smoking related disease, at least I will die happy with my cigarette in my hand.

[KT2000]

18. it is epidemic!

Went to a funeral for a friend where the minister and all her church friends kept the focus on her smoking. Finally, some real friends spoke about her humor and intelligence.
That's how to reduce a person's life to just about nothing. For a political figure like Havel, they don't want to be accused of celebrating the life and successful actions of an activist.

[Octafish]

19. President Havel was a whole universe more than that.

His life is heroic. His narratives are profound. His ideas are what it is all about.

[mojowork_n]

20. *Everybody* in Eastern Europe smoked

It's one of the social differences between those folks and what most Americans understand as "normal."
Along with being much more "we" - identified than "me" - identified. (When one person does something, it's
much more likely for it to become a group thing, over there. Shared by everybody all at once.) Also,
the polution levels were really, really bad, in a lot of places. From cars, from smokestack industries -- it
was so noxious, puffing a cigarette gave your lungs a break from the acid mists washing through the air.