Okay, so I know probably most of you have seen the whole Make Ugly thing for the "Truth" campaign. For those of you who have gone to the page and looked it over, I'm sure you've seen a fair amount of negative feedback in the commentary if you've been paying attention.

While there is some good intention behind the cause, stopping to read the comments and to really study the campaign in question that the contest is about, I do question the validity of some of the claims. Yes they are technically facts but they seem all too "tailored" and it makes the whole thing look almost more like a smear campaign. Propaganda, if you will. So I'm going to play devil's advocate here.

For example: The current "matchup" on the page talks about urea (found in cat pee) being in cigarettes and methane (found in dog poo) also being in cigarettes.

Which I suppose would be a real shocker if you don't research stuff. Links to the wiki articles are in the beginning. Click those for more information: Urea and Methane are also found within the human body. Urea is a waste product excreted primarily in urine but can also be found dissolved in blood as well as excreted in trace amounts of sweat. Methane of course is a natural gas, often produced when organic matter ferments under anaerobic (airless) conditions... and well to be blunt part of the reason why farts are flammable and smell so nasty.

More facts include things like this (and you can read them in this journal easy): 1 in 3 teens who begin smoking eventually die from tobacco-related disease. Not undead. Dead dead.

The problem here lies that if you look at various related illnesses:Emphysema, COPD, Heart Disease, Stroke, Various cancers of the organs, yes some can pretty much be directly related to smoking by logical reasoning and all of them can be exacerbated by it. But things such as Heart Disease and Stroke can be related to familial problems. I'll use myself as an example here: If I started smoking and suddenly died from a heart related problem... Yeah you could blame smoking as far as it making the condition worse... but the problem itself lies with the fact that I have heart problems relative to both sides of my family tree.

Looking at the whole thing made me wonder a little bit how many carcinogens and unhealthy things come directly from the plant itself. Does the problem come entirely from the tobacco or the additives that are put with it? Urea is a common additive in cigarettes. Urea is also found in fertilizer and dish soap. Another additive (at least according to this article) is butyl acetate which can also be found in solvents, but it's also found in candies because of the fruit flavor it can impart.

While not necessarily toxic, it surprised me upon reading the back of a carton of Liggett Brand cigs I was stocking back when I was working for a convenience store chain back in 2010 that they put corn syrup in their cigarettes!

I'm not saying inhaling smoke and tar and all the other little nasty things that occur naturally in tobacco itself isn't inherently stupid (Y'know... because smoke inhalation is bad), but I will go out on a limb and say that it can't be the only thing that's in there that's causing the problem.

How many things do we come into contact in the processed foods we consume every day that could kill us? Look at a food item in your house at random and you'll likely see something that amounts to a preservative or mold inhibitor or something else to keep the food shelf stable, most of which are either something that when you look it up may make you consider canning your own homegrown, or is next to impossible to pronounce.

Before you get on the soap box, I'm not trying to justify anything here. I'm not about to say it's a healthy habit. I personally think smoking is a terrible habit and it's not one I ever want to pick up. I hate the smell of cigarette smoke. Clove cigs are even worse than normal everyday cigarettes.

My grandmother was a smoker. Died from lung cancer. My daddy smoked regularly and died in ICU due to heart issues, still wanting that last puff. Those are my reasons.

That said, am I going to look down my nose at you because you smoke? Hell no. If you're old enough to buy a pack and light up then you're old enough to make your own damn decisions. It's not immoral and it isn't indecent and it's not my right to demonize anyone because of the shit they do. I don't have to like it, but unless you're hurting someone else then it's your prerogative. Just keep it out of my house and my car and don't blow it in my face, please and thank you.

This makes me think so much of the whole Reefer Madness schlock that people poke fun at these days. It was just downright silly. And while targeting the youth to keep them from making a decision you think is bad can be a good thing, at least treat them like they're intelligent beings instead of trying to use scare tactics to intimidate them into "making the right decision". That's just shitty planning.

Truth is fine. Truth is good. But if you're going to use it as an ad campaign, it better damn well be the whole truth.

Pity too... I was actually looking forward to entering that contest until I took a second look. Oh well, I can apply that monster concept to something else.