By Sia Jyoti.
Raised in a traditional, well-mannered household, the idea of smoking was introduced to me as wholly unacceptable. Cigarettes took the shape of shame and failure, for reasons not entirely related to the physical side effects, and I accepted this at face value. Yet, in noticing when and where smoking could be seen as glamour raised questions on duality and classicism for me. Does an action’s acceptability defer from class to class? What is it that makes a practice chic for some and degrading for others? Now, detached from the views instilled in me through the insulation of ‘home,’ I can unravel the act of smoking through an objective lens.
In its raw form, smoking causes cancer. Early death with a chance of blindness and a side of blackened lips; smoking is not your friend. This aspect does not change, for everyone is aware of smoking’s side effects. Yet that very disinterest in side effects shared amongst all smokers is either seen as an embarrassingly active rejection of improvement in some, or a rebellious charm in others. In seeing a man smoking by a bus stop and a girl rolling by a racecourse, the likelihood of similar conclusions being drawn borders on impossible. Whether a woman on a sidewalk wears the same eyeliner as a girl in Jimmy’s smoking area does in no way leads to a similar categorisation of them. For our bias is not rooted in objective reasoning but in class perception which is inherently tied to the acceptability of our actions.
As ill-informed as a teenager may be in smoking to fit in, one would likely forgive them for their naivety. In assuming that their future is bright and that the occasional secret cig in their friend’s garden will not hinder their success, the action is deemed harmless; almost bordering on cute. In an equally naive frame of mind, youth smoking in a less established area will instantaneously lead to the correlation of addiction, and failure — with a subtle undertone of disgust. Both scenarios mirror one another in their isolated events — but for the possibility of the latter’s bright future. I have come to realise that plenty is excused when people believe that you’re likely to succeed in the future. Whether based on selfish gains or purely on the human instinct to trust what is ‘good’. In our current society, goodness is associated with pretence and wealth. In our failed attempt to associate what is good with what is meaningful, acceptance has manifested itself in wealth-induced social integration.
It is for this reason that classism presents a cloud over smoking. Whilst the action of rolling in an African American community will blindly correlate to ‘illegal’ marijuana consumption, it takes the form of artistic technique at a predominantly privately educated university. It seems our judgement is not on the stamina of one’s lungs but on the inevitable winner of the race that is born ahead of everyone else on the track. Where economic differences differentiate so widely between the starting point of one’s career path, smoking is only injurious to those who find the finish line to be further away.
Nonetheless, I find it fascinating. Not the class perception or the injurious side effects, but the communal side of it. Whether one smokes on the patio of their beach house or in the melancholy of their relentless clerical job, both breathe it in for a moment of calm. Despite the social fragmentation of humans, we share in our yearning for a moment of peace. A second of giving into a weakness which collectivises irrespective of one’s class or background. Perhaps the next time I see a cloud of smoke, I’ll leave it at that — unfazed by the person behind it.