We generally think that people who smoke despite numerous health warnings and the increased risk of cancer do so because of social and economic reasons. Perhaps it's a matter of irresistible peer pressure or maybe they simply don't know any better? Not so, finds a new Israeli study that links smoking to lower IQs.Dr. Mark Weiser from the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer Hospital in Israel found a direct correlation between the number of cigarettes a smoker inhales and his IQ. People with lower IQs are the ones who tend to be smokers and the heavier the smoker, the lower the IQ.
Growing up a child of the 1970s - when it seemed like everyone smoked - I've met plenty of really smart people who, at one point or another, smoked. Perhaps that's a generational thing - I knew a lot of people who started smoking before the big warnings push of the late 1960s. My own personal experience - I smoked for 14 years - is that after about, oh, three months you quickly realize that smoking is not a healthful pastime, and anyone with the common sense G-d gave lawn furniture can tell it ain't Vitamin C...
But are they really claiming that our Dear Leader has a low IQ?
That is all.
9 comments:
I wouldn't be surprised if there's a correlation. A lot of things correlate to a lot of other things. It doesn't have to be causation (which usually isn't claimed, except by 'reporters') to be interesting.
Nicotine is a known to be a vasoconstrictor. Constricted blood vessels are not able to carry as much oxygen to the brain, thereby reducing brain function. Jay, I'll leave it to you to draw your own conclusions about The One.
- Brad
It seems carefully to not claim that smoking causes lower IQ.
It seems much more likely that having a lower IQ before you start smoking makes you more likely to start, and to smoke more.
So what? IQ is a meaningless number anyway.
Hey buddy, can a brutha bum a smoke?
Anonymous wolfwalker said...
So what? IQ is a meaningless number anyway.
Well thats a releef
Lookit all the olde pictures of the boys at Skunk Works and various NASA control rooms. Toss in images of all ye olde (those that lived to olde, that is), test pilots and other assorted dunces in the '40s, '50s, '60s & '70s.
Keep in mind, these dudes did all their figgerin' on slide rules, not 'puters. Or, not much of computin, if you get my drift.
None of 'em were dumb. Not the pilots, not the engineers.
I think there's something to be said for smokin' cussin', drinkin' ass-kickin' and good old All American Testosterone as a measure of intelligence.
Not that dweebish lab-coated nerdieness isn't, but I'll posit that the "living on the edge adrenaline junkie science jock", one who has not just "skin in the game", but his very life on the line, is a helluva lot more motivaeted to properly apply his smarts to those critical problems and equations which, if gotten wrong, result in his demise.
Some dumbe shyte who equates smoking with stupidity is simply smoldering with the incipient blaze of his own ignorance.
Now, y'all excuse me while I enjoy this here seegar.
(in hopes that it'll get my eyeque up above cro-mangon levels?)
Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
Dear Reader certainly has a low I.Q., but it's not because of smoking. He was born an idiot and just grew bigger.
I figure that I've got a few IQ points to burn, at least when compared to your average sanctimonious nag, so I might as well spark up.
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