Thank You for Smoking
In the movie Thank You for Smoking, Nick Naylor has a job that requires him to go out and advertise that cigarettes are in fact good for your health, which is far from the truth. He would spend days going to children's schools and promote the use of cigarettes. Naylor used his job and the money that came from it to potentially risk the lives of other people by giving out false information. I believe that in no circumstance is it ok to deceive innocent people, and to make them think what you are telling them is the truth. Nick might have been good at his job, but that doesn't change the fact that he could be the reason children start smoking. He confessed that he was doing it to "pay the mortgage", but in my opinion he could have done that in many other ways or just realized what he was doing wasn't the right way to do it.
Understandable that based on your moral code you would feel what he is doing is wrong, but in a general sense, who's to say what he is doing is bad? He's not forcing anything on anyone, yes he's using deceit, but he's also making a lot of money. There is both a positive and negative reaction from what he does. Who's to say which is more important? Yes, people may risk their lives, but even if they were deceived, it isn't exclusively his responsibility that these people have damaged their bodies, addiction or not, they should have done their own research before involving themselves. Honestly, he doesn't have any true responsibility to anyone but himself.
ReplyDeleteI see the point that you are making but I thought more that Nick does this job because like he said without representation these suspect company's would be crushed by the public. While I don't believe in cigarettes I do believe that everyone is entitled to fair representation in court / trial. I also felt like when he went to his sons school his point wasn't to get elementary kids to smoke, but to question what they are told. To be skeptic and see what they would normally think at a different angle, to think outside the box.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is not okay to deceive the innocent people with information that could harm one's self and their health. Although, the people that are gaining information from him about cigarettes have the capability to not get involved. He isn't persuading people towards something good, but he is doing what he is doing to earn good money.
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