arteejee

A site of satirical musings, commentary and/or rhetorical criticism of the world at large.

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Sunday, May 10, 2020

Sunday Morning Post (V.2; #18) – The Disadvantages of US

One unusual phenomena of mankind’s experiences may be happening again in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis.  History has shown multiple examples of times when mankind, confronting a crisis, resorts to using unconventional means to overcome the disaster.  Or rather the means were previously thought to be unconventional, but are now getting another consideration for their usefulness in the current troubles.

Example: last weekend MCNBC carried a report about 9 different studies testing the effectiveness of nicotine in expediting the treatment of the Covid-19 virus. Yes, that’s right, nicotine as in cigarettes AKA that addictive, lethal delivery system of carcinogens into the human body.  The report emphasized that the studies are ongoing and speculated that people may be able to use a nicotine patch to treat the virus, but this conclusion has yet to be made by the scientific community.

Still, we’re talking about cigarettes, right?  The device which with regular use can lead to lung cancer?  Yes, those cigarettes.

Full Disclosure:  I am a former smoker.   I smoked cigars.  I smoked and inhaled…other substances. (After all, it was the 1970’s!)  However, I never smoked cigarettes.  I had a psychological block about the damned things.  I blame them for giving my father the cancer that killed him.

If the studies show that, yes, nicotine does offer a viable form of therapeutic treatment for Covid-19, then it may prove to be another example of mankind having a cure longer then we had the disease.  It would be amazing if it turned out that, cliched pun intended, the cure was under our very noses the entire time.

Apparently, we have yet to learn the full lesson of using marijuana responsibly, i.e., using it for medicinal and not recreational purposes.  American culture has long outlawed its usage even as medical science was telling us, “But wait! Look at its benefits.”  Now our cultural thinking has changed to the point where people who need to use marijuana for their ailments are getting to use it without fear of being busted by The Man.

Who knows?  A similar breakthrough may yet happen with nicotine.  If it happens, then fine: develop nicotine as a cure so it does not lead to the old ailments that have been killing millions for decade.

I am just grateful that this report did not get back to the White House.  Can you just imagine what President Snake Oil would have done with this piece of Twitter fodder?  “Game changer!” “Remarkable cure!” and of course the classic “Smoke ‘em if your got ‘em!”  Although the touting of nicotine would have been anti-climactic what with previous week’s advice to inject glass cleaner into one’s veins coming from the Oval Office.  Perhaps the reports did reach the White House, but for once, cooler, mature heads prevailed.

We’ll end this week with a video showing, in my humble opinion, the funniest ad campaign ever broadcast on television.  My blog entry title is a play on the title of the background music behind the images: The Disadvantages of You.  This is sure to create any number of ear worms:


Finally, a friendly word of advice from us here at Arteejee: Don’t smoke ‘em, even if you do got ‘em!

(Thank you for reading.  Happy Mother’s Day, Mom, wherever you are.  I miss you.)

6 Comments:

Blogger Debra She Who Seeks said...

That ad is hilarious! I like the cigarette case with the elastics wrapped around it and the longer cigs sticking out the end!

May 10, 2020 at 11:13 AM  
Blogger Bob said...

Having never smoked a cigarette I don't intend to start now.

May 10, 2020 at 3:11 PM  
Blogger Dave R said...

I'd seen that about the patches being used as a delivery system. They got the idea from the nicotine patches used by those trying to stop smoking. Evidently UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) is one of the groups exploring this concept.

May 10, 2020 at 3:32 PM  
Blogger Ur-spo said...

I was not aware you were a smoker; good for you for giving it up. It's bad on the complexion.

May 10, 2020 at 7:18 PM  
Blogger Mistress Maddie said...

Nature works in mysterious ways. Sometimes is might take one disease we have a cure for to knock another one out. Or a vice. How ironic would it be if gin is the cure? That would explain alot at this end.

May 10, 2020 at 11:58 PM  
Blogger todd gunther said...

Do you remember these ads, Debra? There's some other variations on Youtube.

Good thinking Bob.

The studies may prove nicotine's worth yet, Dave. The report came through at a bad time; one week after Lysol was being touted as the game changing cure.

I smoked for a few years after graduate school, Spo. I found it easy to quit once WQ told me suffered from asthma.

Thank you Maddie for your thoughts. I originally thought of crying out in my entry, "Why cigarettes? Why not gin?"
Somehow I forgot this thought when writing the final draft.

May 12, 2020 at 8:14 AM  

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