<p>OMG, I am just bursting to get this thought out: People are responsible for their actions. No offense to anyone, but I keep seeing these things about tobacco companies and, "Why do you sell products that kill people?" Well, I so don't support tobacco companies. I hate them in fact because...they sell products that kill people! But, if you smoke and die from lung cancer or something, that's your own fault! You chose to smoke those cigarettes! It's just like some story I heard a long time ago about some dude that sued this burger place because "it made him fat." Well, it's totally insane because nobody from that burger place strapped him down to a chair and forced him to buy and eat their food! He chose to go there everyday and buy their food with his own money. OMG, why do some people always have to blame? If people took responsibility for themselves, and don't buy tobacco products--then the companies would all go bankrupt and they'd shut down. Easier said than done, but I'm just trying to make a point. I feel better now...</p>
<p>That's true, but all the commercials and things that you might see are just trying to raise awareness so that you WON'T buy cigarettes and kill yourself. It's not like they're trying to blame or anything.</p>
<p>you're right too.</p>
<p>OH MAN!!! Did you happen to see that talk show that was on a few days ago...?? Larry somebody... anyway, it was exactly that!!! People who were suing companies because the company "made" horrible things happen to them!!! people these days...</p>
<p>What you choose to do is up to you, but on the other hand, if the choice isn't there, you can't choose it, now, can you?
Therefore I blame cigarette companies for making cigarettes so prevalent in our culture and thereby allowing people to do harm to themselves.
It's kind of like this: you can give your rebellious thirteen-year-old son a gun, and if he chooses to fire it at innocent bystanders, it's his fault; but you shouldn't have given him the gun in the first place, so are you not at least partially to blame?</p>
<p>It's like one episode from South Park, where the creators make fun of the anti-tobacco company. If you've seen the episode, you know what I'm talking about.</p>
<p>not everyone is qualified to make informed decisions, but i guess the individual in question would still be at fault if he or she chooses to smoke tobacco or eat a lot of fast food and get sick from it.</p>
<p>i don't know about the 13 yr old gun with the gun situation, but about like the smoking adults that die from lung cancer and stuff...dude your 40something! if u wanna liv 4 your family--quit! i know it's easier said than done 2 quit smoking, but he's an adult!!! he has kids!! he should know better 4 cryin out loud!! ("he" is an example)</p>
<p>well angryschnauzer, i think that the people that aren't qualified to make informed decisions are the ones that aren't allowed to smoke for example. Such as kids under 18....</p>
<p>only in america will someone sue over getting fat from a burger</p>
<p>haha, you're right....</p>
<p>I didn't read the other replies, so maybe I'm being redundant.</p>
<p>In the past, cigarettes were marketed to young children and the health risks, which the medical community and the tobacco industry were fully aware of, were not properly explained to the public. So aside from the obvious moral wrong of manufacturing and selling a product that kills people, they were also really shady in the way they went about it.</p>
<p>These days, everyone knows exactly what the risks are. In fact, I think a lot of the potential problems are exaggerated (not like they need to be; cancer is bad enough). Anyone who started smoking after 1990 knew exactly what they were getting into.</p>
<p>And as far as the fat thing, there are a lot of factors that go into that which may not be entirely under the control of consumer. That doesn't mean that McDonald's, simply because it exists and makes unhealthy food, is to blame for any of this.</p>
<p>$.02</p>
<p>Suing tabacco industries for getting lung cancer really is just ridiculous. As previous posters mentioned, those who get into it, clearly know the risks and are therefore responsible for any diseases they get. And those not old enough to make an informed decision are doing it illegally. In my opinion, if we're going to allow people to sue tobacco companies for enticing people into getting lung cancer, then we should also sue the makers of those Truth commercials that discourage smoking/drugs for not having been effective enough.</p>
<p>Obviously, that's ridiculous. People will do what they want, and they shouldn't expect the manufacturers to take responsibility for it.</p>
<p>Our society is waaayyy too litigious, I agree.
All of the things that have been mentioned ought to have been dismissed as frivolous suits. I mean seriusly - suing mcdonald's because you get fat or because your coffee is hot, tobacco companies for being stupid and smoking, gun companies for being killed by one of their guns.... the list goes on and on, but you've absolutly got to be kidding me.
None of these things can possibly be attributed to the company or organization being sued (even the advertisement argument - like was said earlier in this thread "making cigarettes so prevalent in our culture"). I seriously doubt that Smith and Wesson forced someone to shoot someone else, or that McDonalds is spiking their burgers with something that makes them irresistable and causing people to gorge themselves day after day.</p>
<p>It just blows my mind that people are so stupid to think this, and worse, that judges actually award them ridiculous amounts of money.</p>
<p>People often blame the lawyers for this. But I give them major props for being able to get such large settlements over the most frivolous suits. That's got to be talent, and you can't blame them for cashing in so to speak. The ones who should be blamed are the ones who bringing the suit (sorry don't know my law terminology). The ones who evaded personal responsibility in the first place.</p>