Thank You for Smoking

Feel free to use this thread to discuss anything related to the film or issues that you think it raises. But here are a few potential topics:

• Nick Naylor tells his son, "If you know how to argue, you're never wrong." What does he mean by this? Do you agree?
• Does the film itself make an argument? If so, what for or against? If not, what does the film say or suggest about argument?
• Should cigarettes carry a skull-and-crossbones label? Should Vermont cheddar?
• Who was your favorite character in the film, and why?
• Do you want to be a lobbyist when you grow up?

Than you for commenting!

Introduction

This blog was created for a first-year writing course at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. The course, like the blog, is called "Rhetorical Environments." It is intended to explore the relationships between the practice of rhetoric and the various environments - cultural, technological, political, and so on, as well as natural - we inhabit. Rhetoric, the art and science of persuasion, enables individuals to transform their environment(s) by mobilizing others to their cause—and because of this it imposes a responsibility to act ethically toward others and toward the environments we share. This blog will serve as a link between our classroom and the wider communities in which we do, or may, participate. We welcome comments from readers unaffiliated with Xavier.