“Smoking is a “marker” for an array of lifestyle choices that, in the aggregate, shorten lifespans.”
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The arrogance of that statement astonishes me,Oh Perfect One.
I’m a long-time smoker who turned 80 my last birthday.My lifestyle choices would probably bore you to death.
I abhor stereotyping.
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You’re interpreting that in the wrong way. A lot of identifiable groups whose behaviors lead to shortened lifespans also smoke cigarettes, and so the blame for shorter lifespan on average for smokers has root in other things.
A lot of alcoholics smoke, a lot of depressed people smoke, a lot of drug users smoke, a lot of homosexuals smoke. If you were to select out other contributory factors such as the above, you’d likely find that the life-shortening effects attributed to smoking are not nearly so pronounced.
It’s the substance abusers, depressives and deviant sexual subgroups who are dragging the average down.
Awwww. Large-scale statistical analysis is not, in spite of the incredibly delicate sensitivities of our time, an issuance of personal judgment. It's hard for many people to understand, but the numbers don't lie, if the statisticians are honest - and they are, because it's a matter of keeping their company solvent and themselves employed.
However, the numbers are not about any particular YOU, but about millions upon millions of ALL Y'ALL. Just as the statistics to not predict the life of any individual homosexual, they also do not predict the life of any individual smoker.