A major difference that I notice on a daily basis between America and my part of the world is smoking, or the relative absence of it around. At least when it comes to students, there is a noticeably smaller number of smokers here in the U.S. than in Europe.
In any European country I visited, smoking seemed quite common among people over the age of (roughly) 17. Not only it is socially acceptable there, but continues to maintain its ‘cool’/stylish status. Among American students, a physically healthier approach prevails. Somehow, the arguments about health must seem more convincing here. One possible explanation for that was given to me by my friend: the U.S. has extensive anti-smoking campaigns or information sessions in all levels of education. Of course, there are campaigns like that in Europe, but it seems there are fewer of them, and that they are less involved in Europe. As for my country, I can also imagine the spirit of contrarianism or rebelliousness pushing the younger population to start using tobacco.
Probably the most vivid example of it was the first concert I went to in Rochester. A couple of weeks ago I went to see Grouplove with my friend. The gig was great, but I spent about the first half of it in mild confusion: there was no cigarette smoke in the venue. At all.
To explain my astonishment I must add that it was probably the first smoke-free non-classical music concert in my life. And I’ve been to much more than a hundred of them. Whether they were open-air or in halls, there were always some people around smoking, even if it was prohibited. People generally accepted it and were used to it.
I don’t have any emotional attitude towards this dissimilarity but I think it’s an interesting fact. Of course, rational arguments for not smoking are irrefutable, but on the other hand, I am a bit nostalgic about the unreasonable, Dionysian part of the human psyche.
One characteristic feature of the life in America related to the issue of (non)smoking is sports. I will talk about that in the next post!