Of course she knew.
There was no way she could have not known. Surely not by the time we came back to the States, along about 1958.
By then the fact that smoking tobacco would give you cancer had been discovered; argued back and forth; tested; proven… No. By the time we arrived in San Francisco, after ten hellish years in Saudi Arabia, everyone knew:
Smoking gives you cancer.
How hard is that to understand?
Well. Very hard, if you’re determined not to believe it.
And she was: she refused to believe it.
So she — my mother — ignored all the news reports. She ignored all the scientific studies. She ignored the statistics. She ignored her little girl coughing and gasping as the house filled with stinking carcinogens. She probably never even noticed that the house stank to high heaven.
Okay. Let’s suppose she didn’t believe it. Let’s suppose she thought those news reports and scientific studies and statistics really were shameless propaganda, the product of Goodie-Goodies and profit-driven competitors to the tobacco industry. Let’s suppose she thought the stink of tobacco smoke smelled good: a comforting aroma. The scent of home.
Override common sense with addiction and…uhm…okayyyy….maybe you couldn’t figure it out for yourself.
Y’know, folks…
If it’s illegal to sell cocaine because users can get addicted to it…
If it’s illegal to sell heroin because users can get addicted to it…
If it’s illegal to sell marijuana because the Goodie-Goodie set thinks it’s immoral…
WHY THE F*CK ISN’T IT ILLEGAL TO SELL TOBACCO?????????