I D Rather Smoke Than Kiss By Florence King

As a Psychology major, I am taught to analyze people in an objective and holistic way. More than once, all humans tend to fall into the trap of the fundamental attribution error. The FAE is the claim that, in contrast to interpretations of their own behavior, people place undue emphasis on internal characteristics of the agent (character or intention), rather than external factors, in explaining another person’s behavior. This means that people tend to accuse a person's errors on internal factors, instead of how external factors can lead to errors. As I was reading “I’d Rather Smoke Than Kiss,” an essay by Florence King, I realized that during the initial analysis, I was committing the fundamental attribution error, and so were many of my peers. The fundamental

These are crudely translated into being manly women, which is an oxymoron. The fundamental attribution error shown here, is how women are called “virile” but men are disregarded, because no one would ever tell a man to watch his language or his manners.

“The New Greenhorns,” also includes how hating on smokers is a way disguise ageism within the American society. No one would ever say they hate old people, but people do say they hate smokers? That’s hypocritical. In a society where upfront lies are given, “honest misanthropes are at a premium,” because they hate people, but they tell truth as to why they hate people. Other misanthropes find scapegoats to place their hate.

I, personally, do not like smoking. And like anyone else, the first thing I thought when I read this essay was that King was crazy. How could someone defend smoking with all the medical proof shown that it is not a positive influence on your health? I still think that it is true, but King’s essay was not made to defend smoking; King argues that the American society is two-faced and do not want to be honest about what they truly