Answer two of the following questions, and respond to at least one other student’s post afterward for a total of at least 400 words. (chapter 9 and 11)

1. What are some of the studies and articles linking smoking to popular culture, and what issues does Sternheimer point out about them? According to the reading, what are the more likely indicators/predictors of smoking in both the lives of teens and adults? Finally, what factors do you think relate to the steady drop in smoking rates in the United States since the 1990s?

2. According to Sternheimer, why might media conglomerates themselves focus on media and popular culture in regards to social problems? What role might they play in how Americans frame social problems like poverty? Beyond money itself, what overall impact does poverty have on the lives of children? Finally, why do you believe Americans as a whole have seemed so reluctant to talk about racism and poverty in our own country?

And please give a response to this post: (I will post after you finish)

Person1(zhenning)

1. The biggest issues with smoking is that it is blamed on the wrong cause, causing it to become something that is not being treated at the root – cigarette manufacturers and the overall tobacco industry. To divert the blame from them, instead the blame is put on impressionable teens and the influence of the media. This has a few benefits for the tobacco industry as this will not affect sales, as most smokers are adults (who are not targeted by anti-smoking campaigns).  What is probably the worst aspect of the influence of smoking is that the largest influencer/reason for smoking is ignored – that is a family member or someone close being a smoker. This is often the biggest reason for someone to start smoking.