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Sat 1 Mar, 2008 06:24 am
In recent years much dspute has arisen on the harmful effects of tobacco use, especially in cigarettes. A recent court ruling led to big tobacco companies having to pay multi-million dollars in damages. This money will go into a fund which will benefit smokrs who had been diagnosed with lung cancer.
If the risks associated with cigarette smoking had not been propagandised for decades, this ruling would have been unprejudiiced.
Does 'unprejudiced' mean 'not bounding'? In other words, the tobacco companies need not comply with the court's ruling if there were no earlier outcry about the harmful effects of cigerette smoking.
Many thanks.
No. Unprejudiced means without bias. The suggestion is that the rulings were weighted against the tobacco companies because of preconceived ideas.
Thanks, Robert.
Shouldn't 'prejudiced' be used instead of 'unprejudiced'? I'm quite confused by the second paragraph. Could you please explain it to me?
Many thanks.
Re: meaning of 'unprejudiced'
Yoong Liat wrote:If the risks associated with cigarette smoking had not been propagandised for decades, this ruling would have been unprejudiiced.
Because so much propaganda had been associated with the issue for many years, it was not possible for the ruling to be unbiased (unprejudiced). Because of the propaganda, the ruling was prejudiced.
Re: meaning of 'unprejudiced'
Roberta wrote:Yoong Liat wrote:If the risks associated with cigarette smoking had not been propagandised for decades, this ruling would have been unprejudiiced.
Because so much propaganda had been associated with the issue for many years, it was not possible for the ruling to be unbiased (unprejudiced). Because of the propaganda, the ruling was prejudiced.
Hi Roberta
So it would mean the court ruling was biased because of the propaganda against cigarettte smoking. Just to confirm that I've got it right.
Many thanks.
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