"I think it's a tad out of line that you can look at two people whose circumstances you know nothing about and define them both as "selfish pigs, period". I accept it as a possibility but it may be a bit more complicated than that." You're quite right, these are two individuals whom we don't know personally. In fact all we really know about them is that they both choose to smoke, presumably for personal satisfaction, despite knowing the potential heath risks that they are exposing their children to. Murderers? A tad harsh, Selfish Pigs? I can't see a better way to describe them. DSO