On Drugs

A few days ago I saw the latest Pink video, "Stupid Girls". I applauded (not literally, of course) her attempt to skewer the glorifying media images of Paris Hilton, Jessica Simpson, et al, but it occurred to me that there was a certain irony, since in every non-scripted Pink appearance I've seen she has been, shall we say, somewhat inebriated. And then there was her wardrobe in Transporter 2. Still, I wish the song was a bit stronger in terms of quality; it doesn't hurt to rail against negative examples and the more the better.

Speaking of alcohol and self-revelation... I'm a non-drinker by choice. I've had fewer alcoholic drinks than I am years old, gone as long as 3 years without a drink, had one in the last year. I've also never tried any form of illegal drugs, and minimize my use of prescriptions or over-the-counter drugs. The only cigarette in my mouth was when I was a kid and my mother demonstrated for me once (at a Pats game I think) how undesirable it was by letting me take a puff. But by the same token, I criticize a legal system that allows widespread use of damaging substances such as cigarettes and alcohol, yet outlaws the somewhat less harmful (according to studies and my own personal observations*) mary-ja-wanna. It all makes sense, though, if you go into the economics that shaped things.

Which reminds me of the book Freakonomics, which posits among other things, the legalization of abortion in the U.S. in the 1970s led to the drop in crime rates in the 1990s. Not something that will ever be trumpeted. But it saddens me to think that there are probably a million problems we could be solving if we weren't trapped by the rules of life we've been taught, the prejudices pushed upon us, the common sense we assume but never apply critical thinking to.

What could we achieve if we rejected, as a society, false media imagery, and false beliefs. But, of course, how can we ever truly know what is true, and what is false, even with direct observation?

* Worst pothead experience: being stuck in a vehicle with a lead singer, high as a kite and driving on the wrong side of the road in a winter storm returning from Flin Flon, Saskatchewan. Note that I didn't say harmless!