Particularly insidious and annoying is the animated "Bobby and Glitch" campaign, in which a baseball-capped youngster brags about his buddy, the cartoon wolf, Glitch. Now Glitch is an extremely stupid and dangerous toon, but it is made clear that he comes across his suicidal idiocy naturally, without the aid of any evil drugs. Great. Good message to saturate the young with; it's okay to be moronic and irresponsible as long as you don't do drugs. If you want to roller blade down a roller coaster or jump from a plane without a parachute, that's fine, as long as you meet your maker with clean urine.
Kids and teenagers are generally not stupid, and it is the worst kind of condescension to pitch them as if they are. Most of us have grown up with the mass media, especially television, and realize there's a major difference between the commercial reality we are presented with and the physical reality in which we dwell. Those who trump the idea of television as a dictatorial manipulator of reality tend to get lost in yet another propagandistic mindset created by the very medium they revile.
The ad-men would like you to think they have a Rasputin-like hypnotic control over the unwashed rubes who view their garbage, but the fact is, most things on TV do nothing more to the mindset of the average viewer than spur minor irritation or boredom. This little insight should serve to burst the bubble of the overearnest education professionals and social workers who squawk endlessly about the effect of TV sex and violence on the delicate psyches of today's youth. The fact is, the reality we live in on a daily basis serves to contradict the simplified, black-and-white universe we are shown by TV, especially where drugs are concerned.
We are constantly admonished by crooked politicians that drug use is downright evil, and what kind of message are we sending our children. The welfare of children is the wild card in any debate about drugs. Let's clear one thing up right away; drugs aren't for kids. But let's also accept the revolutionary idea that adults should have the right to put whatever poisons, potions or appliances in their bodies which they see fit.
It comes down to a matter of personal freedom of choice. You want to do methamphetamine till you go psychotic and snuff yourself? Good riddance! It is not the place of government to protect the foolish and self-destructive from themselves, just as it is not the place of government to say what an individual can and cannot do to themselves in the privacy of their own home. Believe it or not, there is such a thing as personal responsibility, although it currently isn't very popular.
Teenagers have a well-developed sense of hypocrisy, and can see the gulf between the self-righteous anti-drug propaganda on the one hand, and a society based on hedonism and escape on the other. Many of our parents came of age in the 1960s, and unlike certain waffle-headed politicians, inhaled. Many continue to do so. It would certainly blow the mind of your crusading substance prohibitionist just how many people kick back with a nice fat joint after work--without freaking out, committing a crime or attempting suicide. Marijuana crosses all demographic boundaries in the state of Alaska-- be you doctor, lawyer or Indian chief.
The same law enforcement officials, social workers and crisis management lowlifes who decry the use of "drugs", smoke their Marlboros and sip their gin and tonics, all the while pontificating from on high as to how the rest of America should live. Well, as far as tobacco and alcohol goes, what we have there are the two single most damaging substances ingested by man. For example; how often have you heard of a fella' coming home from work, taking a dozen bong hits then beating the living shit out of his wife? Never. Because it doesn't happen. Now, plug alcohol into that same formula and you have a common slice of the American experience.
All I'm saying is that if we were to take personal responsibility for our own actions, keep our noses out of our neighbor's business and live and let live, there wouldn't be a "drug problem." The powers-that-be recognize this, but realize there is less money to be made through common sense than hysterics, so they continue the invasive charade. Another thing that must be said; many drugs, when used responsibly (or even slightly irresponsibly), feel damn good-- and somewhere it was written that we all have the right to life, love and the pursuit of happiness. The next time you see "Bobby and Glitch," please, recognize them for the propagandistic tools they are, and, enjoy the program.