A drug is not bad. A drug is a chemical compound. The problem comes in when people who take drugs treat them like a license to behave like an asshole.
– Frank Zappa
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Samizdata quote of the dayAugust 21st, 2011 |
 21 comments to Samizdata quote of the day |
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That’s one part of a wider truth. Any intoxicating substance will become a problem if people can treat it as an excuse to disown the consequences of their actions. The problem comes in when being drunk or stoned is treated as a mitigating factor to anti-social or criminal behaviour rather than as an aggravating factor.
I treasure the memory of a letter I once read in Viz Magazine. It said that drunken drivers who drove recklessly were hardly to be blamed for their mistakes. They were drunk! If you are drunk, it’s only natural that you would make the odd driving error. No, the really bad people, said the Viz correspondent, are the sober drivers who nevertheless drive recklessly. They have no excuse whatever.
But…but…it’s an addiction, it’s a DISEASE. It’s not my fault! It’s part of my culture! An accident of birth. It’s a result of a trauma in childhood. I was imprinted with my parents behavior. My school didn’t protect me from peer pressure. I AM a freakin’ Scorpio for cryin’ out loud!
Sounds a lot like Jake Blues.
We are here getting into an area which is the subject of several serious approaches of scientific investigation.
We are, in fact, only at the beginning (if there!) in the study of the brain, brain chemistry, neuropharmacology.
We are learning more about human biology, from many different aspects.
Let’s not go off at all, let alone “half-cocked,” on this one area of human disabilities, which we really know little of – except for the effects.
From memory:
“Drink never made a fool of any man, but it’s given many a natural-born fool a wider stage and a more appreciative audience.”
– Sam Clemens
Andrew Z: Yes, and the costs to everyone else for robberies, emergency room visits, car crashes, broken families, etc. It’s nice to think that the individual is sovereign and will, alone, pay for his or her mistakes. Reality, however, tells us differently.
Rehab is for quitters, Valerie!
Nuke, and reality is for people who can’t handle drugs.
Indeed, Valerie. Keep in mind though that it is up to those other individuals (i.e., you and me) whether to pay for those mistakes. If you think you should – by all means do, but forgive me if I don’t.
“A drug is not bad. A drug is a chemical compound. The problem comes in when people who take drugs treat them like a license to behave like an asshole.”
Like crack!
http://intellectual-detox.com/the-case-for-legalizing-drugs/
“No, the really bad people, said the Viz correspondent, are the sober drivers who nevertheless drive recklessly. They have no excuse whatever.”
Culture.
I don’t know about that Viz quote – to me, both those who drive recklessly while sober and those who are reckless enough to drink just before driving are equally reckless, and are to be equally blamed.
I remember thinking this way back in high school; it’s the sort of “enlightened” or “humane” mentality that might treat, for example, the 9/11 suicide bombers as poor, misguided, tragic saints (“They only meant well! That evil man, Bin Laden, told them it was for the good!”) It’s a mentality you might have prior to realizing the simple fact that, in a world where consequences are real, life and death are final, and forgiveness is in short supply, nothing is more evil and unforgivable than outright stupidity! Seriously, people commit crimes for all kinds of reasons, such as personal gain, sadism, thrills, etc., but as far as “excuses” go, none is more piss poor than to think you’re innocent because you were just bumbling blissfully about with your head shut off.
“Drunk” is a subclass of “Stupid.” Indeed, you would make the odd driving error if you were drunk! However, far from being grounds for leniency, this is a reason why drunken drivers deserve to DIE SCREAMING merely for blundering out on the road while willfully addled, let alone actually hurting someone.
I now see that Brian was being sarcastic – woe is me…
I think we should take a step back from the “drugs sometimes make people behave like XYZ…BUT..” line of reasoning.
While no doubt some people on drugs do behave badly many people behave badly without being on drugs, or being drunk. If they care to make excuses for their behaviour there are plenty to chose from.
I would rewrite Zappa’s line thus:
“The problem isn’t drugs, but the fact that those who have a cultural dislike for easy pleasure seeking (or are simply ignorant) choose to focus on the behaviour of a few to discredit drug taking, when in fact, a large part of the problem is that aholes are being aholes because they are aholes, and not because they are drug takers, and an even larger part of the problem is that the irrational and counterproductive laws of society (the war on drugs), as well as the stigma associated with drug taking, push some drug takers into aholeness and criminality”
Ah, Frank! “They were mellow, they were yellow, they were wearing smelly blankets … nothing left to laugh about including themselves.”
He had a lot of great pithy comments. Sorely missed.
He did have a lot of “pithy comments”. How about this one:
Or this:
His autobiography is worth reading. He wasn’t a libertarian, but at times he came pretty damned close.
Nuke-Lol!
Alisa, As for policies, we MAY have a choice as to whether we fund rehab or not, but when a family member is addicted, Tough Love is not a pat answer.
I believe it was also Frank who said, “The US Constitution may not be perfect but it’s better than what we have now.”
Valerie: no, it is not a pat answer, but it is the correct one.