Lepht got me thinking about the straight edge (also known as sXe).
I think the most interesting thing about sxers is the phenomenon that they form a community at all. It is like a monastery, where every member must abstain - and also partake in cabal approved recreation - that is the dancing you will see if you go to a hardcore gig.
But, as is asked in the faq "Why do you need a label to be poison free?". The answers presented do not satisfy me.
The first: "this label help keep us together and stay strong."
So you're weak? That interesting - so a sxer might rely on other sxers to help them fight their own cravings for drugs and drink. It worries me that a person who doesn't drink or smoke can be so terrified of ruining their life through excess that they need a support group.
The second answer satisfies me even less: "the label shows you're actually serious about what you're saying and that you're not making any exceptions"
In what way does a label show that you're serious? You could be lying and just saying you're sxe! The only way for a person to know you're serious is a close study of your behaviour over a long period of time. This answer is, to quote Dr. Sheldon Cooper, demonstrably fallacious.
The author goes on to admit that the sXe is corrupted by hypocracy, but is an ideal to be aspired to. Since others can corrupt the ideal through corrupting their own bodies, and can do this without your knowledge, how then can a person reasonably trust those who share their community? They cannot.
The commitment must be taken on word of mouth. Now I'm moving beyond the world of logical analysis, which is my tool since I have no subjects to interview, but my hypothesis would be that commitment is viewed as the cool factor of a real sXe community - a community which, through members lapsing and then getting control back, over time fades into grey like an animation reel of black then white, rather than the dichotomy of abstinence and corruption.
11 September 2009
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i think it's the stringency that gets to me - that whole "I am poison free and you are a worthless junkie who's beneath my bad ass" thing. they mostly seem to think that anyone who uses anything must by definition be a useless street-walking giggler, incapable of logical analysis or creativity, a slave to peer pressure and addiction.
ReplyDeletei'm an addict, and i'm also generally capable of wiping the verbal floor with these kids, so it gets to me that they're so fucking supercilious the whole time. their little saint complex reminds me of Southern Baptists, that unshakable conviction that they're going to Heaven, you're going to Hell, and so it doesn't matter that you won the debate.
that, and their abstinence thing is just fucked up. i don't get it what's wrong with casual sex if you get checked up regularly and you use contraception.
and there goes my Zen for the day.
L
Yeah, theres nothing wrong with fucking someone casually, though I'm so pure and innocent I wouldn't know.
ReplyDeleteAlso the faq is hypocritical as it contradicts itself - I wonder how good a source of information on straight edge it actually is. I question the sXe integrity of those who pointed you to it:
"3-4. If I'm straight-edge can I take holy communion?
Firstly why doesn't you Church provide grape juice as an option to wine? How do they cater for ex-alcoholics? Ask! Secondly the amount of wine is so small that it really shouldn't be an issue. The point of the exercise is symbolic. You can think for yourself so make your own mind up on the issue."
If you're allowed to make exceptions for a small quantity of wine thats symbolic, then surely you can have a puff on the symbolic doobie of peace. And then whats the bloody point? Anyway, I thought the sXe orthodoxy was "no exceptions".
yeah, and there's no alternative to the orthodoxy, although there's two interpretations of the word "fuck": some take it to mean no sex at all, some take it to mean no casual sex.
ReplyDeleteit's all fucked up. it's gotta be the most rigid social code i've seen, at least within the context of young people. i just can't understand why you'd voluntarily put yourself in an absolutist, ironclad ideological prison like that.
L