Just another day on r/mensrights, dealing with the terrible injustices facing men today in a thoughtful and compassionate way.
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We Hunted The MammothBucking the Backlash
We Hunted The MammothJust another day on r/mensrights, dealing with the terrible injustices facing men today in a thoughtful and compassionate way.
Oh, and the “you’re not my teacher, I don’t have to do anything you say, it’s just my opinon” crap was old the first time you used it, and unlike wine, it ain’t improving with age.
Why DO you keep trying to convince people here, and why DON’T you see what a massive FAIL you are at doing so?
Bagelsan: “Ass grows back” is a an Army phrase.
“Damn, the First Sergeant just too a piece out of my ass!”
“Good for you that ass grows back.”
What does ‘straightedge’ mean?
Magpie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_edge
@Ozy: Who said I was arguing with you? Maybe you are arguing with me. Last time I checked, I wasn’t the one demanding you provide me with links, statistics and other research. (See pecunium’s responses).
@Pecunium: Who said I don’t care? I care about a lot of things. I just don’t see the need to go hunting around on the internet for links to studies to prove my point to you. I see it as wasted effort, since you will no doubt be highly dismissive of any links I provide. I might as well talk to a wall.
I don’t expect to persuade you. I expect that you will disagree with me for the sake of disagreeing with me. I could say the sky is blue and you will say something like “Not now, it is midnight where I am”.
@ithiliana: Who said I am trying to persuade you?
Somewhat OT, but it always amuses me when I go see a band that are notorious for fairly epic substance usage and there are tons of straight edge kids in the audience. I’m always curious how they rationalize their support of bands who may as well be wearing vodka bottles and coke baggies as a daisy chain necklace.
Brandon, we don’t disagree with just for the sake of it, we disagree with you because you do not know how to support a claim you make, move goalposts, and generally act like a douchrocket. You want us to just take your word for things. When your word is ill-informed, solipsistic, and just plain wrong most of the time, that will not happen.
Cassandra, that is funny. The straightedge kids in the scene growing up were pretty intolerable in their smugness. A lot of them are now suburban dads who love themselves a beer or two.
The smugness kind of makes me want to provoke them, because I’m a big meanie. Like, you know that the band you’re here to see just offered me beer while I was interviewing them, right?
That’s evil. Funny, but evil. It’s relatively easy to be straightedge in high-school. At least it was way back the dark ages.
@CassandraSays
I never quite got the straight-edge ethos either. I have no problem at all from people abstaining from drugs and promiscous sex, but I’m not sure why the two are lumped together (vaguely slut-shamey response to the sex-drugs-rock-roll cliche?), or why it is such a big deal or part of one’s identity that one does so.
Ian Mackaye always seemed so self-righteous about all of that too, even though I do like Minor Threat and love Fugazi.
The idea is that straight-edges abstain from hedonism, or whatever. Free love and drinking and drugs basically personify that. For our culture.
The straight-edge thing seems even more hilarious if you include the part about sex, and you’ve spent any time around bands. The sex part of sex, drugs, and rock and roll is a cliche because it’s mostly true.
I think the whole thing would annoy me less if it was just about substance abuse and not sex too. The sex part does make it feel slut-shamey. I don’t love being lectured about drug use, but it’s a lot less intrusive and socially problematic than the sex stuff.
@CassandraSays
I agree completely. Personally, I like sex and drugs, but I have no problems with people not liking that, or even not wanting to hang around me because I enjoy sex and drugs or while I’m enjoying either.
Basing your scene around a song attacking drug users as “the living dead” and also being against people having sex because… I’m not sure actually? Not as cool. There’s very few edge types where I live, but I hear stuff about USian straight-edge kids actively snatching drinks and such. Ugh.
Wowser punks! or punk Wowsers! It’s marvellous the things I learn from manboobz 🙂
Sooo… Brandon is fervently trying to argue that he is not arguing or caring? Huh… Now to read back on what the actual topic was supposed to be.
The thing is, there are some problematic issues with sex in relation to the music industries (groupies who are underage, bands sleeping with fans who worship them and are only fucking them as a sort of payment for the privilege of being allowed to hang out with them). If someone was to try to create a scene around addressing those issues, cool. But the idea that non-committed sex is inherently bad because…something? And that this is somehow related to drug users being zombies, is just kind of stupid and socially unhelpful.
@CassandraSays
Precisely. If straight edge were more “how about being decent people with regards to sex?” and “how about being sensible or aiming to minimise harm with regard to drug use?”, I’d respect it a lot more. It’d also be a fair bit harder to turn into catchy little self-righteous anthems, but I’m sure the various angsty youths of Washington, DC and so on would be able to deal.
As it stands, straight edge seems to stem from taking USian sex and drug education at face value and be mostly a pedestal to look down at the rest of rock music from.
It does all seem a bit too close to DARE for comfort. Just because your DARE officer told you that one bong hit will turn you into a crack addict…
And yeah, I’d be all for a movement to address some of the questionable sexual ethics in the various music scenes (especially metal – really, can we please do that?). But I think straight edge is harming rather than helping in terms of attitudes towards sexuality.
I grew up in a family that regarded grog, smoking, drugs, and gambling as BAD THINGS. When I first went out into the world, it took me a while to get the hang of understanding that other people who were doing these ‘bad things’ were ‘good people’. I still reckon they are ‘bad things’ for me to do, but I don’t go around telling other people it’s bad unless they specifically ask my opinion, or offer them to kids. And I say “good on you” when someone says they are trying to give it up.
I am very glad that manners have changed regarding smoking in a non-smokers house.
“I am very glad that manners have changed regarding smoking in a non-smokers house.”
Me too. Even when I smoked I would never have lit up in a random person’s house – that’s rude.
In the past it was rude for a non-smoker to not supply an ashtray at the table! I’m happy to go out on the verandah with my smoking mates so we can keep up the conversation.
Ah, the 70s. I’m glad that was over before I was old enough to worry about smoke seeping into my nice clothes in enclosed spaces.
I can kind of see why being expected to go outside bothers people in cold climates, but in warm ones I just don’t see the issue.
My parents were given ashtrays as an engagement present, even though neither they nor anyone in their family smoked. It was just what you gave people, like tupperware or casserole dishes.
And I think I gave a stronger impression than I meant to, when I said I gave my opinion when asked. I don’t literally say “it’s bad!”. 😉
When I got married we got tons of booze-related gifts (wine AND martini glasses, tumblers for whiskey, wine saver thingy for the bottles, wine rack). I remember wondering if people were trying to tell us something.
Must be the same reason people give me soap, bibble bath, perfume for Christmas.