# a pill better than XTC **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 1, 2000, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-better-than-xtc/43541 "2000-12-01T06:31:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![oldscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@oldscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldscratch)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-better-than-xtc/43541/101 "2000-12-07T07:39:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Rasa posted \* > \*\*Oh, he so gets it… \*\* to which G&\*#@Lad responded > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by G@#%@Lad \* > \*\*Yes. That’s why I can’t understand why he’s being so annoying - clearly he has his brain on neutral whenver I try to put my point across. \*\* hee hee. Obviously you don’t have any idea what she’s actually talking about… Rasa… 😉 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Lux\_Fiat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Lux\_Fiat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lux_Fiat)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-better-than-xtc/43541/102 "2000-12-07T08:58:37Z")
> [@](#): > > Therefore to break a law is doing wrong. > > This does not mean that right and wrong, in anyone’s personal belief system, is defined by the specific law. Just that to actively, intentionally, deliberately break a law is wrong in itself. Okay. I think I see what you’re getting at. Given that it is by definition wrong to break a law, can we also agree that it is, in the case of an unjust law, a _greater_ wrong to obey it, in which case you should choose the lesser of two evils? (Not that I’m saying that drug prohibition, for the purposes of this question, is unjust, though I would say so if asked for my opinion.) FWIW, not everyone uses mind/mood-altering substances to achieve happiness per se. Often, they use 'em to alter their mind or mood, for no other reason than that they’d like to look at the world through a different lens for a bit. I read books for the same reason (I am by no means being facetious). This isn’t sad, it’s simple curiosity. People also often use drugs to not so much achieve happiness, but to escape sadness. We do what we have to, sometimes, to make the time when we aren’t sleeping bearable. This, I agree, is in itself sad, though I can hardly in good faith condemn it. My point, I guess, is that people alter their consciousnesses for lots of different reasons, by lots of different methods. Drugs, religion, whatever. It can be good or bad, depending on what form it takes and how it’s used. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-better-than-xtc/43541/103 "2000-12-07T09:22:50Z")
If oldscratch had said what you just said, then I would’ve acquiesced and left this alone. Instead, he just acted like a dickhead just to annoy me. Oldscratch, as much as you think you’re being clever and profound in your method of talking to me, in reality you’re just talking shit. Not exactly a line for a memorable sig there, I admit, but it’s the most concise way I can think of putting it. Screw you guys, I’m going home. ---
**Author:** ![zen101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c68b51/32.png) [@zen101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zen101)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-better-than-xtc/43541/104 "2000-12-07T09:49:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GuanoLad \* > \*\*If oldscratch had said what you just said, then I would’ve acquiesced and left this alone. Instead, he just acted like a dickhead just to annoy me. > \*\* Paranoia is a telltale sign of chronic drug use. Do you need an intervention? Are you smoking the weed or dropping the acid or sniffing the cocaine? scratch does what scratch does because it suits him to do so and he would continue to do so were you here or elsewhere, therefore he cannot be doing so “just to annoy” anyone but more likely to amuse himself and to point out to the general populace that blanket moralizing makes the moralizer a “dickhead” not the person who points out that it is being done. Now go home and alter your mind with X-Files re-runs or better yet write on your Etch-A-Sketch 1000 times “I will not call people dickheads for pointing out that I make foolish statements when it was my own fault for making such statements.”. ganef meshugah. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-better-than-xtc/43541/105 "2000-12-07T11:14:44Z")
A clear message to **oldscratch** , **zen101** and **GuanoLad** : Stop the namecalling _right now_. That goes for the three of you. I don’t want to see another foul word in this thread. Debate the matter like adults - although I have to express my doubts at the debatability of the matter at hand. Clearly, it is a matter of personal opinion. Guano seems to be willing to accept that, at least. **oldscratch** : I take issue with your “debating methods” (using the term loosely). You’re constantly rephrasing Guano’s words to get a rise out of him. You’re dragging completely irrelevant points into the debate to prove some sort of point. In short, you’re annoying the living crap out of me, and probably a few others as well. I wouldn’t step over to **Great Debates** just yet, if this is your _Modus Operandi_. **zem101** : A bad attitude is annoying enough, but when you merely seem to be copying **oldscratch** ’s style, it’s even worse. The same comments apply to you. **GuanoLad** : Like everyone else on these boards, you’re entitled to your opinion. It is, however, wise to realise that your opinion might be a very conservative one. This means that everytime you state it, people will take issue with it. Not bad in and of itself. But be prepared that people will try to debate with you on the matter, using a lot of means - including, as in this case, rephrasing and questionable logic. Rising to the occasion of namecalling and such makes you no better than your adversary. And I for one know that is **not** what you intend. Carry on. If this thread ends up in the Pit ('cause there’s no way I’m moving this to Great Debates!), it’s because the three of you continue to act like a bunch of unbehaved children. Don’t let me down. ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-better-than-xtc/43541/106 "2000-12-07T11:30:26Z")
And to think Zen, you chastised me for being arrogant… but thats beside the point. I still think people on E act like assholes. which was my first point to begin with… ---
**Author:** ![romanticide](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@romanticide](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romanticide)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-better-than-xtc/43541/107 "2000-12-07T14:35:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TwistofFate \* > \*\* > I still think people on E act like assholes. > > which was my first point to begin with… \*\* By the way, I still don’t quite understand that. How anyone on E can act like an asshole is beyond me. They smile big foolish grins and like hugging people (who want to be hugged) and for the most part just mind their own business. How does this qualify as being an asshole? ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-better-than-xtc/43541/108 "2000-12-07T15:42:07Z")
From my experience with meeting people when they are “loved up”… When you are on E, you talk shit. theyt go on and on about how great it is, what they took, how much they love their friends, saying how much more I would enjoy myself if I took an E, how great the DJ is, introducing me to other slack jawed buffoons I have never met, nor will I ever meet again, etc. Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t go around preaching at people who are on E. It’s just not my bag, and I am more than able to enjoy myself without it. Many of the people I know who take the drug are people who I have all the time in the world for, but once they are high, turn into assholes. I also apply the same criteria to certain people when they are drunk or when they are stoned. As a matter of fact, I don’t get into a car with one of my friends, as when he is driving he gets extremely defensive and snappy. This guy could write the book on road rage. But I digress… you asked for my opinion, and I gave it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pill-better-than-xtc/43541.md?page=5)