I’m getting really tired about how courageous actors and musicians are for finally kicking their drug or alcohol habits. VH1’s ‘Behind the Music’ series is basically a non-stop flight of congratulating people for getting out of the dumbass habits they were stupid enough to get into in the first place. I’m sorry, but have you ever seen a heroin addict? What about him made you say “Holy shit! I’ll have whatever that drooling, shaking, blackeyed junkie is having!” And what about quitting before you become that junkie makes it heroic? Or any more heroic than someone who said, “You know, no thanks, I’ll pass on the stuff you’re shooting into your eye because your other veins are too abused to take it anymore.”
I don’t have a problem with congratulating someone on stopping destructive behavior, but it’s gone beyond that where the media wants to beatify these people for supposedly not being alcoholics anymore. It seems you can get more praise for starting this crap and then stopping it than you can for not starting in the first place.
Personally, I don’t really give a fuck what you eat, drink, or inject into yourself as long as it has no effect on me or any work required of you. But don’t expect me to feel sorry for you when you get in over your head, and especially don’t expect me to erect a statue of you when you finally decide you’ve had enough. Tough break, kid, you pay to play.
Yeah, VH1 needs to get itself to an Al-Anon meeting for fawning over junkies like they do. It seems like you can’t get a “Behind the Music” show if you haven’t bottomed out on heroin, fast women and cheap booze.
But the public buys what it buys, it’s not the media’s fault that we as a society love to see our heros fall and crawl through the muck. We might even like it more if they never got out, then they could be legends or martyrs (Kurt Cobain was a dumbass, and Bob Dylan is the Bob Dylan of my generation!)
There’s a relatively good chance that you’ll soon be hammered with something like this:
It’s clear you have no fucking concept of what addiction is like, you heartless fuck! The way it sneaks up on you, little by little, so you don’t even see how your perception is twisted. The way it becomes the most important thing in the world. The way it beams thought control beams into your mind that causes you not to worry about collapsed veins. The way that if you start to quit it makes you shoot up while sleepwalking. The way that whenever you look at a smiling attractive member of the gender of your choice that their head is comically replaced by a floating hypodermic needle. The way that…
But pretty much, yes. People have an absolute right to huff some freon if they choose to, but I’m not going to call them heroic either when they decide to quit after passing out from it, falling on their face, and knocking out all their teeth on concrete. I’m just going to shrug and think that the probably shouldn’t have huffed in the first place. (One of the funnier anecdotes of a cow orker about stupid things people he knew had done.)
Gee EJsGirl, take a bite out of ignorance why don’tcha !
Shall we start awarding purple hearts to all those vets who were “too brave” to get wounded ? It’s not possible to show virtue without taking action. Getting hooked in the first place may not be the brightest thing to do, but at least those who break the habit have proven that they are capable of rising above adversity. What’s your proof ?
Comparing wounded veterans to drug addicts is ridiculous. When was the last time perfectly normal people were drafted and forced to become junkies? Most of the vets who have been wounded were fighting because they were told to do so, or because they believed they were fighting for the better good of a greater whole (disregard your politcal beliefs on wars here please). Your comparison had no basis in this discussion.
That being said, I do believe some compassion is in order for people who finally wake up and see their problem/illness/addiction to be destructive to themselves and those around them, and have the strength to overcome them. Should they be regarded as any better than those people who never touch certain substances, of course not. Should they be regarded as stronger people than those who do delve in certain substances but are able to control themselves, of course not.
They certainly are not heroes, but some support should be given to people for smartening up before they kill themselves or someone around them.
This discussion reminds me of a sign they had posted in the YMCA that I frequented as a kid:
“The best way to break a bad habit is not to have it in the first place”.
And I’m sure most recovering addicts would agree. However, to those who are trying to break habits they’ve already got,
or are trying to muster the courage, the last remaing shred of common sense to even consider kicking, it seems like a rather flip slogan. I’m not an addict, but when I think of that sign I imagine answering it “Fuck you very much”!
I’m speaking as a recovering person. Took over six years of hell as bad as, if not worse, than a lot of the hollywood tabloid stories, for me to finally get clean. That was now well over a decade ago, thank god.
Looking back, I did what I had to do. It was that or go mad, or die. It was the hardest thing I ever did. But getting clean and sober was also the behavior I would expect out of a responsible adult. It took all I had and then some for me to act like a responsible adult. Do I expect accolades for doing it? No!
I don’t expect ‘normies’ to appreciate how hard it was, and that’s ok. My fellow recovering types know. And that’s enough.
I have friend (?) who will periodically try to get more attention by announcing that she’s quitting smoking. This is followed by much encouragement and fawning, which is quite ironic at a college where 4 out of 5 people smoke.
Besides the fact that I know she has neither the willpower nor the real desire to quit a habit that she sees as stylish, I mean, WTF?? Like you’re a freaking victim here? You started smoking less than three years ago fer Gods’ sakes!
Anyhoo, every time she decides to “quit,” no matter how vehemently she vows “this is my last one!” it’s never more than a day before she’s smoking again, saying “Oh, I quit quitting,” like it was a bloody hilarious joke the first time I heard it. Quitting smoking is very difficult, and I can understand when people have problems staying quit, but this girl is making such it into such an empty, obvious attempt to appear heroic that I want to smack her.
There was a Behind the Music on Weird Al… at one point he said something roughly like “I’m not sure why I’m being featured… I’ve never done drugs or slept with a band member…”
And his worst setback was when “Polka Party” only went gold… “And I had to by the medium sized jacuzzi! <sob>”
Congratulating someone for kicking a drug habit is fine, but making them out to be a hero is absurd.
You know, I never said it didn’t take willpower or inner strength to recover from such a habit. I know it does.
If you have successfully recovered, that’s great, and congratulations. But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about people getting praise as being true heroes and amazing individuals because they stopped their habits.
I have compassion for those who sincerely want to quit whatever they’re doing and eventually succeed. But they’re not any more amazing than people who don’t go there in the first place. Don’t praise the rock star who is a recovering heroin addict, praise the rock star who’s been down the same road of stardom and didn’t succumb to these things.
Well, society tends to suck up to celebrities in any form; is worshipping those who sobered up any different from the worship bestowed on them for other equally, or even more, specious reasons? Which was actually going to be the point of my earlier post, but I had to get to work, and posted too soon. You can see, I’m not entirely recovered even yet. Premature posting is one of the consequences of a checkered history.
It’s because they are celebrities. Plain and simple. Personally I would rather see behind the music with drug addiction than without. Neil Diamond’s story was a complete bore (and I like neil).
IRL (non celebrity) the only people who congratulate a recovering drug addict are friends and family. It’s the same with celebrities however their “family” includes the public. We share in their lives. Their joy and their pain. So when something big happens, we react.
As far as starting in the first place… can I assume that you have NEVER made a mistake legomancer?
Actually Squink, it wasn’t me who said “not having one in the first place…”
Yes, and I was just overreacting to excessive exposure to hackneyed, nonsensical anti-drug slogans. I’m sure some people who don’t ever get started on drugs need to struggle to stay away from them, but catch phrases that foster a smug sense of superiority in people who were never tempted serves no good purpose. People are arrogant and egotistical enough without handing out little gold stars for not behaving badly.
I suppose they pick celebs for these shows about people with drug problems because it’s a lot easier than finding non-celebs with drug problems. Having it come from someone people recognize and -God only knows why- respect probably improves the reception of the anti-drug message.
Simply from the point of view of discouraging drug use, Ireally, really hate it when they have a public service announcement where some guy is like “I really wish I hadn’t done all those drugs in my youth, even though it in no way interfered with my ability to make $10 million dollars before I was 30, sleep with an average of 3 women a night, and win an award from an important institution. But if I had it to do over again, I would have settled for the sex and money alone”.
They need to show a guy who would have been somebody, only the coke habit actually hurt him, the guy who had a record deal for his garage band all but signed, but he got wired and smashed the scout’s car in the parking lot of the bar and is now working the graveyard shift at Waffle House and has never had sex with a real person. Or the beautiful girl who got stoned, overslept and missed the audition for her One Big Chance and instead off being an actor is now living hand-to-mouth in Podunk, Ohio.
The whole “Drugs don’t keep you from being rich and famous, they just mean you have to quit someday” thing is hardly a deterrant.
