You can philosiphise as much as you want on that matter Raphsta, and you can complain about ecstasy use becoming 'commercial' and you can suggest a whole myriad of solutions to the problem.... but it's never going to happen.
Can't you see that it's a cycle? It'll keep happening for years and years to come, each time with a different drug. The best we can all do is try and educate ourselves into the 'safest' way of using these drugs, because yes, ultimately, everyone knows 'drugs are bad mmkay?'.
We can't force others to educate themselves, nor can we indoctrinate people with what WE 'think' is right, because there will always be an answer back. Someone will always have something else to say... and when it comes down to it, we can't do an absolute thing. Ultimately WE are the baddies here, not the media, and anytime we try and justify our position in society, we're going to be looked down upon and scorned for what we believe in.
So maybe this was a little melodramatic. I guess I just wanted to point out that when push comes to shove WE are responsible for US. That's all. When we start believeing that we can change what the majority thinks is when we become the media.
News stories like the one shown on 60 Minutes will never cease to be produced, they're embedded in the structure of our news medium, because it's what people want to see. I personally have never seen 60 Minutes in Australia as more than a tabloid news magazine show that insists on presenting stories which have been highly sensationalised for the direct intent of sucking in the unlikely viewer. The people who watch 60 Minutes week in and week out are going to believe what 60 minutes say when they state that ecstasy has caused so and so numbers of OD's.. I mean why shouldn't they? It's the news right? The news is meant to consist of cold hard facts right? WRONG. The news is nothing but a stage show dedicated to good visuals and accompanying 'scripts'. Packer and Murdoch don't care what kind of drivel we get spun at 6pm every night, so long as we remain a marketable commodity, they'll continue to throw us all the crap they so desire.
This is what the masses want. The news is merely a reaction to what the masses want to see. It's tailormade every day to appeal to at least 4 of our senses and most of the time we fall for it. In the instant that WE don't, there are at least another 3 million who did.
People don't want to learn the facts, they want to pity the poor girl who died, they want to scorn the community that lead to that young junkie's demise...why not? It's easier right? It easier to just swallow it all without a second thought rather than question what's been presented. The people who accept these fallacies as cold hard facts, in my opinion, aren't worth the energy I may spend trying to eductae them otherwise. To them, I'm (we're) always going to be just a druggie who is advocating the use of something that get's me high every weekend.
It's sad, but I've come to realise that some people just don't want to learn, and the more we try and educate, the worse we end up looking, and with each generation of 'responsible' users comes a generation of (excuse the lack of scientific terms) sheep.
Educate yourself, educate the people who are willing to learn, because if you start trying to stuff everything you believe is right down the throat of that person who'll never learn...then ultimately you're just as bad as the media.
Indoctrination is a word the media in Australia doesn't take lightly (and I'm sure the US doesn't look too fondly upon it either)but it's a word that sadly springs to mind when matters such as these surface in our community.
Everyone believes what they know is right, it just comes down to who has the widest reachable target audience and the largest revenue dedicated to 'spreading the word'.
That's what I think.
mona.
PS: Raphsta this wasn't aimed solely at you, after reading your post I got a though, ran away with it and this is what happened
