This following is a letter I posted to the wall of one of the bigger Facebook "straight edge" pages. It is basically a detailing of my frustration with the community as a whole, and why I'm often embarrassed to be associated with it.
"A little introduction to this post, I recently turned 21, I’ve never smoked, I’ve never done any recreational drugs and I might have been drunk a couple of times as a kid due to special “Christmas Wine” privileges, but I’ve never chosen to drink. I just finished a three year Journalism course at University and didn’t touch a drop of alcohol in my time there. I will also point out that what I’m about to talk about doesn’t apply to everyone on this page, and from what I’ve seen that includes the admin(s), but it certainly appeals to way too fucking many of you.
"A little introduction to this post, I recently turned 21, I’ve never smoked, I’ve never done any recreational drugs and I might have been drunk a couple of times as a kid due to special “Christmas Wine” privileges, but I’ve never chosen to drink. I just finished a three year Journalism course at University and didn’t touch a drop of alcohol in my time there. I will also point out that what I’m about to talk about doesn’t apply to everyone on this page, and from what I’ve seen that includes the admin(s), but it certainly appeals to way too fucking many of you.
My general point is; the attitude of a large amount of
people on this page absolutely sucks.
I get it, non-drinkers are a distinct minority of modern
western society (as low as 10%, and some polls claim it’s even lower than that)
so if you are a non-drinker it can be an incredibly isolating feeling and I
feel like that all the time. Not understanding or conforming to something that
to most people is a basic part of a regular social life can make you feel different
or weird in a negative way. And it is perfectly natural then for the sake of
your own ego to come to the conclusion that this isn’t happening because you
are different, but rather because everyone else is just stupid. I used to feel
this way, but I grew out of it when I was about 15 due to not being a complete
tard.
Unfortunately, a lot of “straight-edgers” don’t seem to grow
out of this attitude and the sin of elitism flows through the veins of this
community like hepatitis D….for douchebag. To someone visiting this page for
the first time they could be forgiven for thinking “straight edge” isn’t a life
choice but a fucking cult. I have seen people claim that others can’t be TRUE
STRAIGHT EDGE because they don’t have tattoos, or listen to certain music, or
have dared to *gasp* TRY weed at some point in their life.
It is flat out disturbing to see people on this page refer
to each other as “brother” and talking about “breaking your commitment to
straight edge”. I don’t consider any other human being who makes the life decision
to not drink my “brother” in the same sense that I don’t consider people who
run the shower before getting in my “brother”. I mean good for them, you don’t
get cold water shrivelling up your nuts when you do it that way, but it’s not
exactly something I bond with people on though.
As for “breaking your commitment”, my main question is “commitment
to who?” The straight edge community? Surely that’s not what people mean as
that would be flat out admitting that “straight edge” is a creepy cult for
weirdos. All I can assume is that people mean the commitment you make to
yourself. But why is this a taboo and awful thing to do? I’ve met me and I’m a
complete dick, if anything it makes more sense to screw over that guy before he
gets me first. People can make whatever
life choices they want, they can also make the decision to alter those choices
when they wish to, isn’t the primal message to “do what you want”? Is it really
hypocritical for someone who claims to be straight edge to want to TRY a bit of
the other world? I wouldn’t do that because I just don’t have the interest, but
I have no moral objection to it and I don’t understand why anyone else would
either. No-one on this page should feel bad for not following the stupid arbitrary
rules that some members try to establish, your life, your rules etc. etc.
The reason I’m bothering to write this and the reason why I’m
disappointed in this community is because I feel like this page isn’t doing its
job. As mentioned above, straight edgers and especially non-drinkers are a
distinct minority in society and that does cause isolating feelings. The
straight edge community should act as support for those people and a reminder
that there are other people who are the same, and you can be happy despite in
some ways being different to the majority. It should also help people “come of
the teetotal closet” if you will and show them that it’s okay not to drink if
they really don’t want to. And I fear that when people come to pages like this
and see the elitist insecure dickweeds saying who can or can’t be in their
special little club because of what’s on their skin, what they listen to or how
much substance has been in them and how straight edge HAS to be a “life commitment”,
these people will feel even more isolated or even weirder for their life
choices.
I’ve just said goodbye to a lot of friends the past few
weeks, I still have one really hard goodbye left to go and my dog could be
dying, this is an important time for me to not feel socially incapable and
entirely alone, and this page and other pages like it COULD be a helpful crutch,
but for the most part they’re not.
So in conclusion, for those who are doing it, knock it off
with the culty stuff about “commitments” and “creeds” and LIVING FOR THE XXXs
BROTHER or whatever the fuck goes on here. You are not helping anyone and your
obvious insecurity about your own life choice and personality blossoms
beautifully for everyone to see and get a little depressed by. I hope the
people who this post applies to stop being an embarrassment to the rest of us."
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