...we're gonna have to re-evaluate old concepts of free speech and democracy.
Everyone's on anti depressants/sleepers/speed, the chuds are blasting testosterone out their ears until they stroke, weed is everywhere and as potent as heroin.
Add the perfect dopamine delivery system, a political internet economy modeled on the addictive technology of vegas slot machines.
It's gonna have an effect on the national psyche.
Is it a partial explanation for Q?
Shout out to the divorced, biker, small business tyrant, dad...caught with test injectables and thc edibles, and guns, after the Capitol. Just the only man for the moment.
edit: gotta step away for now. will come back to this. Feels like this post was misunderstood, or I just didn't make enough sense. Hope it won't make things awkward when i slide into selected PMs asking for a plug 😀
think you're missing the point. I never said dangerous, just massively more psychoactive, with all the good and bad that comes with that.....and people are smoking it erryday from age 15.
the point is that it's likely gonna have an effect on the national psyche that may be initially intangible, but, when mixed with other factors, could manifest as something like Qanon.
drugs aren't weapons or evil spirits. the drugs themselves can't be "good" or "bad", only the psychological reaction that individuals have... reactions which are largely individuated & dependent on personal & societal/cultural & many other factors
drugs can be triggers for psychopathologically predisposed individuals with these issues, but so can bad break ups or employment issues or physical health issues or family trauma.
we as individuals are reflected in these things just as much if not more than the drugs themselves. Much of the real "permanent" or lasting psychological impact on those who use drugs is just cultural baggage & stigma & personal input. we never step in the same river twice, and we take the grand total of our entire lives & impressions & assumptions into all of these experiences.
many nations have high usage rates of cannabis. people were having "freakouts" on the 1% cannabis of the 1960s too. psychological issues aren't skyrocketing in recreational marijuana states
i honestly think that more potent cannabis& more pure/safe drug use in general leads to psychologically and physically safer people.
in fact, much recent research has centered on evidence that cannabis use actually improves people's mental health & outlook & life satisfaction levels
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2018/12/marijuana
"These studies have found that the patients, who used cannabis to treat a range of medical problems including anxiety, had largely improved cognitive performance, reduced clinical symptoms and anxiety-related symptoms as well as a reduced use of conventional medications, including opioids, benzodiazepines, and other mood stabilizers and antidepressants."
Meaning strong weed helps people get off the other less helpful legal/illegal drugs
you can just smoke less of the strong stuff lol... that means less illegal/legal purchases & less smoke in your lungs & more use from the commodity
we also can't stigmatize people's consumption of these things, I don't agree that a heroin addict should turn to crime & violence to satiate their habit, but I also don't want to criminalize or demonize the individual stuck in that situation.
drugs don't cause QAnon. In fact I think a dose of some potent entactogen & a real struggle session is overdue for some of those people
safety, as in a Brave New World eutopia
Cannabis use is entirely consistent with neoliberal mindfulness, that's why it's BAD
we know that prohibition leads to no reductions in drug use & unsafe/impure drugs & increases in organized criminal elements violently cornering the market
cannabis use isn't anything about mindfulness lol, what are you talking about? seems like a bit hehe
cannabis use is over 5,000 years old
cannabis is just as vital to humans' agricultural history & future as any other cash crop or medicinal plant
You're focussing on a narrow point.
I'm talking about a much broader phenomenon, if I'm correct.
Recreationals are only part of the picture. For example, testosterone use is widespread among middle aged chuds now.
Test makes you more aggressive, energetic, irrational, unpredictable etc etc. Men that normally would chill out after forty are maybe much more likely to storm a Capitol when they're jacked on it.
Individually, it's not an issue, but when it reaches a critical mass in society it's gonna have unintended consequences.
Instead of the normal proportion of men in society behaving like 20 year olds because of high test, you now can add a large cohort of middle aged men to that proportion. Trump and all the other ancient ghouls too. It's what all the "anti aging"/vitality clinics prescribe.
cannabis use isn't the same as testosterone misuse.
testosterone misuse & illegal use of steroids isn't something I personally condone, but I am not going to call the substance itself evil. testosterone is just a hormone, it's inert on its own. and not all juice heads are violent. CTE & brain injuries are more correlated with that
When we're talking about psychoactive drug use, then we should talk about the legal drugs first. Caffeine & alcohol and nicotine are all drugs & all have marked effect on temperament & produce addiction in varying degrees. Yet they are completely accepted today within the culture, and newer methods are found all the time to repackage & resell the same old drugs. We have to look at the cultural context here and see that individuals are influenced by inculcated "demands" & "wants" that are transmitted from society
"Low T" in America is a marketing ploy lol, and I think a lot of these boomers just aren't culturally or emotionally equipped to go peacefully into their golden years, because our maddening & self-deluded consumer society prevents this.
The cultural context around stigmatizing& prohibiting cannabis & psychedelic drugs is a 180degree about face from how things like Testosterone & Oxycodone & Paxil & thalidomide other "legal" drugs were pushed on Americans
much more potent and available recreational psychoactive drugs + widespread test use + widespread SSRI use + endemic ONLINE political dopamine addiction + LSC alienation + white status anxiety + plummeting education levels
add these together and it may be an explanation for the crazy quick adoption of Qanon by the chuds.
thats the point.
not whether weed is "evil."
I just included information that said that cannabis use has been linked to reductions of benzodiazepine & SSRI & opioid misuse
IMO the explanation for the adoption of Qanon by chuds has little to nothing to do with psychoactive drugs, it's much more to do with the last few things you listed there.
There are material/socioeconomic reasons, as well as cultural/sociological/misapplied identitarian reasons, but there is also just the nature of mass media & internet addiction, like you said. Remember, the trigger for these latent mental pathologies& cultural "crazes" can be anything... Trump-led Millennarianism has plenty on its face to keep these weird chuds high on their own supply of self-delusion. It's no wonder there are wild eyed tweakers in the bunch too
But weed being legal in specific states & becoming stronger and more available as a result didn't cause QAnon, or even contribute to it.
Maybe Ashli Babbitt was spiraling on some drug binge when she got hooked on Q, but a lot of these QAnon boomers just seem to be jingoistic evangelical ultranationalist losers& wannabe fascists who use Trump as their conduit to God & absolution. The pseudoreligious element, something fundamental to American political & popular culture, can't go unexamined here
It's a good point. The religious grifters have only attached themselves recently though, in the last 9 months or so. It originated as a chan intelligence conspiracy type larp, and that's still the core imo.
There's still a widespread disbelief, on all sides, at how quickly it's metastasized.
Leaving aside the weed, since you're so touchy about it lol, I think the other factors + drugs I mentioned (forgot to mention ritalin too) have created a perfect storm. Something new.
Something that may change the way we view the concept of free speech and maybe democracy. It's like another virus.
Germany took action to prevent the virus of Ur-Fascism rising again after WW2, maybe similar action will be taken with Qanon.
I just don't think that sensationalism & blaming drugs for social ills like "Reefer Madness" has the same punch you think it does lol
The religious grifters are fundamental to all of this. America is a fundamentalist religious nation at its core, and that goes a long way to explaining the kneejerk dogmatic way these QAnon dupes cling to their ill-conceived stories
Also, overprescription of pharmaceuticals is legal, and I agree it contributes to dependence & chemical imbalances(things that cannabis appears to alleviate) but it doesn't explain QAnon.
South Korea had a similar issue in the last few years with entirely-too-online right-wingers thinking the government are pedophile evil elites who eat children. It plays out in much the same way as QAnon and resulted in those ya-hoos storming the parliament in Seoul. Which leads me to believe there are larger forces at play in both instances
https://thediplomat.com/2019/12/protesters-storm-national-assembly-capping-off-a-divisive-year-for-korean-politics/
it's not because of drug use, it's because of internet & mass media & misinformation being specifically tailored to tap into this deeply troubling part of the brain in those who are politically illiterate
West Germany after WWII had lots of issues with fascism, because many of the Nazis retained posts in the government and larger European rebuilding efforts
Someone like Cleveland Grover Meredith, from my OP, probably wouldn't have had the punch, at his age, to travel armed to the Capitol without his Test (and possibly ritalin). Scale that up and you've got a new societal problem.
Was aware of the Cho scandal but didn't realise they stormed the parliament and slapped around the MPs. Based lol. Appreciate the link.
Yeah, knew about the lingering Nazism in Germany after WW2. My point was that they recognised fascism as something like a virus and at least passed legislation to prevent it rising the same way again. The anti hate speech laws for example. Although recent discoveries in the police and military aren't good.