Crooked Dagger, Straight Edge

How rare is it to go through life straight edged? I'm not straight edge, but I very well could be. It seems everyone everywhere is all about diluting their lives with drugs or alcohol and using it as a means of escape or to brighten their lives or some such. The marketing for these products seems to work on most people. I remember the success (and probably continued success) of the Captain Morgan, "Is the captain in you?" campaign. The worst part of that commercial is when there was either a dentist or doctor who propped his knee up on a chair and proclaimed with a confident grin on his face this wonderfully humorous remark whilst a patient was in room beside him. I now have the overwhelming urge to ask my doctor if the Captain is indeed in him or her on my next doctor's appointment, but I think that may come off as grossly rude and since I'm terrible with jokes, I'm sure my attempt at humor will be misinterpreted.

Marketers of such products want you to think drinkers enjoy fast, high profile lives, always attracting the opposite sex; they're young and successful - things that most people, at least, Americans desire. "Partake in our richness in flavor or smoothness of character and our products will ensure your success through years of loyal use." Truly, I don't know how I would market alcohol or nicotine, but I suppose it's the way it is because people needed to keep their jobs and it's probably quite difficult to market this stuff.

The problem with this (and all marketing) is that it's all brainwashing; my apologies if this was your career path. Regardless if you actually believe the marketing, you may unconsciously or subconsciously associate the images that you see with people you see drinking or even yourself, regardless of on how small a scale.

In regards to substance use we should all do ourselves a favor and familiarize ourselves with some images of heavy drinkers and smokers or just their actions in general. If the marketing is lying to us, the least we could do is level the playing field for our brains' sake. But don't get me wrong, I understand why and where one would enjoy doing those things, as I have done some myself, but at the same time, why not try going without? On that note, I'm off for a quick nip. Never mind this post claims it is 8:30 in the morning. *hic Cheers, mates!