(I know the effects of weed, but not Salvia, and most people are saying that she was most likely smoking weed, so most comments reference weed, not Salvia)
After the video, my eyes shifted down to some of the comments and I was surprised, although I suppose I shouldn't have been, by how many people were defending her. They said all sorts of things like "Yeah Miley! Smoke it up. Girl you get yourself high. I'd do drugs with her. I can't wait till she does porn." There were the few random people who scolded her for her actions. But to those people were more replies of "Back off. She's just living her life. She's 18 it's about time. She's just experimenting. Everyone does this these days." Yada yada yada. I think what was actually meant by many of these comments is that it's her life and we shouldn't care what she's doing with it, which I agree with. It's not important. But a lot of people were actually defending weed, claiming it's not a big deal to smoke it. I was slightly annoyed after realizing how ignorant people are, so I simply wrote the following comment:
"I've experimented in my life but I've also lived my life w/o smoking anything & I've had a good time while still maintaining my dignity. If I'm going to make a complete idiot out of myself I want it to be my own decision & not because I'm under the influence of something. To people who say it's a part of growing up, I say... at least i can actually remember what I did while growing up, thanks to maintaining a clear head. Not to mention that this stuff just made Miley plain annoying."
Not the best argument, but whatever. I continued to read some of the comments and read one that really got to me. It said:
"So she smoked out of a bong and got high...Who gives a s***!!!!!! She was bound to do it sometime. She's having fun so who gives a s***. There's kids in 5th grade that are smoking weed and other s*** so why is it a big deal if Miley who is 18 by the way, smokes, drinks , or does drugs. F*** THAT!!!!!! I'm not a fan of hers but f*** it, let her do what she wants. Kids can look up to her and not do drugs!"
This is the vocabulary and grammar of most the comments posted in defense of Miley. (If that doesn't prove a point, I don't know what does.) Anyway. This comment really bothered me, especially the part regarding 5th graders, so I replied with the following:
"I don't think you have to experiment w/ drugs to have a good time, but people do, I get that. But the fact that you tried to justify Miley's actions by comparing her to 10 year olds is pathetic. So 5th graders smoking weed makes Miley's decision to wait till she's 18 to smoke weed, a smart decision? And that entire statement actually disproves your idea that "Kids can look up to her and not do drugs." Apparently not, since most of the kids who look up to her ARE 5th graders and according to you, they're already smoking pot. Forgetting Miley, I say 5th graders shouldn't be smoking anything and am really hoping your claim that they ARE was just a horrible attempt at trying to defend Miley. I remember when I was in 5th grade. I played on the playground and the biggest thing I had to worry about was losing at tetherball. Man times have changed, and not for the better."
I don't really blame Miley specifically for supposed 5th graders smoking pot, I just said that for arguments sake. Although I do think a lot of the problem stems from the media.
Some other person decided to COMMENT on my COMMENTS and said the following:
"dude iv been blazing sense 6th grade and u kno wat....im completely fine....good grades (im a senior in highschool now)....i play football for my highschool varisty.....im going to college.....so shut the f*** up it dosnt matter its weed. almost every side effect uv ever heard from weed was just government propoganda from the nixon campaign to the regan campaign. if u actually study the effects it actually cures many diseases...kills tumors with tumoriods and does not cause lung cancer"
and:
"just because u smoke dosnt mean u loose ur dignity? just cause shes a f***in moron and annoying as hell dosnt mean all of us that smoke are....and u really cant say anything against smoking unless uv tryed it.....cant talk s*** about baseball if uv never been to a game....know what i mean?"
I found this guys response quite ridiculous so I wrote the following to him, which I actually had to message because it was too long to post in the comment box. This is what I said:
"First of all. I never mentioned any of the side effects except the fact that it makes you act like an idiot. As for getting good grades in high school... congratulations, since most public schools are a joke these days. I passed with a good GPA in high school, but pretty much needed re-education when I got to college because I had in actuality, not really learned anything in high school except how to color pictures and fill out work sheets. I'll admit that I don't know much about the "healing" powers of weed, maybe it DOES cure some things. But in many cases it doesn't actually cure the illness, it just dulls the senses, masking an illness's side effects. Example: A lot of people smoke weed for relief from headaches, but if your head's all fuzzy and you're on a high from smoking, you're not going to notice the pain of a headache, thus users proclam its ability to cure. Even worse, it could actually delay the diagnosis of a more serious problem, for the problem isn't actually gone, only masked by the drug.
The facts. Marijuana impairs perception, diminishes short-term memory, inhibits concentration and coordination, impairs judgment, damages the respiratory, reproductive and immune systems, and can cause anxiety, panic attacks, paranoia, hallucinations and psychological dependency. "Chronic marijuana smokers are prey to chest colds, bronchitis, emphysema, and bronchial asthma. Persistent use will damage lungs and airways and raise the risk of cancer. There is just as much exposure to cancer-causing chemicals from smoking one marijuana joint as smoking five tobacco cigarettes. And there is evidence that marijuana may limit the ability of the immune system to fight infection and disease.... Research, comparing cognitive abilities of adult marijuana users with non-using adults, found that users fall short on memory as well as math and verbal skills." (American Council For Drug Education) Sounds like fun to me... and that's sarcasm by the way. Now I realize that these side effects aren't always present with everyone, or present all the time, or may only be present in habitual users, but I'm going to stay clear of anything that has the remote possibility of affecting me the way marijuana affects many people. And you can't say these facts are simply conspiracy when they've been proven by tests and can easily be observed of a user by anyone with a clear head.
As for your other argument, I agree, smoking doesn't make you lose your dignity. The things you do while under the influence make you lose your dignity. By the way, when I said this, I was specifically referencing Miley because she was acting like such a moron. I realize that teenagers act like idiots all the time, whether doing drugs or not. Stupidity is a part of growing up. I'm not even a teenager anymore and I STILL do stupid things, and yes, some of them have compromised my dignity. But I feel a lot better knowing that I'm in control of the stupid things I do and that it's not the drug controlling my stupidity.
You said, "...u really cant say anything against smoking unless uv tryed it.....cant talk s*** about baseball if uv never been to a game....know what i mean?" No. I don't know what you mean. Comparing a trial baseball game to a trial use with an illegal drug, is really no comparison at all. The fact is, weed impairs judgment. What happens if I experiment with a baseball game? I either love it and have simply found a new past time, or I hate it and have wasted a few hours of my day. Or maybe in an extreme circumstance, I get hit in the face by a stray foul ball. That's about the worst that could happen by going to a baseball game. What happens if I experiment with weed? Maybe I escape from reality for a bit, simply have a good time, and nothing else happens. Or maybe I unintentionally wind up having sex with someone and end up with an unwanted pregnancy or an STD. Or maybe I end up driving somewhere, getting in an accident and killing the other person or myself, all as a result of my impaired judgement. These are extreme cases I realize, but my point is, not much is lost from going to a baseball game, but a lot can be lost from smoking weed. I choose to maintain a clear head. To be able to REMEMBER the good times I have with my friends. And I choose to go to a baseball game versus putting myself in a situation where I might even POSSIBLY, even come CLOSE to driving under the influence, killing someone, and getting thrown in jail, or any other similar situation, for there are a lot of miserable situations that can result from smoking pot.
It's all my choice, and smoking is your choice. Some people experiment with drugs, other people experiment with LEGAL activities. Whatever. What bothers me about the majority of these comments on Miley's stupid video, and what lead me to comment on it in the first place, knowing that I risked the possibility of a moral rehashing on drug use, is that so many people are naive enough to defend marijuana, or any illegal drug for that matter, when 25% of fatal traffic accidents are related in some way to narcotics.The highest percentage of which are specifically marijuana related. Maybe 25% isn't that big of a number to you, but it seems large enough to me. Everyone thinks it'll never happen to them, until it does."
The end.
My question is. Why do I do this to myself? I always find myself stumbling into debates that start over stupid topics, and I have it out over ridiculous interfaces such as youtube, which wasn't even designed for debate, I know. And a lot of times, the concluding arguments are on a completely different topic than the one originally discussed. I suppose the only solution is to stay clear because when I read stupid comments involving sensitive topics, whether stupid or not, I sometimes find it difficult not to respond. Although sometimes I find the topics aren't so stupid, like when I find random comments in random places about the church. I try my best to ignore them because the internet and forums are no place to talk about the church, but sometimes I read something so ridiculous, I just can't resist the chance to state the facts. The only problem is, that often comes with a rebuttal. Hence the problem.
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