What's the point of being staightedge if you're just going to be fat? Or, Replacing alcohol with concentrated sugar beverage is a difference of degree and not of kind. Sugar strains the human body during consumption and metabolization much the same way like other poisons like alcohol and tobacco. In fact the metabolization of sugar and alcohol are quite similar to the point where symptoms of dysregulation and withdrawal overlap and can be treated by the same medicinal methods. What exactly is being avoided here besides wishing to be part of a particular subculture? I went to a health foods store in Utah (I avoided spelling out the obvious parallel here to shirk cliches) and found some sort of 'toasted herbal' tea designed to mimic coffee. Upon trying, it had an even stronger effect than caffeine does on my body. Since I do not ingest any stimulants including coffee I am particularly sensitive to such effects. They had managed to perfectly mimic the physically stimulating effect of caffeine - and even the taste and texture - in this 'toasted herbal drink' that there was effectively no difference between it and coffee even if the literal chemical inside it wasn't caffeine but instead some other compound which has a different name and different chemical makeup. The Mormons at least have the most paper-thin religious explanation behind their mania; the straightedgers do not. It is so, so ridiculous no matter how you look at it. Like the other morons on the RSP-o-sphere I too notice and lament the general decline of subcultures, but it occurs to me more often than I want that this decline was in part caused by internal self-contraditions, even as much as it was by those nebulous outside pressures so often attributed to the decline. At least hardcore music was decent-to-good.
xXx :
Anonymous :
73 days ago :
No.3792
>>4515
>>3792 (OP)
IME "straight edge" people that are like, fully grown adults that are really about it (not just sheltered young people that haven't gotten around to it yet), are former addicts or children of addicts that are more sensitive about addictive things than most people. many are more prone to addiction but there are also a lot that just latch onto it to be part of A Thing and get annoying about it. it's harmless leaning good imo
>>4529>>3792 (OP)
What's the point of anything if you're fat?
Really. If you're fat, becoming not fat should be the only thing you care about.
>>5662>>3792 (OP)
A man can abstain from drugs, smoking, and alcohol so long as he isn't a fag about ramming his choices down people's throats, which is the entire ethos of the "straight-edge" movement, especially in the hardcore scene.
>>5735>>3792 (OP)
Avoiding intoxication can be one reason: eating doesn't bring one to the same extremes of intoxication that hard drugs do.
>>3827
Theravda Buddhism -> Eight Precepts.
Enough to not rot into an animal (5P), enough to progress in Wisdom (8P).
Americans excel at looking like overgrown children whilst performing any activity.
Anonymous :
73 days ago :
No.3795
>>3798
>>3795
So funny that you happened to direct this smooth-brained dismissive reddit retort at me because I personally have not drank alcohol in more than twelve years either. I didn't need to paint Xs on my hands to do that, though. Clearly you can see in this post that I am making a point beyond 'why do these people not drink alcohol'? I guess not so clearly. I hate having to spell things out for you fucking morons every single time.
I love to booze as much as anyone but it should be obvious why some people choose to avoid it.
Now that I look again I wonder if Xennial/Gen X zombified straight edge culture like this is becoming a covert whipipo hangout (always a partly subconscious act, I'm not that annoying) much like rockabilly did before it got its cover blown.
Anonymous :
73 days ago :
No.3798
>>3799
>>3798
but your post implies that all the benefits of not drinking are negated if you consume refined sugar, which is obviously not the case... maybe you are right about some of the health impacts, but you can't blackout at the work christmas party on a bottle of fanta, can you?
>>3800>>3798
Why so angry? Have a soda pop and calm down.
>>3795
I love to booze as much as anyone but it should be obvious why some people choose to avoid it.
So funny that you happened to direct this smooth-brained dismissive reddit retort at me because I personally have not drank alcohol in more than twelve years either. I didn't need to paint Xs on my hands to do that, though. Clearly you can see in this post that I am making a point beyond 'why do these people not drink alcohol'? I guess not so clearly. I hate having to spell things out for you fucking morons every single time.
Anonymous :
73 days ago :
No.3799
>>3801
>>3799
Yes, alcohol and sugar are not literally, 100% the same thing, and have some differences. Great job champ.
>>3804>>3799
That's not how I understood OP's post. I don't think that the implication is that the benefits of quitting are completely negated, more that it's ironic / lamentable to simply swap your poison of choice and brand yourself as "straightedge" while continuing to damage yourself (not a "straightedge" thing to do).
When they said that swapping alcohol for sugary drinks is a "difference of degree and not of kind", I took this to mean that while sugary drinks may be less harmful overall versus alcohol, it's still a pollutant/poison i.e. why stop poisoning yourself and then continue to poison yourself anyway, then publicly celebrate being poison-free. Maybe that's a bit of an oversimplification, but that's the gist I took from it.
Whether you agree that it's a difference of degree and not of kind is up to you of course.
>>3798
>>3795
So funny that you happened to direct this smooth-brained dismissive reddit retort at me because I personally have not drank alcohol in more than twelve years either. I didn't need to paint Xs on my hands to do that, though. Clearly you can see in this post that I am making a point beyond 'why do these people not drink alcohol'? I guess not so clearly. I hate having to spell things out for you fucking morons every single time.
but your post implies that all the benefits of not drinking are negated if you consume refined sugar, which is obviously not the case... maybe you are right about some of the health impacts, but you can't blackout at the work christmas party on a bottle of fanta, can you?
>>3798
>>3795
So funny that you happened to direct this smooth-brained dismissive reddit retort at me because I personally have not drank alcohol in more than twelve years either. I didn't need to paint Xs on my hands to do that, though. Clearly you can see in this post that I am making a point beyond 'why do these people not drink alcohol'? I guess not so clearly. I hate having to spell things out for you fucking morons every single time.
Why so angry? Have a soda pop and calm down.
>>3799
>>3798
but your post implies that all the benefits of not drinking are negated if you consume refined sugar, which is obviously not the case... maybe you are right about some of the health impacts, but you can't blackout at the work christmas party on a bottle of fanta, can you?
Yes, alcohol and sugar are not literally, 100% the same thing, and have some differences. Great job champ.
>>3799
>>3798
but your post implies that all the benefits of not drinking are negated if you consume refined sugar, which is obviously not the case... maybe you are right about some of the health impacts, but you can't blackout at the work christmas party on a bottle of fanta, can you?
That's not how I understood OP's post. I don't think that the implication is that the benefits of quitting are completely negated, more that it's ironic / lamentable to simply swap your poison of choice and brand yourself as "straightedge" while continuing to damage yourself (not a "straightedge" thing to do).
When they said that swapping alcohol for sugary drinks is a "difference of degree and not of kind", I took this to mean that while sugary drinks may be less harmful overall versus alcohol, it's still a pollutant/poison i.e. why stop poisoning yourself and then continue to poison yourself anyway, then publicly celebrate being poison-free. Maybe that's a bit of an oversimplification, but that's the gist I took from it.
Whether you agree that it's a difference of degree and not of kind is up to you of course.
Anonymous :
72 days ago :
No.3822
>>3823
>>3822
This is my (admittedly impressionistic) understanding as well. Fear of being ostracized or merely of being forced to be independently minded caused some people who want a sober lifestyle to flock together in a slightly dorky subculture. Personally the temptation angle doesn't quite make sense to me; either you want to get fucked up all the time or it seems undesirable and you don't. I suppose some people need(?) that social pressure to abstain.
Yes, "straightedge" has an annoying protests-too-much aspect to it. I always thought straightedge was like that because it's easier to conserve a positive identity (like "fuck you I'm sober") than it is to simply say "no" to each temptation each time -- especially in noisy, crowded, jocular scenes.
Would I craft a durable identity around being straightedge? No, not personally. But I also can appreciate how it's got to get tedious finding socialization opportunities that aren't organized around drugs and alcohol.
>>3822
Yes, "straightedge" has an annoying protests-too-much aspect to it. I always thought straightedge was like that because it's easier to conserve a positive identity (like "fuck you I'm sober") than it is to simply say "no" to each temptation each time -- especially in noisy, crowded, jocular scenes.
Would I craft a durable identity around being straightedge? No, not personally. But I also can appreciate how it's got to get tedious finding socialization opportunities that aren't organized around drugs and alcohol.
This is my (admittedly impressionistic) understanding as well. Fear of being ostracized or merely of being forced to be independently minded caused some people who want a sober lifestyle to flock together in a slightly dorky subculture. Personally the temptation angle doesn't quite make sense to me; either you want to get fucked up all the time or it seems undesirable and you don't. I suppose some people need(?) that social pressure to abstain.
Anonymous :
72 days ago :
No.3827
>>3838
>>3827
Why do you want to mainstream asceticism?
>>4510>>3827
Neoplatonism is an underrated way to do it. (Remember that Socrates founded both Platonism and Antisthenes' lineage of Cynicism and Stoicism.) Form an ego based around service to your rational faculties and use this internal alliance to wage war against the hylic elements of your life. Cultivate habits that support the pure adventure of mind (especially mathematical inquiry) and subordinate material life to noetic life.
>>3846
Most people aren't gold-souled. There's next to zero interest in human excellence for its own sake. If you want to pursue some endeavor that's defined purely by the pushing the boundaries of human potential, you're going to be sorely disappointed at how many people are in it for silver-souled reasons.
>>5735>>3792 (OP)
Avoiding intoxication can be one reason: eating doesn't bring one to the same extremes of intoxication that hard drugs do.
>>3827
Theravda Buddhism -> Eight Precepts.
Enough to not rot into an animal (5P), enough to progress in Wisdom (8P).
How do I get into asceticism? Further, how do we make it mainstream?
Anonymous :
72 days ago :
No.3846
>>4420
>>3846
I see what you mean, but asceticism is self selective. I think only those with the capacity for it are interested in it. Unless you are just using it a synonym for something like stocicism? Most people are confused by someone like a monk, if perhaps respectful, though these days I think monks are most likely to be thought of as foolish.
I think there is a reason St. Paul said the majority should be married.
>>4510>>3827
Neoplatonism is an underrated way to do it. (Remember that Socrates founded both Platonism and Antisthenes' lineage of Cynicism and Stoicism.) Form an ego based around service to your rational faculties and use this internal alliance to wage war against the hylic elements of your life. Cultivate habits that support the pure adventure of mind (especially mathematical inquiry) and subordinate material life to noetic life.
>>3846
Most people aren't gold-souled. There's next to zero interest in human excellence for its own sake. If you want to pursue some endeavor that's defined purely by the pushing the boundaries of human potential, you're going to be sorely disappointed at how many people are in it for silver-souled reasons.
>>3846
>>3838
So we can finally progress as a species instead of doing lap after lap on this retarded fucking carousel
I see what you mean, but asceticism is self selective. I think only those with the capacity for it are interested in it. Unless you are just using it a synonym for something like stocicism? Most people are confused by someone like a monk, if perhaps respectful, though these days I think monks are most likely to be thought of as foolish.
I think there is a reason St. Paul said the majority should be married.
Anonymous :
58 days ago :
No.4510
>>4514
>>4510
We are in agreement, unless you're just putting what I said into your own terminology.
>>3827
How do I get into asceticism? Further, how do we make it mainstream?
Neoplatonism is an underrated way to do it. (Remember that Socrates founded both Platonism and Antisthenes' lineage of Cynicism and Stoicism.) Form an ego based around service to your rational faculties and use this internal alliance to wage war against the hylic elements of your life. Cultivate habits that support the pure adventure of mind (especially mathematical inquiry) and subordinate material life to noetic life.
>>3846>>3838
So we can finally progress as a species instead of doing lap after lap on this retarded fucking carousel
Most people aren't gold-souled. There's next to zero interest in human excellence for its own sake. If you want to pursue some endeavor that's defined purely by the pushing the boundaries of human potential, you're going to be sorely disappointed at how many people are in it for silver-souled reasons.
>>4510
>>3827
Neoplatonism is an underrated way to do it. (Remember that Socrates founded both Platonism and Antisthenes' lineage of Cynicism and Stoicism.) Form an ego based around service to your rational faculties and use this internal alliance to wage war against the hylic elements of your life. Cultivate habits that support the pure adventure of mind (especially mathematical inquiry) and subordinate material life to noetic life.
>>3846
Most people aren't gold-souled. There's next to zero interest in human excellence for its own sake. If you want to pursue some endeavor that's defined purely by the pushing the boundaries of human potential, you're going to be sorely disappointed at how many people are in it for silver-souled reasons.
We are in agreement, unless you're just putting what I said into your own terminology.
Anonymous :
58 days ago :
No.4515
>>4516
>>4515
also if they're annoying you irl just act like a stoner around them. ime they flee rather quickly
>>3792 (OP)
IME "straight edge" people that are like, fully grown adults that are really about it (not just sheltered young people that haven't gotten around to it yet), are former addicts or children of addicts that are more sensitive about addictive things than most people. many are more prone to addiction but there are also a lot that just latch onto it to be part of A Thing and get annoying about it. it's harmless leaning good imo
>>4515
>>3792 (OP)
IME "straight edge" people that are like, fully grown adults that are really about it (not just sheltered young people that haven't gotten around to it yet), are former addicts or children of addicts that are more sensitive about addictive things than most people. many are more prone to addiction but there are also a lot that just latch onto it to be part of A Thing and get annoying about it. it's harmless leaning good imo
also if they're annoying you irl just act like a stoner around them. ime they flee rather quickly
>>3792 (OP)
What's the point of anything if you're fat?
Really. If you're fat, becoming not fat should be the only thing you care about.
>>4539
>4515
I put the thesis of this post in one sentence right in the very beginning for all the retards like you that see the thread subject and decide to ad-lib from there
i don't post for you, i post for myself. get out of my thread lol
She ranks high on the 'if I were a girl I'd be one with this kind of personality (that doesn't actually exist)' chart, along with similar tragedies like Lain
Starightedge are irritating in how little they care beyond their stub noses and bellies. What's the point being vegan if you're going to add to the farming-industrial complex through your gluttony and general ignorance of anything but politics?
Anonymous :
33 days ago :
No.5458
>>5468
>>5458
media consumption has supplanted the reason for consumption and labor: play. it masquerades as play, and even masquerades as labor (keeping up with the trends). i'm simplifying the impact of the third state by calling it "play"; i'm an artist and even i struggle to describe the unsullied synthesis of external phenomena with enigmatic internal desires. like starting to draw without any concept of what you "want" to make, it just comes out and after a certain amount of time in that third state you have something entirely new in your hands. that's a state that used to exist when you take a shit, but these days even when you're holding your hair back and throwing up into a drain you're kinda thinking about elden ring sometimes.
if you're born rich you're often born into a post-capital sort of existence. people like that tend to have this third state left intact, but their bubble prevents them from meaningfully recognizing consumption as an invasive weed in humanity's psychic ecosystem. speaking from experience, their "play" is something of a black box that consumes restlessness and secretes art/"new things", and that fatally limits the scope of their efforts. this is why art by people who live in the real world hits harder.
like, lauren bousfield will always more thoroughly conjoin a wider array of concepts than a genetically identical person who never had to work at a gas station. see how this looped back to consumption? most media has this issue. it's "content". static artistic material, like books, don't give you recommended playlists or have a smooth transition into a video essay breaking down its themes into objective bites. people can't fucking read anymore so they're trapped in the cycle of consumption, but for those who can, escape can be found by uninstalling all the shitty apps on your phone and reading a book at a park.
straight edge folx are as fat and illiterate as the rest of the outgroup. and boy do i hate outgroup. ingroup is chill though i love those guys
Countercultures became lame when, one) everyone lost the ability to think meaningfully upon their own, and with others, so the easiest thing to do is to just ride the monoculture wave, and two) ubiquitous permeation of globohomo reached critical mass and became inescapable. Everyone and everything is fat now. Think Andy Warhol's "even the dictators drink coca cola," except it's everything everywhere.
I hate to be a reductionist, but it's true that production and consumption are the two rigid structures of human society. Now, consumption has taken over, because its pleasurable, and production has been offshored, because its labor. Sometimes, I feel like I'm going insane thinking about how everything revolves around consumption. You can't escape it. Drink, or don't drink, it's still a stance towards consumption, nothing more, nothing less. Even then, the removal of consumption gets replaced by another consumption, because we cannot just have less consuming, we need to create MORE consuming no matter what.
The American people deserve to be fat, as a kind of apotheotic symbolism of consumption.
>>5458
Countercultures became lame when, one) everyone lost the ability to think meaningfully upon their own, and with others, so the easiest thing to do is to just ride the monoculture wave, and two) ubiquitous permeation of globohomo reached critical mass and became inescapable. Everyone and everything is fat now. Think Andy Warhol's "even the dictators drink coca cola," except it's everything everywhere.
I hate to be a reductionist, but it's true that production and consumption are the two rigid structures of human society. Now, consumption has taken over, because its pleasurable, and production has been offshored, because its labor. Sometimes, I feel like I'm going insane thinking about how everything revolves around consumption. You can't escape it. Drink, or don't drink, it's still a stance towards consumption, nothing more, nothing less. Even then, the removal of consumption gets replaced by another consumption, because we cannot just have less consuming, we need to create MORE consuming no matter what.
The American people deserve to be fat, as a kind of apotheotic symbolism of consumption.
media consumption has supplanted the reason for consumption and labor: play. it masquerades as play, and even masquerades as labor (keeping up with the trends). i'm simplifying the impact of the third state by calling it "play"; i'm an artist and even i struggle to describe the unsullied synthesis of external phenomena with enigmatic internal desires. like starting to draw without any concept of what you "want" to make, it just comes out and after a certain amount of time in that third state you have something entirely new in your hands. that's a state that used to exist when you take a shit, but these days even when you're holding your hair back and throwing up into a drain you're kinda thinking about elden ring sometimes.
if you're born rich you're often born into a post-capital sort of existence. people like that tend to have this third state left intact, but their bubble prevents them from meaningfully recognizing consumption as an invasive weed in humanity's psychic ecosystem. speaking from experience, their "play" is something of a black box that consumes restlessness and secretes art/"new things", and that fatally limits the scope of their efforts. this is why art by people who live in the real world hits harder.
like, lauren bousfield will always more thoroughly conjoin a wider array of concepts than a genetically identical person who never had to work at a gas station. see how this looped back to consumption? most media has this issue. it's "content". static artistic material, like books, don't give you recommended playlists or have a smooth transition into a video essay breaking down its themes into objective bites. people can't fucking read anymore so they're trapped in the cycle of consumption, but for those who can, escape can be found by uninstalling all the shitty apps on your phone and reading a book at a park.
straight edge folx are as fat and illiterate as the rest of the outgroup. and boy do i hate outgroup. ingroup is chill though i love those guys
>>3792 (OP)
A man can abstain from drugs, smoking, and alcohol so long as he isn't a fag about ramming his choices down people's throats, which is the entire ethos of the "straight-edge" movement, especially in the hardcore scene.
Who the fuck cares? Punk has been a LARP for 30-40 years. Anybody who has taken punk seriously in the 21st century is just doing dead retro. Everything else in this thread just feels like vegan anorexics trying to score points on Disco Stu.
Like seriously where is it written that straightedge must conform to your particular strand of contrarianism? And even if that were written somewhere, you'd have to be fucking idiotic to believe it
Anonymous :
26 days ago :
No.5684
>>5685
>>5684
Thanks for expounding on this. The impression in my mind of straight-edgers was one of the past, of skinny hardcore kids with interest in fitness culture. I was then taken aback when I saw this imgur album of an event posted on reddit. I should not be surprised that it was on reddit but seeing the whole damn picture of nearly everyone overweight was a little jarring. Maybe if the picture was from the middle of the concrete jungle in Brooklin or wherever it would look different than this obviously exurban Midwest place.
Obviously being fat is *far* worse than getting drunk a couple of times a month. But "straight edge" is a punk meme and therefore totally misses the point of why moderation and puritanism is good.
If you asked a straight edger why they do it, they will answer you with some version of hedonism. "Being sober just is more enjoyable" or something similar. And since hedonism is the argument in either case, it is obvious why being fat seems unproblematic. Being fat is easy and not being fat would require suffering.
In any case avoiding suffering is the goal and of course that is pure vanity, but it explains why these people can accept being fat while being "straight edge". It is not about rejecting hedonism, it is about debating which hedonism is better.
>>5684
Obviously being fat is *far* worse than getting drunk a couple of times a month. But "straight edge" is a punk meme and therefore totally misses the point of why moderation and puritanism is good.
If you asked a straight edger why they do it, they will answer you with some version of hedonism. "Being sober just is more enjoyable" or something similar. And since hedonism is the argument in either case, it is obvious why being fat seems unproblematic. Being fat is easy and not being fat would require suffering.
In any case avoiding suffering is the goal and of course that is pure vanity, but it explains why these people can accept being fat while being "straight edge". It is not about rejecting hedonism, it is about debating which hedonism is better.
Thanks for expounding on this. The impression in my mind of straight-edgers was one of the past, of skinny hardcore kids with interest in fitness culture. I was then taken aback when I saw this imgur album of an event posted on reddit. I should not be surprised that it was on reddit but seeing the whole damn picture of nearly everyone overweight was a little jarring. Maybe if the picture was from the middle of the concrete jungle in Brooklin or wherever it would look different than this obviously exurban Midwest place.
>>3792 (OP)
Avoiding intoxication can be one reason: eating doesn't bring one to the same extremes of intoxication that hard drugs do.
>>3827
How do I get into asceticism? Further, how do we make it mainstream?
Theravda Buddhism -> Eight Precepts.
Enough to not rot into an animal (5P), enough to progress in Wisdom (8P).
Ian MacKaye coined "straight edge" back when drugs, alcohol, and sex were rampant in punk/hardcore, particularly among his friends, and he didn't want to be part of that. It was never supposed to be a coherent movement, and wasn't about health. The fact that it grew into an annoying scene without strict guidelines or anything is not surprising given the circumstances in which it arose.