i appreciate that the tone on the part of the straightedgers on this thread has mellowed somewhat, and there's an easy pot joke in there somewhere, but i'll leave that alone.

my concern, however, is that lumenredundas says that he has his reasons for hatred, without stating specifically whether his hatred is for alcohol or those who consume it. judging from later posts, i'm thinking it's just for alcohol, but maybe that terminology could confuse/alienate those who you are trying to explain yourself to.

i was straightedge for a long time, and that stemmed from working with the homeless immediately after high school and watching them drink their lives away. i always saw it as a political move, and to this day, i try my best not to buy from "major labels" that i think prey on people. i don't drink sparks, pbr, mad dog, etc. because of it. so i've been able to retain the politics that brought me to straightedge and still drink.

not saying you should do that, per se, but we all have our resaons for what we do. or maybe we don't, and maybe we should. but i'm not sure how taking a stand against a substance after the negative experiences that you shared with us is really an answer. by the way, let me be the first to say that i'm sorry those things happened; i think that people on here became very defensive very fast and brought sarcasm where maybe empathy would have done better.

i think the problem, though, is alcohol abuse, and maybe that's what needs to be addressed. the world is rarely black and white, and maybe the people who did the things you mentioned were as much victims as they were ******bags, and i wonder how straightedge helps them...i think the work with dare and MADD sounds a bit more positive/proactive. i don't know where i'm going with this, because me having a few beers doesn't really address the situation one way or the other, but at the same time, drinking microbrews doesn't seem to be contributing to those societal ills, either.

i mean, hardcore records are made out of fossil fuels, it's just that there isn't an existing youth movement to which i can subscribe that takes a stance against this in the way that the edge stands against booze.

i'm not sure i'm making any sense anymore.