Script+-+Taylor+&+Blaine


 * Taylor: **
 * Why do we follow laws? why do we do what we’re told? Yes, some authority should be in place to protect the general public from the dangers in the world and keep the peace. However, what about the laws that restrict our recreational activities, in turn, restricting us. These laws place pressure on society to conform to a general behavior, look, and feel that is deemed as proper. These laws leave no room for an individualistic style, maintaining a repetitive cycle of the same failing ideas, actions, ect. This brings us to ask, does individualism form a more progressive society? **


 * Blaine: **
 * When you are raised, particularly in the U.S, you are taught that our laws are put in place for a reason. This unquestionable loyalty limits the use of our amendment process, something America has been ever proud of. We are following the same path, generation after generation, in a land where we are so free to progress and grow. **


 * Taylor: **
 * Our society is filled with a diverse set of citizens with a variety of religious beliefs, races, genders, and opinions. One would never know this based off of our media, which produces a narrow image of what people do, and if not, should, look and act like. In Upper Arlington, the promoted image of what a person should strive to be is athletic, scholarly, and wealthy. Those who stray from this criteria are considered outcasts in the eyes of the older generation in UA. Teens are teens, we will do stupid things regardless of how we may present ourselves. With that, we can also decipher between a good and bad choice, and thought we may still make the bad choice, we can accept the consequences. Teens are full of knowledge, yet many still carry naive and ignorant views simply due to a lack of exposure to the world. Teachers are aware of this more than others, and they see how much potential a teenager has, but often it is difficult for the teenager to see. **


 * Blaine: **
 * Problems with society have been around since the existence of man. There have always been people who have strove to be different, and in turn are cast down in society as rejects or imperfects. One group that has experienced this several times is the Jewish people. They were controlled and taken over by the Egyptian empire during its reign and then the Nazis during WWII. Why this constant oppression throughout history? They were different. **
 * It is hard to get a large group of people, like a country, to hate a certain group. Fascist dictators achieved this when they saw a nation at its weakest point. Soon after came the rise of communism with Lenin and Stalin who based their views off of Carl Marx whom started Marxism. In the U.S from the 50s through the 90s, people feared communism and communists, leading to our weak point. Being the humans that we are, same saw this as an opportunity to get ahead in life, such as Joseph McCarthy. He called other politicians communists or communist sympathizers, causing Americans to view them as evil and they were frowned upon by society. **


 * Taylor: **
 * The punk revolution was the 80s and 90s version of the hippie revolution. They were also rejected by mainstream society’s standards in consequence for radical beliefs and music. Cititzens who followed this mainstream culture feared punks way of life that objected to the “normal” and “healthy” structured life. This fear evolved into frustration, then confusion, and soon hate, as it so often does when foreign cultures arise in America. **


 * Blaine: **
 * The government’s rold in our lives should stretch no further than protecting us. This justifies many of our laws pertaining to ciolence, slander, and lies. However, they can’t make everthing this is possibly harmful illegal. At the moment, the government has quite a hypocritical reasoning behind our drugs laws. This reason being, “ U.S. laws now classify [psychedelics] as Schedule 1 drugs, banned for all purposes because of their health risks”(Horgan). This leads me to wondering why binge drinking, over eating, skydiving, tanning, and much more isn’t illegal. The reason being; it’s illogical. At some point, we must be given freedom to decide if the action is worth the consequence. Using psychedelic drugs should be an individual choice, we have the ability to decide if it’s too dangerous or not. The government doesn’t have to feed us their opinion. Unfortunately, they do, and most folks eat it without questioning how the opinion was made. **


 * Taylor: **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This mindless obedience leads the majority of Americans to not only condemn drugs, but those who do them. Punks, commonly associated with drugs and bad choices, should not be judged as a whole group. Punks are simply like minded people and they shouldn’t be persecuted for that. We change this view by changing the opinions fed to Americans through media and government. Rather than using advertising to pressure people to fit in, we could promote individuality. This would lead to acceptance among different looks, beliefs, cultures, so on. When these differences are so prevalent in American daily life, it will no longer seem foreign. **


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Blaine: **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The government can change this close minded view by legalizing psychedelic drugs, making them more regulated and less associated with rebellion and deviance. From a young age, children should be taught to focus on happiness, which in turn leads to success, rather than succeeding more than others to achieve happiness. If happiness is promoted, children will be able to understand as they grow up that people make choices to follow their own path the happiness. All together, America could become more at peace within itself because there will no longer be an urge to change one another. This will free our country to focus on exterior problems with other countries, giving us better global relations. **


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Taylor: **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Since the American government is against drugs and sheds a negative light on those who do them, there are many objections. One of the biggest debates about drugs is the effect they have on one’s health. They destroy your mind, body, and cause you to become addicted. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A popular belief is, “...an individual taking synthetic hallucinogens has no true knowledge of what chemicals or potentially deadly combinations of illegal drugs they may contain”(Hunt). <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Those who use drugs are no better, with unruly tendencies and ruined lives. **


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Blaine: **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This objection has simply been created through misinformed people. There is a difference between hard drugs, such as heroin or cocaine, and psychedelic drugs, perhaps LSD or shrooms. Hard drugs are extremely addictive, consume people’s lives, ruin a potentially brilliant thinker, not to mention possibly lead to death. This is not what we’re promoting. Psychedelic drugs are not addictive and pose no major health threat. Psychedelic drugs only become harmful when drug dealers, seeing as they’re completely unregulated, add other substances to these drugs. What we must remember is, “Practically anything can kill if used in certain ways. Like heroin, salt can make you sick or dead if you take enough of it” (Twelve Reasons). This is why the government must get involved with the distribution of drugs. They could be just as safe as other products, unfortunately, “Today's drug consumer literally doesn't know what he's buying. The stuff is so valuable that sellers have an incentive to "cut" (dilute) the product with foreign substances that look like the real thing” (Twelve Reasons).If the government legalized psychedelic drugs, they could be properly manufactured, eliminating any serious health risk. **


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Taylor: **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Another issue brought up with the promotion of individuality is the chaos and disorder that may ensue. There’s a belief that conformity keeps our society moving forward mannerly. Any expression of individuality, like drugs and punk culture, carry their bit of terrible chaos. Drugs distort people’s perception of the world around them, “ <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">which can produce unpredictable, erratic and violent behavior in users that sometimes leads to serious injuries and death <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">” (Beasley). Punk promotes defiance through violent revolution and complete dismemberment of authority. **


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Blaine: **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This belief is based off of minor truths that have been blown out of proportion. The use of psychedelic drugs only becomes dangerous when they are misused, similar to when someone drinks too much and become irrational and violent. This doesn’t declare psychedelic drugs as a whole are bad, just that some do not react well to such an influence nor in great quantities, like many legal substances and actions in our society. What would solve this is better drug education rather than condemning those who inquire about them, causing even even less people to know true facts about drugs. As for punk, there are only a few violent radicals that have caused punk to get a bad reputation. Holding up these negative examples of punk to represent the movement as a whole is much like labeling muslim terrorist extremists as the face of muslims. It’s a snap judgement triggered by fear that has no credibility. **


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Taylor: **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">America has lost its sense of pride in individuals- it’s time to take that back. We need to be open to learning as well as teaching others. All lifestyles have benefits, otherwise people wouldn’t choose to live that way. We must recognize those benefits and incorporate them into our own lives, as well as laws. By working together, we can create the utmost peaceful and advanced country, which benefits each and every citizen. **