t's disappointing that a documentary about Chicago gun violence would not even mention the social policy that caused it: namely the Drug War. At least that's the impression one gets from Jessica Kiang's six-paragraph review of the film in Variety, in which the word 'drugs' is not even mentioned.
It's as if Americans (documentary makers included) have become so indoctrinated in the drug-war ideology of substance demonization that they now take the Drug War as a natural baseline and therefore ignore its out-sized role in causing social problems: first and foremost the prevalence of gun violence in poor inner-city environments.
Inner-city violence will never end if we continue to ignore the single-most important reason that it exists in the first place.
Brian might have added that Lisa Ling from CNN did the exact same thing. She created a whole documentary about violence in Chicago ("This is Life with Lisa Ling: Chicago's History of Violence") and never ONCE mentioned the DRUG WAR! NOT ONCE! Is Lisa getting kickbacks from the DEA to remain quiet about this? Has she not heard how liquor prohibition created the American Mafia out of whole cloth? Can she really not understand that prohibition causes violence?
Thankfully, there are a rare few in the media who recognize this glaringly obvious fact, like Heather Ann Thompson of the Atlantic, who wrote in 2014 that: "Without the War on Drugs, the level of gun violence that plagues so many poor inner-city neighborhoods today simply would not exist."
Incidentally, Brian's too self-effacing to mention this, but do you know what? He has queried Variety NINE TIMES about the failure of his comments to appear on their digital page, and they have never so much as acknowledged his email. I betcha that Variety is thinking: "Oh, dear, we can't let this guy's comments appear: he's gonna start calling our reviewers out when it comes to those exciting Drug War movies!"
Well, no fear, Brian, I've got your back. (Let me know if you're free Wednesday night for a nice dish of stromboli!)
Drug War Movies
Hollywood supports the war on drugs by refusing to show wise use while always depicting drug use in the worst possible light. Like all media, they refuse to show beneficial use -- and if they're not depicting drugs as dangerous dead-ends, they're at least showing use to be frivolous and dangerous. The producers kowtow to drug warrior sensibilities.
Brits have a right to die, but they do not have the right to use drugs that might make them want to live. Bad policy is indicated by absurd outcomes, and this is but one of the many absurd outcomes that the policy of prohibition foists upon the world.
Alcohol makes me sleepy. But NOT coca wine. The wine gives you an upbeat feeling of controlled energy, without the jitters of coffee and without the fury of steroids. It increases rather than dulls mental focus.
Drugs that sharpen the mind should be thoroughly investigated for their potential to help dementia victims. Instead, we prefer to demonize these drugs as useless. That's anti-scientific and anti-patient.
ME: "What are you gonna give me for my depression, doc? MDMA? Laughing gas? Occasional opium smoking? Chewing of the coca leaf?" DOC: "No, I thought we'd fry your brain with shock therapy instead."
Drug testing labs should give high marks for those who manage to use drugs responsibly, notwithstanding the efforts of law enforcement to ruin their lives. The lab guy would be like: "Wow, you are using opium wisely, my friend! Congratulations! Your boss is lucky to have you!"
Prohibitionists have blood on their hands. People do not naturally die in the tens of thousands from opioid use, notwithstanding the lies of 19th-century missionaries in China. It takes bad drug policy to accomplish that.
I have nothing against science, BTW (altho' I might feel differently after a nuclear war!) I just want scientists to "stay in their lane" and stop pretending to be experts on my own personal mood and consciousness.
David Chalmers says almost everything in the world can be reductively explained. Maybe so. But science's mistake is to think that everything can therefore be reductively UNDERSTOOD. That kind of thinking blinds researchers to the positive effects of laughing gas and MDMA, etc.
What I want to know is, who sold Christopher Reeves that horse that he fell off of? Who was peddling that junk?!
The Shipiba have learned to heal human beings physically, psychologically and spiritually with what they call "onanyati," plant allies and guides, such as Bobinsana, which "envelops seekers in a cocoon of love." You know: what the DEA would call "junk."
Buy the Drug War Comic Book by the Drug War Philosopher Brian Quass, featuring 150 hilarious op-ed pics about America's disgraceful war on Americans
You have been reading an article entitled, All these Sons: Another documentary that ignores the Drug War?, published on April 25, 2022 on AbolishTheDEA.com. For more information about America's disgraceful drug war, which is anti-patient, anti-minority, anti-scientific, anti-mother nature, imperialistic, the establishment of the Christian Science religion, a violation of the natural law upon which America was founded, and a childish and counterproductive way of looking at the world, one which causes all of the problems that it purports to solve, and then some, visit the drug war philosopher, at abolishTheDEA.com. (philosopher's bio; go to top of this page)
t's disappointing that a documentary about Chicago gun violence would not even mention the social policy that caused it: namely the Drug War. At least that's the impression one gets from Jessica Kiang's six-paragraph review of the film in Variety, in which the word 'drugs' is not even mentioned.
You have been reading an article entitled, All these Sons: Another documentary that ignores the Drug War?, published on April 25, 2022 on AbolishTheDEA.com. For more information about America's disgraceful drug war, which is anti-patient, anti-minority, anti-scientific, anti-mother nature, imperialistic, the establishment of the Christian Science religion, a violation of the natural law upon which America was founded, and a childish and counterproductive way of looking at the world, one which causes all of the problems that it purports to solve, and then some, visit the drug war philosopher, at abolishTheDEA.com. (philosopher's bio; go to top of this page)
