"I may not have participated in medical experimens, but I was young once..."
Exactly! Every time people express their utter incredulity that so many were unquestioning in following arbitrary protocols and submitting to untested drug trials, I think back to my own behavior in high school and college. When my friends were doing 'shrooms, I didn't go to the trouble to look up the specific mechanism by which they altered consciousness, nor did I wonder whether the dealer may have profitably slipped a few unsafe varieties into the bag. Who was I to abstain from such a venerable coming-of-age ritual?
When all the historic re-enactors at Borodino battlefield in Moscow Oblast were walking out of the concession stand with bottles of green liqueur from under the counter, who was I not to follow their lead, despite not speaking enough Russian to understand what made it such a lurid shade of green? Good Lord, that magical elixir got us so stoned — that explained the rather skunky smell coming out of the bottle too! We're just so trusting and innocent when we're young. Had one of those enticing drugs managed to kill one or more of my friends, I would surely have become much more skeptical about trying out any new unknown intoxicants. But they didn't kill anyone I knew, so hey, what's the big deal? Famous last words...
Although I managed to never deplete my endorphin reserves by trying ecstasy or head right down the rabbit hole by trying crystal meth, it's kind of the luck of the draw that I didn't. Had I had a different circle of friends in those coddled, vulnerable years, I could easily have trusted their questionable endorsement to my own detriment.
Now, my age and experience do a much better job of providing me with a well-worn patina of protection. For those lacking that protective patina, I find it both thoughtless and self-destructive to deride or scorn their poor choices, so markedly similar to choices I remember making in my own innocence and enthusiasm.
Re: In the Time of Bat Flu: Zwangmedizin & An Electric Fence
Exactly! Every time people express their utter incredulity that so many were unquestioning in following arbitrary protocols and submitting to untested drug trials, I think back to my own behavior in high school and college. When my friends were doing 'shrooms, I didn't go to the trouble to look up the specific mechanism by which they altered consciousness, nor did I wonder whether the dealer may have profitably slipped a few unsafe varieties into the bag. Who was I to abstain from such a venerable coming-of-age ritual?
When all the historic re-enactors at Borodino battlefield in Moscow Oblast were walking out of the concession stand with bottles of green liqueur from under the counter, who was I not to follow their lead, despite not speaking enough Russian to understand what made it such a lurid shade of green? Good Lord, that magical elixir got us so stoned — that explained the rather skunky smell coming out of the bottle too! We're just so trusting and innocent when we're young. Had one of those enticing drugs managed to kill one or more of my friends, I would surely have become much more skeptical about trying out any new unknown intoxicants. But they didn't kill anyone I knew, so hey, what's the big deal? Famous last words...
Although I managed to never deplete my endorphin reserves by trying ecstasy or head right down the rabbit hole by trying crystal meth, it's kind of the luck of the draw that I didn't. Had I had a different circle of friends in those coddled, vulnerable years, I could easily have trusted their questionable endorsement to my own detriment.
Now, my age and experience do a much better job of providing me with a well-worn patina of protection. For those lacking that protective patina, I find it both thoughtless and self-destructive to deride or scorn their poor choices, so markedly similar to choices I remember making in my own innocence and enthusiasm.
— Christophe