Problems of Past and Present

I don't think medieval Europe was some amazing utopia and I very much would not want to live there myself, but in many ways, it was probably more just, fair, and equitable than the modern world.  Individuals had more power over their daily lives, and despotic feudal lords would only start and not finish the process of enclosure towards the end of this period.  People couldn't be so closely surveilled or as easily controlled as they are today, and vast tracts of nature still existed. While medical care was much more basic than what is available today, medicinal substances could be easily grown and medicine wasn't being gatekept by prescriptions or  a War on Drugs.  There's definitely places I'd rather be in this time period than Europe, but I think even there I'd have a chance.  

Would just have to be ready to run if I saw a mob coming at me with pitchforks.  Oh, and also be ready to die of Black Plague or sepsis.

While there's a tendency to glorify the past, there's also a tendency to glorify the present as if it has overcome all the issues of the past rather than simply expressing many of them in a different form and also creating new issues that would previously have been unimaginable.  

This is why I don't agree with statements about how the world is experiencing unprecedented peace and prosperity or how technology only increases our standard of living.  Microwaves aren't, and can't, make this world a utopia--only people can do that.  Only justice can do that.

ramble tags: harmful optimism, is optimism that refuses to acknowledge harm

Reflections on Drugs, Myself, and Society

I learned a useful word today--pharmacophobia!  It's a fear of drugs, and it's what I have!  It's only within the past few years that I've been able to get over my intense fear of drugs enough to take, like, acetiminophen or ibuprofen when I'm in pain.  Even then I try to be quite sparing in how much I take.  While I think it is reasonable to fear the side effects and sometimes the addictive effects of drugs, I acknowledge that the level of fear I have for these things is excessive.  Though I also have no interest in adopting what are considered the prevailing 'reasonable' view on drugs, which is that they're always the best solution to problems, or that they're necessary to socialize or be an adult. 

I think it's also silly how drugs that are widely available (eg caffeine) are actually much more toxic than drugs like marijuana.  Caffeine can, quite simply, kill you.  Also caffeine is addictive too!  Plus there is intense pressure to consume caffeine in modern society.  I always despise peer pressure, and it tends to make me want to do the opposite of whatever is being pushed by people as 'cool'.  Maybe I'd rather be myself than conform to some arbitrary expectations for the purposes of social belonging.  This is true not just for drugs, but for everything in life, and it's one of the reasons I have a lot of trouble socially. But I digress. Anyway, pressure from authority is, I think, an even more noxious form of coercion.

Nevertheless, I also have an intense loathing of the War on Drugs.  Whatever a person's reasons for wanting drugs, I don't believe they should be criminalized in this way.  I think bodily autonomy must include the right to take whatever drugs one prefers, for whatever reason they wish to take them for.  This isn't only because I think it's important to care about people who aren't me, though I do, but also because this affects me negatively as well.  I was reading an article about, I think, Percocet, the other day, and how drug companies were trying to stop doctors from being able to prescribe anything less than a 12 hour dose and all the problems this was causing.  Because the War on Drugs is what created all the prescription gatekeeping we have today, we can now also be forced between choosing no drugs and a possibly inappropriately sized dose by unscrupulous drug companies!  Hmmm, wonder why there's such a problem with opiate addiction these days...