The Way We (Try to) Fix: Symptoms & Sources
I can’t omit the inspiration for this post…. Here’s an excerpt from 2Pac’s Changes: “Instead of war on poverty they got a war on drugs / so the police can bother me.”
I’m not sure if I give 2Pac too much credit for his lyrics, imposing unintended meaning, or perhaps he wasn’t paid due diligence by the majority of listeners….. but I think the excerpt is critically relevant.
To what extent do we approach problems by addressing symptoms instead of causes? You could argue (and some have) that drug usage is a cause and a symptom, but I’d say it falls much more to the side of symptom. If you fixed poverty, the drug problem would make more progress than poverty would if you fixed the drug problem. In other words, 2Pac’s lyrics are well received, and if he’s saying what I think he is, then I whole heartedly agree.
So other examples….. teen pregnancy, Islamic culture clash, obesity. Others?
Tags: 2Pac
March 5th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
This really boils down to the essence of American (consumerist?) society: Why fix something when it is so easy to throw it out and buy a new one? Why try cure a disease when you can medicate it (with plentiful, available and often expensive pills)? Why think about something when there are such quality shows on TV to tell you what to think? To get to the root of any of these issues you would have to start being honest about the true causes of illness, unhappiness, and discontent that are so prevalent in modern societies, and how they in turn lead to the manifestations of symptoms like crime, obesity, the use of drugs both legal and illegal, etc. I think that we as a nation are bred to be so distracting by surface material, the symptoms, that no one has the time or energy to examine the sacrifices and trade offs that we make everyday in order to preserve our immediate lifestyle. Except for 2pac– but a lot of good it did him.
March 6th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
what makes you think fixing poverty would solve drug problems? some of the richest areas of the country are far from immune to drug abuse. poor people abuse drugs, rich people abuse drugs, celebrities abuse drugs, athletes abuse drugs.
get real.
March 6th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Anonymous is right, people from all walks abuse drugs. Perhaps I should have been clearer… Statistically, money and drug abuse are inversely related. Drug abuse is more rampant/severe/problematic in poorer classes, but obviously not exclusive.
March 6th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
The drug issue goes through several class systems if we’re going to think about it as a whole, and not in the simple terms of drug-use: Usually, drugs are grown in poor, narco-states (not always, but let’s face it: Columbia and Afghanistan provide a huge proportion of the worlds narcotics). People in the poor countries get rich owning the production of this, like Pablo Escobar of Columbia. Poor people are then enlisted to take it over borders because they’re generally the people willing to take the risks involved in trafficking, then it will probably pass through some more poor hands in distribution lines making its way through your friendly neighborhood dealers, until it makes it into the rich noses of some rich people or the poor noses of some poor people, or is just hogged entirely by Paris Hilton. So obviously, no, its not a matter of just the poor making, distributing and buying drugs. I don’t think that was my argument. What I was saying was that to view this issue as a whole is to acknowledge that it stems from either a discontent with ones socio-economic standing that drives people to take on the necessary risks when it comes to production and distribution, or possibly a desire for happiness or a distraction from ones physical reality that drives people to do drugs, or perhaps middle class boredom, or whatever it is that drives kids in the suburbs to smoke pot and kids in the mid west to turn their family basement into a meth lab. Either way, what I meant was that facing the core root of these issues requires taking an honest look at the base of the problem, not allowing yourself to get caught up in the distractions of “symptoms”- ie. Seeing only the use of drugs as the problem, instead of the whole dirty production line it travels to get to the user, and why we’re so compelled to use, anyway.
so I guess that what I am asking is for you to get real, too. (Please.)
April 6th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
my opinion maybe sounds weird, but why do you all write so serious comments? I mean, do you REALLY think it’s true? Why? What makes you think so? Please share your opinion.
April 9th, 2008 at 5:52 am
I saw similar post three month ago. Topicality of this post sucks. Dude, you have to keep up to date.