I'd say so with that outburst sir.

I'm straightedge, but of course, I'm fifteen, so it isn't equal for me to say straightedge compared to adults, or anyone over eighteen, for that matter, since they have complete access to cigarettes, and easier access to alcohol and drugs.

I think straght edge used to mean something...maybe I'm too young to say things like that though :D

You're like those fourteen year old hippies. AKA Wankers.

Ya dig that song? Its my fav.

Is it by POS? I'm presuming it is since that's what I was talking about when you said that. I only have Never Better, so if it's not on that album, I won't know it.

Wow, a straight-edge minor who actually thinks.


Do yourself a favor-stop being edge. All your doing by repressing these natural teenage urges to do drugs is setting yourself up for a massive mid-life crisis later on. Do some drugs. Drink some beers. It won't kill ya. I promise?

Terrific advice to give a fifteen year old kid.

Yeah, I thought about reminding him of OD's and alcohol poisoning and the diseases that can float around with needles. But I think he meant in moderation and lighter drugs. I would hope.

This is why Brad Stengel is my personal Jesus.

Just come out and admit you want him to be your man lover.

Iwas 111% sure you would respond to what I said. You're just jelaous ;)

You can't depend on shit when I hit the scene.

And just a little.

One thing's for sure, I'm defiently not straight up as a drink, smoke pot, and occassionally do other drugs. I'm really not for it at all as I believe hat you should have some fun and live a little once in a while, but I respect anyone who is.

I wonder how many straight-edgers have regretted their tattoos since this thread opened.

Hah, I know a few of those.

I knew a girl who didn't smoke, drink, or eat meat, and planned to wait 'till marriage to have sex.

I met her because she ODed on a bunch of pills. This combination of behaviors makes no sense.

Alot of Straight Edge guys drink. I've spent alot of time around people like this and have some pretty close moral standards of my own... I'm a bit more lax though :pimp:

The whole point of this (from my understanding) is to allow kids and adults to enjoy punk rock music without the negetive side effects of the lifestyles it usually entails. I'm all for that.

i agree

straight edge
 

i find it funny that a lot of people say that casual sex, drugs, and alcohol are "too fun" to give up.
see- that's the problem with this generation. all anyone ever cares about is living in the moment, and "having fun." being care-free just sets you up for disaster in the long run. also, a lot of people now a days have the mentality that they are invincible. I'd like to quote the boston straight edge band, Have Heart- "It won't happen to me, It won't happen to me, it won't happen to me. That's what they always ****ing say."

so, look forward, and take care of your body, so you don't wind up dead or pregnant by the age of 16.

that's right kids, never live in the moment. and most of all: never. have. fun.

Living a clean, aware existence: I'm all for it.

Being a pretentious, arrogant bastard that assumes the right to tell everyone else how to live: exactly what's wrong with the world.

I don't disagree with you completely. However, the details I emboldened: I feel that living in the moment is absolutely essential to a healthy development. This is my last day of a week-long fast, that means no food, no alcohol, no drugs whatsoever. And I can tell you that my actions as of late have not been so precise in a very long time, and it's because I've been feeling the moment. In the words of Baba Ram Das: BE HERE NOW. I feel like that's exactly what straight edge was based on.
Being care-free isn't far away from the same sentiment. There's a difference between being care-free and being care-less. Being care-free is the kind of feeling that gets me hyped, you know? It's the **** that makes me wanna climb mountains and jump off bridges and go on tour and have some ****in' fun! But I think I understand what you were getting at. However, I think an avoidance of being care-free is a product of a lot of fear.
Which brings me to my third point. Your last statement reminds me of the sort of things that every ****ty teacher in my life ever tried to tell me was going to happen to me if I didn't "shape up". Granted, when I was in high school, I was pretty careless. I didn't really give a **** about much. But then again, what teenager does? It's just that I find it to be a VERY general statement. Did I drink and do a lot of drugs when I was 16? Yes. Did I have sex? Yes. I'm not saying that's the right way to go. But it didn't wreck my life either. It's all about circumstance, I guess. Some people are meant to waste their time drinking away, smoking away, snorting away, shooting away every day. And some people are meant to look beyond that. Learn from the experience and progress.
Also, it sounded like you were comparing being pregnant as something akin to dying. I like that. I think its funny.;)

It's called balance. Worst. Post. Ever.

brilliant fucking quote.

I'm straight edge but.. I don't have to try to be. I just don't drink, smoke or do drugs. I don't see any point. I have fun without them.. and they're bad for you. That's just my 2 cents.. or 3 .. or whatever

Ironically when Ian M. coined the term I think that he was saying 100% that we should all live in the moment. For him that meant no drugs/alcohol or empty sexual relationships. It had nothing to do with giving up fun and it wasn't about following some dogmatic code.

I think this point of view is more in line with the original idea.

I was in the moment.

I would just like to point out that there are people who can't think for themselves in every group of teenagers following something. Straight-edge people that Ive come across are retarded, none of them are anything more then a bunch of shallow fucking followers who wouldn't have done drugs anyway and despite that, act like martyr's. Then I know the more relaxed type, figuring stuff out, doing drugs, etc. It's all techno music, misfits and rancid, and wanna-be-hardcore bullshit where I was. Oh, god, and people motherfucking buying punk clothes. Isn't that an oxymoron? Fucking Misfits....

Uhm..anyway.
I'm edge. But I am for multiple reasons.
Not to follow some trend. And I don't go around with giant X's on my hands.
I only actually like a few hardcore punk bands (Have Heart, Bane, xBishopx).
I let people live their lives. But like, if I'm out and someones smoking I either move, or if I was there first I ask them to. Never really gotten into an arguement, and I've deffinitly have never jumped anyone for doing drugs or anything. I really pissed me off that GANGLAND thing the History channel did on Straight Edge. Know tons of stupid kids at my school think I like, kill people. I mean, I live in the moment, but drugs and alcohol is just not the moment I want to be in.
And the sex thing, well I respect myself more than to just throw my virginity away to someone I probably wont marry.

If you are referring to straight edge, it's far from balanced, it's a complete rejection of a culture considered the norm.

I'm not by any stretch a straightedge, but I can understand why people wouldn't want to binge drink and do drugs all the time.

The level of rejection varies from person to person, and the straight edgers always respect that persons viewpoint. For example, some edgers drink. Some edgers engage in casual sex.

If some people don't want to get laid, do drugs and get wasted then they're missing out. Who cares? I think a lot of kids become "straight edge" because they're too scared to get involved in illicit substances or too self-conscious/ugly/stupid/fat to get laid, so they're glad there's some social group they can join where they don't have to test their own courage and are encouraged to pass moral judgement. Sounds like a religion to me.

That said, I have respect for people who take it seriously as a philosophy without preaching it, especially if they had experience with drugs/sex/drinking beforehand. I think it's pretty stupid, but who am I to judge. Ian Mackaye is legit.

Ever since I lost my virginity I realized this is absolutely an excuse for wimps with too much estrogen. I used to be one.

Surprise surprise, an arrogant newbie :(

Like I said before this isn't a set of rules, it's based on principals of living a clean lifestyle. It was started so kids could enjoy punk rock music and not die at age 20, is it really that bad? Not everyone who is a virgin claims to be straight edge and those who do are obviously just posing. Living a clean lifestyle is just the movement that he started, and if kids don't want to do drugs or have sex until they are ready while doing the stuff that really matters (making and listening to great music), then there is nothing wrong with that.

That's basically what I used to think when I was in high school. There's a shred of truth in it because there are kids in the edge scene who join up out of a fear of the unknown, which I see as total compliance with accepting the limitations of what somebody else doesn't want them to do. Yeah, its like a religion.

But that is a very general statement. In my opinion, people who get high, **** and drink every week are missing out as well. Because that too is an acceptable societal norm for the high school and college crowd. It seems that most American kids are expected to be total idiots until they're 30, college is supposed to be nothing more than a place to learn how to drink and ****, and you're not really supposed to go there to learn anything to make you smarter. And its just like going along with something out of fear for sticking out. Much like the edge kids who join out of the same fear. That is what they call a catch 22.

But most of the edge kids that I know are totally respectful of other people's choices. And I am totally respectful of theirs. If it helps people treat each other with respect and dignity, what does it matter?

Two of my favorite hardcore punk bands were straight-edge. Gorilla Biscuits and Minor Threat.

Don't really care personally what lifestyle people choose to live.


I drink, on occasion, but have never done drugs or smoke and I chose to remain a virgin until the age of 20, when I met my current husband. I just don't feel the need to go throwing open my legs to just anyone.

Everyone chooses their own path and I will never understand why people have problems with how OTHER people live. If someone wants to be straight edge, who cares? If someone wants to be stoned and drunk every single day, who cares? If someone wants to open up/shove it in to anyone and everyone, who cares? All of these people will learn from their mistakes. My main concern is my own life and how I live it.

I also don't see a problem with people sharing their opinion to perhaps help a person see things in another light but no one has the right to go telling anyone else how to live their life.

I was being somewhat tongue in cheek. Then again, I fail to see how spending a lot of time posting on this messageboard really gives you a position of authority or judgement over me. :finger:

You need a movement in order to live a clean lifestyle? Why can't you just say "no thanks"? I don't think it was some kind of drug abstinence program designed to lengthen the lives of punk kids. If it's nothing more than a lifestyle then it doesn't need a name or the movement or a tattoo or anything anymore than vegetarianism does. If it has to be cool to be edge before it's acceptable to say no to drugs then that says more about the moral turpitude of edgers than the heathen morality of everyone else. This is perfectly demonstrated in how you think people who aren't virgins that claim to be edge are "just posers". Comments like this undermine your argument that it's a passive way of life and just go to illustrate how it's really a way for people to deem themselves morally superior to others.

I was reading the wikipedia article on this and came across this line: "The militant straight edger was characterized by... the willingness to resort to violence in order to promote clean living." Obviously not all edge people are militant but that line is ridiculous enough.