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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 9, 2024

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I had pretty much the same belief about marijuana in my teens. Then, having seen a few friends waste away to apathy on it, I've changed my view. I'd be happy to see it legitimately criminalised.

Imean, I know two individuals who each basically tanked their careers to be full time rock climbers, should i view rock climbing as a vice? The world essentially lost a talented engineer and a medical professional because these people wanted to climb on rocks more than they wanted to grind, and neither use drugs or alcohol. You can't criminalize apathy for productive work whether its in the "fuck it just dont care" form or the "i want to enrich my soul by hiking across europe for a decade" form

I don’t think anyone is suggesting that every Vice be made illegal. But when a substance or behavior proves itself to habit forming to a substantial number of people to the point that they can no longer be functional members of society, then the rest of society is perfectly within its rights to try to regulate it. The number of people who get addicted to rock climbing or backpacking is pretty small compared to drug use or alcohol abuse.