4 ms·

to be fair when meth was ravaging poor/rural white people nobody really seemed to care much either. in fact it was something of a joke i.e. the "not even once"

to be fair when meth was ravaging poor/rural white people nobody really seemed to care much either. in fact it was something of a joke i.e. the "not even once" memes etc. i think the real issue is opiates seem to be heavily affecting affluent suburban and urban people, who are predominantly white, and make up a huge amount of the tax base.

intopieces 9y ago
Doesn't the fact that the "not even once" ads existed in the public consciousness saliently enough to have a meme show that people did really seem to care?
- flachsechs 9y ago
  well you could say the same thing about 'this is your brain on drugs' when crack was going around. that was also a PSA that entered into the public consciousness and then turned into a joke.
  - intopieces 9y ago
    Sure, but one of these was paired with mass incarceration of a certain group of people, associated with laws that were struck down because of their disparity in sentencing. The other, not.
  - otakucode 9y ago
    That 'this is your brain on drugs' thing with the egg and the skillet was heroin, not crack. I believe they did do a crack update later where the woman took the skillet afterward and destroyed the kitchen with it. To conflate humor and lampooning of those PSAs as not taking the actual drug issue seriously is not wise, though. Many people simply realize how useless, hyperbolic, and ultimately insulting those PSAs were. If something is scary, you show the thing. You don't make up metaphors. Trainspotting and Requiem for a Dream most likely prevented more people from ever trying heroin than any government-sponsored PSA ever did.
    - dredmorbius 9y ago
      There's an update to that ad: "This is your brain on drug policy". https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AKXN6Vdr3g0 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AKXN6Vdr3g0 Spoiler: same actress.
- paganel 9y ago
  Never been to the States, but from half a world away and just by reading on reddit about it it all looked more like people were making fun of said meth-addicts, they (the redditors making the jokes) didn't seem to care that much about those meth addicts. This was all happening about 3-4 years ago, I'd say, and it's in very sharp contrast with the present-day opiate-related discussions which can get pretty personal. It's also interesting that the HN crowd has also joined the opiates conversation, I don't remember reading anything about the meth epidemic in the past on HN.
kchoudhu 9y ago
Yeah, I think my initial comment missed that part of the equation. It isn't straight racism that's driving the differential response as it is indirect racism by way of inequality. The net effect ends up amounting to the same thing though, and ultimately that's what bothers me so much about it.
beebmam 9y ago
Class and race undeniably intersect in the US, so there's basis for both perspectives, imo
matt4077 9y ago
That's mostly wrong in that the opioid crisis overwhelmingly affects the rural white population, not urban.

intopieces 9y ago

Doesn't the fact that the "not even once" ads existed in the public consciousness saliently enough to have a meme show that people did really seem to care?

flachsechs 9y ago
well you could say the same thing about 'this is your brain on drugs' when crack was going around. that was also a PSA that entered into the public consciousness and then turned into a joke.
- intopieces 9y ago
  Sure, but one of these was paired with mass incarceration of a certain group of people, associated with laws that were struck down because of their disparity in sentencing. The other, not.
- otakucode 9y ago
  That 'this is your brain on drugs' thing with the egg and the skillet was heroin, not crack. I believe they did do a crack update later where the woman took the skillet afterward and destroyed the kitchen with it. To conflate humor and lampooning of those PSAs as not taking the actual drug issue seriously is not wise, though. Many people simply realize how useless, hyperbolic, and ultimately insulting those PSAs were. If something is scary, you show the thing. You don't make up metaphors. Trainspotting and Requiem for a Dream most likely prevented more people from ever trying heroin than any government-sponsored PSA ever did.
  - dredmorbius 9y ago
    There's an update to that ad: "This is your brain on drug policy". https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AKXN6Vdr3g0 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AKXN6Vdr3g0 Spoiler: same actress.
paganel 9y ago
Never been to the States, but from half a world away and just by reading on reddit about it it all looked more like people were making fun of said meth-addicts, they (the redditors making the jokes) didn't seem to care that much about those meth addicts. This was all happening about 3-4 years ago, I'd say, and it's in very sharp contrast with the present-day opiate-related discussions which can get pretty personal. It's also interesting that the HN crowd has also joined the opiates conversation, I don't remember reading anything about the meth epidemic in the past on HN.

kchoudhu 9y ago

Yeah, I think my initial comment missed that part of the equation. It isn't straight racism that's driving the differential response as it is indirect racism by way of inequality. The net effect ends up amounting to the same thing though, and ultimately that's what bothers me so much about it.

beebmam 9y ago

Class and race undeniably intersect in the US, so there's basis for both perspectives, imo

matt4077 9y ago

That's mostly wrong in that the opioid crisis overwhelmingly affects the rural white population, not urban.