A current television commercial message produced by abovetheinfluence.com, part of the national youth anti-drug media campaign, a program of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), depicts a young woman who is taken by surprise, frozen in a moment of apoplexy, at witnessing her dog speaking to her, saying that he wishes she would stop smoking pot.
It leads me to say this:
I wanna know this chick's dealer! That's gotta be some seriously wicked shit if it can make your dog talk to you. Funny...
But, there's a flaw. You see, the only person who might actually believe that this kind of hallucination could happen from smoking some bad-ass grass, would be someone who has never smoked pot—ever!
The basic message of this media spot is exactly the same one conveyed in the 1930's cult classic, 'Reefer Madness'. Essentially, they are saying the same thing, albeit watered down somewhat and punctuated with a clever ironic twist this time around. At the core, however, the approach is identical; it's prevention through the induction of fear. It says that smoking pot will cause you to loose control over your mind—stealing your ability to control what you might do while under the drug's powerful influence. It starts out with words of concern from your pet but moves quickly into inexplicable urges to kill babies and stab mothers. OMG!!
The problem with messages that are fraught with this kind of hyperbole are that they run the risk of losing their credibility when the gullible viewer discovers the truth. It's the reaction people have to someone who is“crying wolf”. You risk being ignored if someone thinks—or even suspects—that you are trying to pull the wool over their eyes, tricking them into believing that something is true.
To a cynical modern audience—and if you believe kids today are not cynical you need to wake-up and smell the fucking coffee—nullifying the intent of the “talking dog” commercial and convincing you that this magnified warning on the dangers of smoking pot is “totally bogus”, would merely require the credible opinion of someone you know who would know better (i. e., someone who has smoked pot). What's more, the distrust developed as result of being misled, could become counterproductive, and back fire—lead to a willingness to believe that smoking weed may be perfectly harmless.
Think about it for a minute. What's your reaction to someone who has been lying to you, and you found out that they knew that they were lying to you and yet that somehow didn't seem to matter? Are you actually going to trust anything they have to say, after that? If you say “yes” to that question, then you are lying to yourself.
In an attempt to get people's attention in a media-saturated world, advertisers and programming directors routinely resort to theatrical stunts of shock and awe; they play to a person's natural instinct to “rubber-neck”, if you will—to stop and gawk at the accident. The presumption, of course, is that if you get your audience's attention, then at the very least, your message has a “chance” of sinking in.
This is why television news has turned away from doing in-depth journalism, reporting the causal factors leading to the bit of news they happen to be covering, to something radically different, a form of communication that has been aptly described as 'Infotainment'. This is information divorced from context, presented as urgent demanding your attention, becoming even more important if it is deemed to be “breaking”, happening right that moment.
A product of this shift in priority is that it's no longer as important to know “why” something is happening. Instead, it's far more important to know merely that something “is” happening.
It's not important to understand “why” illegal drug use continues to be a growing problem in the US, year after year, when more and more resources are used to battle this ever-expanding crisis, all to little avail. It's not important to look for the reasons that may help to explain “why” our efforts do not seem to be effective in eliminating or even reducing this problem in some notable measure—especially in light of the fact that we spend billions annually on both prevention and incarceration. It's not important to know “why” we seem to be utterly ineffectual in resolving this problem to any significant degree. What does seem to be important, strangely, is that we must be made aware that there still “is” a major problem in this country; that we are still waging a huge and escalating war on illegal drug use, a formidable problem that shows no signs of coming to end, anytime in the near future.
We live in a period of time that seems to accept the notion that being disingenuous is okay as long as we have convinced ourselves that what we are doing is for the best. Those familiar with philosophy will recognize this as a part of the existential argument where the “ends justify the means”. Put in simple terms, it doesn't matter so much what you had to do to get there, as long as you are confident that you are heading in the right direction.
This explains why it no longer matters if we resorted to outright deception, lying to the innocent and ignorant among us, justified by our attempt to “save” humanity from the evils of drug use. And more, it doesn't seem to matter if we actually “do” end up saving humanity, either—if what we are doing actually “can” save humanity from drug use. No, no. The only thing that matters is that we appear to be “doing” something to save humanity—regardless of how stupid or vapid it may be. Isn't that right?
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Endnote: The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) is an organization directed by the G. W. Bush White House. As with so many other of this presidency's endeavors, a stolid blind adherence to an idealogical precept is the only requirement to move on it, however illogical or lacking in substantive direction, though it may be. The ONDCP is no different, yet another deluded socio-political agenda floating in a sea of propaganda.
UPDATE NOTE - 14 Oct 2007
Well, well, well. When push comes... well, from reality.
It appears that the ONDCP doesn't care to have it's efforts examined or scrutinized by the public-at-large. Their anti-drug media spots, after they were uploaded to YouTube, weren't as well-received as their producers (aka Ideologue Spin-meisters) would have had us believe.
Unfavorable responses made by viewers has led the ONDCP to remove the "comment" option from their posted videos--deciding in favor of a more silent "one-way" form of discourse. How surprising?
[Here's my comment, since I cannot post one on YouTube, "Yo ONDCP. You clueless Losers. You guys sux!"]
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White House National Drug Control involvement
In September 2006, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) began running anti-drug messages through YouTube.^ In response, many YouTube users began uploading rebuttals and low rating the public service announcements. Consequently, since mid-September, the ONDCP has removed the ability to evaluate any of their messages.
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