Where'd all the straight-edge people go?

[reactionality@lemmy.sdf.org]

HxH username? (If not, ignore me, if so, nice!)

[senseless@feddit.org]

Still some around in the metalcore scene.

[valmond@lemmy.world]

That's wild. I lived there during that timeframe and I have never seen the tattoo, neither even heard of those metalheads.

Maybe it was a regional thing? I mean in Sweden.

[solrize@lemmy.ml]

Are they out in search of compasses?

[nanoswarm9k@lemmus.org]

Also,

Folks who put the bar "no alcohol" (common at 18+ or family shows) permenant marker X's across their own hand-back; punk and adjacent subcultures

Some folks were on the wagon. Some folks wanted to not become their parents too quick. Some folks were young and new to everything else, and felt not ready for drugs yet. Some were physically or ideologicaly sensitive.

Some still are, from the little popups.

[sharpratchet@lemmy.world]

Sober punks

[andrewta@lemmy.world]

Sober punk? Not sure what that means. Sorry

[usernameless@piefed.social]

The 3 straight edge kids I knew all became public school teachers

[kindnessispunk@lemmy.ca]

Hey it's me I'm in this picture

[postmortal_pop@lemmy.world]

I'm guessing punks, but they don't take drugs or drink? Or maybe punks with a sobering view of reality? Either way it sounds like something that gets abandoned at the first adult party.

[rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com]

I was straight edge when I was in school! I hit 20 and decided to try every drug. It was awesome.

[zlatiah@lemmy.world]

I have never heard this phrase before but... I listen to hardcore, don't do tobacco or recreational drugs, only drink non-alcoholic beverages (<= 0.3% ABV), don't cook meat at home & basically live on a low-meat diet... so hol up (insert shocked Pikachu face)

I'm not into punk though so I guess that disqualified me

[gon@lemmy.dbzer0.com]

Nah, it's just my name! I am a big fan of HxH, though, and used to have a Gon Freecss profile picture for the longest time.

[norin@lemmy.world]

Legitimately, the straight edge people I knew in high school are all republicans now.

[arsonbutcute@lemmy.dbzer0.com]

My Sociology teacher in highschool was straight edge.

The said it was the straight edges or the crust punks and he was uncomfy in itchy clothes.

[blarghly@lemmy.world]

I mean, I never really heard about straight edge anyway. It was something someone would talk about every once in a while 15 years ago. My guess, though -

Straight edge started off as a cool way to say "I'm a drug addict in recovery", which was cloaked in a thin veil of justification about how taking care of your mind and body was the first best step towards dismantling oppressive systems of power.

But pretty quickly, the term got co-opted by teens who were scared to drink at parties because their mom might get mad, and/or Tumblr-style online activists who base their whole identity around vices they don't engage in. Which kinda kills any amount of cool the term had to begin with.

And of course, there is the very obvious fact that billions of people around the world regularly consume moderate amounts of drugs and alcohol on a reasonable schedule, while continuing to function in their roles as workers, hobbyists, friends, partners, parents, and yes, activists. Having a couple beers every other Saturday isn't the reason Trump won the election. And even if you don't like the hangover - or just don't like alcohol - there are plenty of other drugs you can take recreationally with the same or different effects which give you less of a hangover.

Finally, it just isn't that hard to say "nah, I'm good" when someone offers you a beer or whatever. You don't need to come up with a special word, make it part of your identity, or get tattoos about it. Outside of a social scene where intentionally self-destructing is seen as virtuous, everyone understands that some people sometimes just don't want to indulge for any number of reasons.

[anarchistartificer@slrpnk.net]

I'm not especially familiar with the term, but I do know quite a lot of people who go to raves sober, as well as a more widespread sentiment of "if you have to drink to have a good time, it's not a good time". Some of these people do consume intoxicating substances like alcohol occasionally, but it feels like they have a healthy attitude towards it, even if they're not strictly "straight-edge"

[softestsapphic@lemmy.world]

Straight edge people have been bred out of the gene pool by sex having druggies

[zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.com]

Sadly, every single straight-edge person I knew (a grand total of 5 people) later became a drug addict. Two of them died of overdoses. This was two decades ago at least and I really haven't heard anyone use the term in at least 10.

[twice_hatch@midwest.social]

I wasn't officially in the scene but these days I'm a lower-middle-class miserable loner so it could be worse