Why This Meme Irks Me, and Programming

[debka_notion]

"98% of teenagers do or have tried pot. If you're one of the 2% that hasn't, put this in your journal."

As it so happens (and I'm sure, to no surprise to my friends) I've never tried pot. But I think that a meme that slanders people who don't put it in their journal, for whatever reason- if they don't do memes, if they think this one is dull, whatever. It then suggests that they're not putting it up because they have tried pot/smoke up regularly, and don't want to lie. It's sort of insiduous. I'm not in favor of anything that effectively coerces you into using it. And, to my eyes, this meme seems to be doing just that- if your friends are putting it up, then not putting it up will effectively wind up in you slandering yourself.

Tonight I programmed for my Israeli Dance session. Technically I was running the session along with Mom, Dad and Leng. Mom and I tried to teach Debka Dor to the beginners, because we recently learned it, like it, and Mom thought they could do it. And then Dave Siegel walks in, and I totally revamp the program I had set up, because he's definitely not a beginner, things were feeling sort of drag-y, and he's hard to please. So I had him helping me program some. And then a set of one older lady and 4 middle aged ladies from Fairfield came in- and I had to utterly revamp again- and what they knew/were up for didn't match what my beginners could handle, or what our advanced regulars wanted. It was a real struggles, and people were nudging right and left, and seemed to have no idea about my needing to work it all into a cohesive and flowing program. As far as they were concerned, they didn't think anything of going from Eretz Nehederet to Debka Larrden to Yareach Limon to Mocher Prachim. (Translation for those outside the world of IFD: slow and flowing to fancy footwork and Arabic music to lively pop to old and fast.) But- I made it work, somehow. Not without its couple of moments where there were only 3 people dancing- but not too many of those. I think Dad took a good bit of the nudging that to be effective should have been aimed at me, because he was mostly sitting in front of the computer. I'm grateful. But well- it gave me a real feeling of accomplishment, if nothing else. But I hope next week is easier. I really do. By the end I couldn't even think of what I wanted to do myself- and in the course of the night, I put on almost every dance that I absolutely abhore for the sake of the dance. (There are a few I avoid for other reasons, usually to do with the meaning of the lyrics/dance- but as for dances that I dislike for aesthetic reasons- we played all but 2 of them.)

Comments

Re: stupid meme

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I'm not alone. And now's my turn to comment to you on your fast commenting...

Re: stupid meme

[tovah623.livejournal.com]

Re: stupid meme

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Somehow I'm concerned that people who really feel particularly special because they haven't tried pot are the people who feel that way because they'd really like to. Feeling special as a consolation prize for resisting temptation doesn't appeal to me.

Re: stupid meme

[belu.livejournal.com]

Eh. Those people should try it. It's not like it involves much in the way of risks for those who aren't stupid (i.e. no driving or operating heavy machinery; no flaunting it in front of the cops in this country; no pharmacologically active adulterants you don't know about), and once they know what it's like, they can make a better-informed choice about whether or not they'd want to continue smoking up.

I don't see the slander involved in this meme, since it only says specifically whether you've used pot if you post it; in the absence of the meme, it says that either you've tried pot or that you didn't want to do the meme, but not necessarily both. P or Q does not imply P.

(Besides which, using pot and doing memes are both, as far as I'm concerned, morally neutral (enough) choices. If you're inclined to argue me on that point, bug me on IM.)

Re: stupid meme

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Those people should either try it or they should look at htemselves and at least see why they feel so prideful about not trying it. If they are tempted and want to resist that temptation and this allows them to do so- as long as they're aware of it, why not? It's when they don't realize it that I'm worried, mostly.

Slander is perhaps not the best word to use- but if there is a significant enough concentration of the meme in one's friends livejournals, then not putting it up would certainly suggest that one is likely to have tried pot, which if it isn't true, would work out into something insulting. It isn't so much the logic as the way people read it.

Using pot is a morally neutral choice given a blank slate. But in a country where it is illegal, there is a choice between breaking the law and supporting it which Is a moral choice...

Re: stupid meme

[belu.livejournal.com]

There's a difference between following a law and supporting it. It's easy to follow laws one opposes (e.g. me and pot), and it's easy to break laws that one supports (e.g. speed limits--I'm sure there's quite a few people who speed, but who wouldn't want the speed limit to be that high).

Putting that aside, if your sole moral objection to pot is its current illegality (as you seem to be saying, though correct me if I'm wrong), then would it become moral if it were (independently of you, most likely) made non-illegal?

Re: stupid meme

[belu.livejournal.com]

Hm. I didn't see your latest comment (in response to qianian) before posting this. Consider the second paragraph recasted to "I'm curious: is that the only reason?"

Re: stupid meme

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

I'm honestly not sure. Overall, I think it would become at least morally neutral for the public as long as it didn't cause anyone else any harm. COuld where and in what situations one smoked up become a moral issue- certainly. Could it become a moral/immoral sort of issue for an individual- sure. WOuld I do it- probably not. But well- on a moral level my objection would be the health risk, rather than anything else. Other than that, why should I really care? And on that level, I object more to cigarettes than pot, I'm told the effects are worse.

[tovaks.livejournal.com]

I think that anyone who assumes that someone who doesn't put a meme in their LJ smokes pot has a faulty logic system, and therefore isn't someone to be worried about. Also, this meme isn't about pride--at least, not the way I interpreted it. Many (adults and teens alike) have a skewed idea of teenagers and their drug habits, and if many people see this meme going around, perhaps they'll change their minds. That doesn't mean you have a duty to put a silly meme in your journal if it happens to fit you, however. I happen to like this meme, but am sorry that I played a part in irking you.

[qianian.livejournal.com]

Do you really consider yourself slandered if someone thinks you might have tried pot? I mean, Christ, I could put "98% have had sex with someone they met less than 5 days ago" and would you consider yourself slandered if you didn't put that you hadn't?

Besides, you're not a teenager anymore. : )

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

To the latter, a very good point. TO the former- well, yeah. I don't like people thinking that I have different morals and ideals than I do. It isn't that it's pot, it's that it's illegal. ANd well, if someone thought that I'd had sex with someone I'd met less than 5 days prior, I'd feel pretty insulted, yes. It's completely not who I am.

[qianian.livejournal.com]

But my question is would you feel slandered if you didn't put in your lj that you hadn't. Like [Unknown site tag] said, you ultimately choose whether to put it in or not. Also, if you feel compelled to announce you haven't done x, and complain about feeling threatened with slander if you didn't post it, remember that you might have friends who did do x and read what you posted: you're simultaneously judging your friends, in fact, everyone who's ever fallen into the reputed "98%" category.

I've pretty thick skin but not everyone does, including you.

Also, there's a huge list of illegal things I am (and would guess you would be) perfectly content to do because the law isn't nearly as virtuous as your above comment makes it sound. For instance, posting Diebold emails. You know how much Diebold email text is on locked lj posts? Basically your comment says you defer to the law for your "morals and ideals," and I sincerely hope that isn't what you mean.

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

It isn't that said people had done x- it's that htey know that that isn't the sort of thing that I do. I don't care if they do it, and if they know me, they should know that too. It isn't the what that I find troubling, it's the association of my identity with things that aren't like me at all. It isn't so much that I felt slandered, what I was writing about was that I felt like the meme promoted slander by the way it was written- rather like chain mail- "the statement, now do this", rather than just saying "the statement". I don't approve, that's all. Regardless of values. If it had been "x% of teens have lied to their parents about what time they went to bed"- something I on principle disaprove of in my more self-righteous moments, but have done, I'd still find it sort of troubling. My main point is that I don't like things that are likely to imply things about people who Don't put them in.

The law? Virtuous? Wouldn't think so, myself. But following the law is generally virtuous. If nothing else, I'm obligated to do so if it doesn't interfere with Jewish law, by that same law. (I posted about it at some point, but I'm not sure when, exactly, in the context of underage drinking, which I don't think is particularly virtuous or unvirtuous either way on its own. The fact of life is just that it's illegal here.) I don't particularly think the law is virtuous- but I think that obeying it is.

Sadly for your example, I don't know what Diebold email is.

[tirerim.livejournal.com]

Have not been a teenager for several years now, but I don't really believe that statistic anyway, certainly not without seeing the source of their data.

Also, the first meaning of 'programming' that comes to my mind is very different. I think I refer to it as 'program writing' or 'program construction' if it's all in advance (as is usual in Scottish), or just 'calling' if some of it's on the fly (as in English). Different vocabularies for different kinds of dancing...

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and I'm guessing the word used in Israeli is fairly recent. I'm not sure why I think this, but... (It would have to be a non-original word, as when this was done to live music, it would have been a different ballgame entirely.) Hmm, maybe it's worth asking on my favorite listserve...

(Random digression) The word in hebrew for the person who runs the session is markid, from teh root rkd, which is dance, basically- the conjugation for this one is "someone who makes [people] dance". THe verb to dance is lirkod, I guess the verb to program might be l'raked. Which would make "programming" the noun be rikud, except that that's just dancing. Grrr.