Crack Is Bad! And What's the About Bottoms...

[viciouswishes]

I love Star Trek. I really do. But today, I watched "Symbiosis" (TNG) and omg, one big crack is bad PSA.

Group A: We're dying and need our medicine! *have withdrawal symptoms*
Group B: *hoards the 'medicine'* "We're rich. We need money for our drugs."
Dr. Crusher: "OMG, they're drug addicts. I *know* an addict when I see one. Captain Picard, tell them."
Picard: "Prime Directive, non-interference, blah blah blah. Did you miss that part of Starfleet?"
Dr. Crusher: "Crack is bad. Group B, we know that you know it's drugs."
Picard: *outsmarts them all and destroys their dependant economy by not fixing some important ship part*

WESLEY: (amazed) I can understand how this could happen to the Ornarans... What I can't understand is why anyone would voluntarily become dependent upon a chemical.

DATA: (checking readouts) Yet, the voluntary addiction to drugs is a recurrent theme in many cultures.

WESLEY: (nods) As in the twenty-first century... when Earth governments used narcotics to control the military.

DATA: Or look at the twentieth century. The dangers of drug abuse were well known, yet their use was commonplace.

WESLEY: Why?

DATA: That is what I do not understand.

TASHA: No one wants to become dependent. That happens later.

WESLEY: But it does happen. So why do people even start?

TASHA: Oh, lots of reasons... My home planet was a place of great poverty and violence. For some, the only escape was through drugs.

DATA: I fail to comprehend how a chemical substance can provide an escape.

TASHA: It doesn't. But it makes you think it does. You have to understand -- drugs can make you feel good. They put you on top of the world. You're happy... Sure of yourself. In control. A lot of people never feel that otherwise.

DATA: But it is artificial.

TASHA: It doesn't feel artificial. It feels natural, good, and mind expanding. Until the drug wears off. Then you pay the price. Once you come down, you're lower than when you started. So you take the drug again -- and it kicks you back up. But not as high this time.

WESLEY: So you take more.

TASHA: But each peak gets lower and the valleys get deeper. Before you know it -- you're taking the drug not to feel good but to keep from feeling bad.

WESLEY: And that's the trap.

TASHA: You think the drug expands your universe -- but it actually shrinks it. Shrinks it to where you and the drug are all that's left. Pretty soon, all you care about is getting your next dosage. You'll lie, cheat, steal -- anything to get that fix.

DATA: Certainly by then you would realize the danger.

TASHA: That's the worst of it. You don't care. The drug is your salvation -- your survival. Nothing else is important.

WESLEY: I guess I just don't understand.

(Tasha smiles and puts a hand on his shoulder.)

TASHA: Wesley, I hope you never do.

*cues the laughter* Seriously, I was sitting there in shock. It was the 80s very special drug episode of Star Trek, and it was so bad. I wanted a guest appearance by House, popping his vicodin like potato chips and snarking at Beverly for her naive approach to drug use. (Side note: Actual drug addiction is very serious, what I mock is the PSA.)

dovil wrote about tops and bottoms. Her original question is about writers turning the bottom into women/Mary Sues/children. Like OTPs, I'm puzzled by people with fixed 'x' person is bottom or 'x' person is a top. People's favorite tops were Angel, Giles, and Gunn. People's favorite bottoms were Spike, Andrew, and Xander. Wesley and Riley were debated. I smirk. I also make Angel call Wesley 'sir' and be the student in teacher/student role playing.

I also wonder what it is about Gunn that gives everyone such an impression that he's a top. Masculine? Height? Axe (which mallyns and I couldn't decide if it was vaginal or not)? Race? Leader of his crew? Combination of everything?

The impossibility of Angel/Gunn was brought up due to them both being tops, but for me, seeing that 'ship is really more about Gunn's issues with vamps than anything else. Also my Gunn will bottom for Wesley. In Kat's AU Bent Justice, Gunn is a bottom, and one thing I really like about this fic (among others) is her discussion of the consequences of Gunn's image if people knew he was a bottom.

Also, you all failed. Failed, failed. Why did I accidentally stumble onto jar_daily? Why wasn't anyone like 'hey, Erica...'?

In other news, fist-fuck is in the O.E.D.

Comments

[amaresu]

Yep. That is how the Japanese think. Or so manga and anime tell me.