Briefcases. Once briefcases no longer became practical, laptop satchels had a moment, but then the straight-edged kids realised that backpack was just superior in every way, so they begun to one-strap it out of convenience, and once you carry a backpack with one strap, that’s a slippery slope to being chill

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

The movement started in the early 80s by Ian Mackaye from the straight edge band Minor Threat?

Used to go to the Cuckoo’s Nest.

Drugs are such a chore. You try them, then you get addicted to them, then you end up in an endless pursuit of extra money to keep funding the addiction in addition to all of your other basic survival expenses. It’s a maniacal existence. From what I’ve observed. And I’m not interested in any of that maddening mayhem.

Call me straight-edge if you need to label everything. But I’m not interested in labels either.

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.

Still here some 30+ years later. For a lot of people it was a passing phase and there was a lot of tough-guy bullshit that I think many people who felt marginalized bought into. But not everyone…

I read an interview one time (I think with one of the guys from Snapcase) that SE is just the beginning. If all you did was apply that label to yourself but not use that as a stepping stone for anything else in your life, then what good was it. That resonated with me a lot.

I don’t really go around advertising SE because I’m a middle-aged dude at work or at his kid’s volleyball game and I don’t really define myself by one label or lifestyle choice anymore. Being punk/alt/whatever at almost 50 looks different than it did at ages 16-22.

I’m grateful for the HC/punk family I grew up with and the memories of that scene I have and that I was able to avoid some of the pitfalls around me in my younger days.

I was agreeing with you cause I haven’t really seen or used my straight edge since high school. Here I am thinking I don’t even have a ruler. Then I read the comments. I guess it’s not the literal straight edge.

They grew up

I’m still here!

I mean they may not know what straight edge means, but there are a shit-ton of people who don’t do drugs or alcohol…

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.

I work with three of them. Two fell off the wagon, and the third is one of the nicest people I know.

What’s that mean?

Because as an adult, you can simply choose whether to use drugs/alcohol and it’s not a big part of your identity like it was as a teen.