Eskimos on Drugs

When you, reading this, think of an Alaskan village, do you think of a bunch of Inuits in parkas, crawling out of their igloos to get on their dog sleds? The clips shown in this television spot were a better depiction of reality than that.

Yes, the majority of the people in an Alaskan village are Natives and yes, in many villages they are Inuit.  But do you want to know something?  Sure you do.  Native Alaskan is not synonymous with Inuit and Inuit is not synonymous with Eskimo.  Eskimo is the word used to describe one group of Native Alaskans, which includes the Inuit, the Y’upik, the Inupiat, and probably some others no one knows about.  Other groups, who are not Eskimos, are the Aleut, the Tlingit, the Tsimshian, the Haida, the Athabascan, and probably some more.  The point is, they are not all Inuits, as too many people have been misled to believe.     

These groups are all different, but you will find similarities – and not one you are thinking of.  Instead of parkas, you will see them wearing down coats and L.L. Bean jackets.  Instead of dogsleds you will see four-wheelers and snowmachines (or “snowmobiles? as they’re called down here). Then there were a lot of close-up images of kids smoking cigarettes as though it were a huge shock.

I am glad to finally see something like this recognized on nation-wide television. There is a huge drug problem in the villages. If people want to use drugs, it is not affecting me, but I do think that these kids are not aware of what they are doing to themselves and their bodies. There is also a difference between use and abuse. Better education would inform them and provide a wider range of knowledge to help them make their decisions.

I admit to my bias. My argument would be the same argument that douches from Anchorage had when they showed up one by one with videos and lectures to shove down our throats. “Don’t do drugs! Drugs are bad!? I had to put up with that in high school and it didn’t do a damn thing to persuade anyone. It was just something that cut into class time, which I definitely didn’t complain about then, but looking back, it really was a waste of time.

Educators should never be there to persuade. They should be there to inform. No one should walk into a classroom and tell everyone that what opinions or views they should have. The rehabilitated cocaine addict who stands in front of a group of students and says “D-d-drugs are bad” is helping just as much as the liberal Political Science teacher who says Republicans are stupid. The information should be there for the students to make opinions and views of their own.

Honestly, I don’t know what the best method of informing the village students about drugs would be. Many of them grow up around their parents using drugs and never learn anything about them until some guy with no jaw walks in and says, “Don’t chew snuff.” The kids are already addicted by then. I was fortunate enough to be raised by educated parents. That is an advantage I’ve had that most people growing up out there do not.

I understand that there are many new commercials on TV about how parents should talk to their kids about drugs. Personally, I think it’s a good idea, but only if the parent has knowledge of the subject. Some parents will tell their kids, “Smoking helps you relax? and leave out the “but it damages your lungs” part.

Again, that is my bias versus someone else’s. Different individuals have different priorities. With unbiased, full information, each individual could be satisfied with making personal choices. That is what needs to happen, not just with drugs, but with politics, religion, and the rest of an infinite list.