Straight Edge is a movement that stems from the Hardcore/Punk scene. The term originated in 1980, and has grown since. It is a personal life choice that anyone can make. Straight Edge is a great way to better your future, and is an idea where anyone can be accepted. There is no membership, groups, or anything like that. Anyone can better there life by having the strength to stay clean. This subject means a lot to me because I am straight edge.

There are many rumors and misunderstandings about the ideology of Straight Edge. I would like abolish the rumors, and teach you what it is really about. First of all, these are the basics of straight edge, refraining from alcohol, recreational drugs, tobacco, and participating in promiscuous sexual activities. A lot of people think that this means if you’re straight edge you can’t ever have sex. That is just idiotic, that would mean we could never reproduce.  What this means is, you can’t sleep around. If you are going to be participating in sexual activities, you are in a committed relationship with your partner. This doesn’t mean that you have to be married, but you are at least in love with them. Another hot topic is the definition of “drugs”. Anything without moderation could be considered a drug. Many people claim that taking ibuprofen with a headache or drinking anything with caffeine would be breaking edge, those people are what we refer to as idiots. What the Straight Edge culture refrains from is recreational drugs such as marijuana, LSD, cocaine, etc. Anything prescribed by a doctor is okay, as long as it is not abused. Some people tie in Veganism with Straight Edge. The founders of Straight Edge were vegans, but they did not claim it as a part of Edge. Once again, the basics of Straight Edge are no recreational drugs, no alcohol or tobacco, and no promiscuous sex. As you can see, these rules are very basic with no gray areas. There are many reasons to embrace the idea of Straight Edge. Many people decide to because of family problems with drugs or alcohol, or wanting to be different than 90% of high school students, to create a better future for you, or just to make a healthier life for yourself. For whatever reason you do it, be proud of it.

Straight Edge was started completely unintentionally. Ian MacKaye was just a young punk who didn’t partake in those activities. He was a just a sober punk in the late 70’s. In 1979, he started going to punk shows in New York City. He knew that punks were more understanding of different lifestyles because they were deviants themselves, but the punks were not accepting of his lifestyle. They gave him a hard time for being the only sober guy in the club. In 1980, he started his first band Minor Threat. He wrote the song Straight Edge. The song’s meaning was that, he’s just the same as every other punk, but he has a little more of an edge because he has a clear mind. The lyric was “I’ve got the straight edge”.  After this song was released, the term “straight edge” spread like wildfire. It was all over the country, punks wanted to be a part of this “straight edge” life. Ian was completely unaware of what he started.  The symbol, “X” came from the X on the back of underage kids who went to bars to watch bands. The X was meant to show that those kids cannot be served alcohol. The straight edge adopted this symbol to represent their abstinence from alcohol. After the term spread, Ray Cappo was inspired and wanted to start the first Straight Edge band. Youth of Today started during the 80’s in New York. Many bands followed after, and the made a group called “Youth Crew”. There were many bands part of the crew, the toured together and spread the word. The hardcore music taught life lessons, it was more than music. But just like every group, there are radicals. Straight Edge gangs started forming in major cities such as Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and Columbus. The most notable would be the FSU (Friends Stand United) in Boston. These groups would go to all ages shows and physically harm anyone who would smoke or drink at the shows. The FSU also targeted the Neo-Nazi groups. The gang is very serious; they have murdered multiple victims, and have done a great amount of damage to others. They claim to help keep the streets of Boston clean, but they are only creating the same amount of trouble that the drugs do.

      In the 1990’s the scene split into two major groups, the Militant Straight Edge and Krishna Consciousness. The militant ones were very arrogant and violent. They wore a lot of camo clothing, and consisted mostly of skinheads. The Krishna Consciousness was a spiritual Krishna idea that was basically brought to the straight edge by Ray Cappo. Ray had moved to India and became a monk for 6 years before returning back to his hardcore band in New York. The Krishna Consciousness members had similar ideals as the straight edge, but they were no strict. You must be a vegan, and refuse gambling, illicit sex, or intoxication. If you were not a part of either group, you were how Straight Edge is supposed to be, a personal choice. You were not shoving it down anyone’s throat or creating unessicary violence. Straight Edge today has changed. The militancy died out somewhat, yet there are a few gangs still remaining. Today, most straight edge are arrogant, bitter, and they think that they are superior to anyone who is not Straight Edge. They do not understand that it is a personal choice, and I hate to be classified in the same group as these people. But not all straight edge are this way, there are still some of the positive sober bands together. As long as people believe in how it started and understand the meaning of it, I will be happy. Hopefully, this arrogance and ignorance will die out and the original positive-ness will return to the scene.

                As you have already read in the previous paragraphs, the basics of Straight Edge are to keep away from drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and promiscuous sex. Anyone can do it, and there are many reasons for doing it. The idea was started in 1980 by Ian MacKaye, and he accidently made a following out of it. The idea progressed into a long history of violence and culture. Straight edge is a great way to better your own future and anyone can do it, even you. There are no memberships, groups, or organizations, any individual at anytime can become Straight Edge. This topic is very meaningful to me because I am straight edge.

               Before we get into the controversy behind these explosives, let’s learn some history behind them. Prior to this event, Adolf Hitler had killed himself and Germany surrendered, but the Japanese were still fighting. Roosevelt had been devising ways for the U.S. to get Japanese compliance in a peaceful matter, but he died in office before getting far enough. Truman now took office and authorized a secret organization for the development of an atomic bomb (known as the Manhattan Project), and planned on using it. Since Germany was no longer at war with us, Japan was to be the victim. Choosing which cities to plot was a difficult decision, but it was finally decided that Hiroshima and Nagasaki would be prime targets because they were virtually untouched by any other air raid that had occurred until that time. The bombs were dropped on each city, three days apart, killing between 100-300k civilians in all, and leaving both cities in rubble and radiation stricken. We did this because the U.S. wanted unconditional surrender from Japan, which we did, and believe it or not, it wasn’t even a controversial issue until after the war ended.

                Some people claim that the bombing was a necessary step to winning World War II. The first reason they think this is because Truman convinced the country that it was the best option! It was effective for getting unconditional surrender from Japan, and for lessening U.S. casualties by avoiding an invasion. It was something ‘quick, easy, and effective.’ Another view point is that, we created it, why not have us be the very first to use it? It’s our right! It’s said that if it wouldn’t have been dropped on Japan, then it would have destroyed Germany, either way, the bomb’s use would be inevitable. Lastly, it’s justified in total war, which is being involved in a war that cannot be won without warfare of some kind, the enemy being completely destroyed. 

               While some think it was fine to use the atomic bomb, others disagree. Some people think that it was totally unnecessary to use it and that there were other ways to win the war. We could have invaded the main Japanese island, though having more casualties, or we could have used a blockade tactic on Japanese harbors. We could have also bombed military bases, keeping civilians out of the destruction. Not only that, but the long-term effects were worse than the benefits. More peaceful methods could have been used instead of this immoral uranium-based killer, and besides that, it lead to the arms race! The Cold War was costly and completely useless to have gotten involved in.

                I believe that the atomic bomb should never have been used on Japan. The first reason I say this is because our president wasn’t being entirely honest. Before putting the Manhattan Project into action, President Truman had sent a letter to Einstein about the atomic bomb. Einstein replied, stating that while it would be a phenomenal technological advancement, it would have to be used once it was created, no matter what. And boy was he right. As stated earlier, if not Japan, Germany would have taken the hit from the bomb. Also, when Truman’s diary was discovered in 1979, he wrote that though he’d gotten many attempts from Japan to surrender on fair terms, he was unwilling to barter. With Japan’s German allies defeated, Japan was weakening rapidly. Robert Messer, a historian from  the University of Illinois concludes that “prior to November 1st, Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russia had not entered the war, and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated.” We also could have specified our ‘unconditional surrender.” The reason they were unwilling to surrender was because they thought they were going to lose their emperor. We could have simply stated that they could keep their emperor (much like we did after the War).That would have been faster and easier to do. Dropping the Atomic Bomb wasn’t seen as immoral until after the war; but wouldn’t it have been obvious that the bomb was a problem if Roosevelt wanted peace instead? All Japan wanted was a way out, and Truman stubbornly ignored them.

                Each arguing side has their reasons to believe they are right in the debate of the dropping of the atomic bomb, but in reality, it was ridiculous to use it. We could have restated our unconditional surrender to let them know they could keep their emperor. We could have not ignored their peace offerings, and we had other tactics we could have used! The long-term effects on Japan just weren’t worth it. We could have easily used other strategies! But instead, we killed hundreds of thousands of people, put unneeded radiation into our atmosphere, and opened the gate to the Cold War. Dropping the atomic bomb surely wasn’t our brightest move, but the past is the past and we can’t change it now. But we could have avoided the hurt and the hate towards America and also avoided the danger of nuclear weapons. These are only some of the reasons why I believe that the atomic bomb shouldn’t have been used, and should never be used again. Bombing for peace is like having sex for virginity, it just doesn’t make any sense.

We are fighting a battle that doesn’t need to be won.

Our hearts are burning hotter than our Earth’s sun.

We need to face our fears with love, not hide and run,

Because there is no need for anger and regret,

So just learn to let yourself forgive and forget,

Don’t fill those eyes with hurtful neglect.

All this hate will do, is make the world upset.

Rainbows weren’t made for gold, they were made to reflect.

Now transform those souls into a greenhouse affect,

And forgive all those who showed you respect.

Give your peace out to the world, and let God do the rest.

 i dont know if i can, til i became a man, ill show u how good i am,

when you sitdown i’ll stand, i just got a cramp, we’re in a line your last, ouch i stepped on glass, it hurt, i just blew my nose in my shirt, no fun, im done, dont stare into the sun, it always won, i got crunk and the whole world sunk, good thing ur drunk, ….im wasted lets go face it, not mace it! theres a squirrel, go chase it! next time get one more case of it, thats how i take it, lets see who will make it, i broke my knee, i never heard a worse scream, why u gotta be so mean, at least im clean, im a mean riding machine, i got no dreams, u got half a dream.

‘Parents will never understand what their kids want,

until they become open minded and help them with life instead of controlling it.’

They hide their hate with love and a front,

They don’t know how to find it, because life is a cloud and they can’t stop rolling it.

We’d find peace if we all smoked a blunt,

But judgement crowds inside it, and their bodies become so cold to it,

This is a race, yet we are the runts,

Surrounded in a world that is too old for this,

We are too bold for this. But just hold for this,

If we wait we can mold to this, meaningful purpose,

You know all they wanna do is diss us,

Dismiss us, piss, and sit on us,

And its only because they can’t find away to resist us,

One day we will all be gone, and all they can do is miss us.

Sometimes, you have to take it as it is, and move on,

Put the headphones in as you listen closer to the song,

Exhale the inhale, and tell yourself nothing can go wrong,

This fight may be a struggle, but it won’t last long, 

and if it lasts long, tell yourself it’s simple, and it will be easy,

There is nothing wrong with you! You are just lost and need direction.

Train your mind to fly and your life will be breezy,

We all fall and stumble sometimes, and land in the helpless section,

We just need guidance and people who care to see the connection, 

But when we don’t try to care, or care to try, we often need a resurrection,

Let it be born again so we can live a better life,

Put to work the first good thing that comes to mind,

Let optimism become our future, as our vision meets our eyes,

Learn the things not taught and experience those lies,

If you are lost, maybe its the good you must find.

You can’t credit yourself as a failure if you never tried. 

We gotta fight for a better world,

What would happen if we stood idly, and did nothing?

No more money, no more diamonds, no more pearls.

This is a race, but no one ever stops running.

Stopping is not an option, We gotta push through.

Just ask for help, if you reach a wall,

and you don’t know what to do.

You might: collapse, feel weak, trip, or fall;

Just don’t you quit on me, This mission needs us all.

This life has no choice but to do something new,

This world won’t get better on it’s own,

so if you are ready, all you have to do, is tell me too.

Let’s begin NOW, everything else will follow through.

Just MAKE A CHOICE! It is simple, let us continue.

We gotta fight for a better world,

We got some work to do.

There is a time where I don’t know what to do,

I stare deeply into the rain and think of you,

I ponder what could’ve been done, and should be,

If I took back everything, I still don’t think I would see.

It’s as if the beauty from your face has blinded me.

These clouds keep carrying me away,

And these thoughts drift into a whole new way,

Time passes so slow, yet nothing remains the same.

These sounds glisten, when lightening strikes my pain,

My soul is locked into a deep sense of dismay,

Keep the key, so it doesn’t get worse again,

These emotions flow so different everyday,

Simple words are just so hard to explain,

My heart was betrayed,

My stubborness hates every reason to complain,

I’m reaching out,

but I all I see is surveys,

and people questioning my motivation.

It’s a struggle of doubt,

Holding such a heavy heart,

Can’t split wrong and right apart.

Knowing is what causes aggravation,

Just breathing gives time for temptations,

All this life drives my innovation,

Success is the only way to avoid these constant signs of deprivation,

society has crowded the minds of everything with with a right mind,

people who want to succeed have become trapped with hate, and discrouagement.

People are forgetting to love, care, and to be gentle and kind.

Some people give up, and hope for the thought of fate, and encouragement,

If you want to succeed you have to fight for it, and it won’t come easy.

I felt, quite honestly, that The Hunger Games was merely trying to ride Harry Potter’s popularity, a take off of sorts, and while the movie was breaking box office records in its first weekend and had gotten very good reviews, my attitude was that I could wait until it arrived on my Direct TV movie rotation to see it.

In other words, my thoughts were: “I’ll watch it on Direct TV Pay Per View and pay $5, rather than see it in the theater and pay twice that amount – it’s no big deal.”

However, as time went on since the movie’s premiere, the buzz and accolades growing steadily louder, and as I watched the preview commercials on TV, for some reason I grew interested in what the fuss was about, growing to the point where, feeling rather curious and adventurous one day, after researching the book and the movie on Wikipedia.com I decided to give The Hunger Games a shot and went to my local movie theater to see it with my family one recent morning.

As it turned out, it was a case of my having to apologize for pre-judging the whole thing as I felt that The Hunger Games was excellent in pretty much every way; the plot, the premise, and especially the main character, 16-year old Katniss Everdeen, wonderfully played by Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence (whom I also had never heard of before this movie).

I’m sure that everyone knows the story by now; set in a post-nuclear North America that’s ruled by an absolute totalitarian (played by Donald Sutherland), a young boy and girl from 12 districts are randomly picked to come to the Capitol to compete in a Roman-gladiator style fight to the death in an outdoorsy arena where the only way to win is to be the only one left alive, with Katniss (played by Lawrence) volunteering to be one of  the poverty-stricken District 12’s “Tributes” after her little sister was chosen to essentially die, since only one of the 24 tributes can live in these Hunger Games.

There were two things about this film that very much impressed me:

1. The way that this futuristic society was portrayed as it mirrored, in many ways, how America in particular and capitalist society in general has a minuscule percentage of people living well and dictating how things were going to be while everyone else, the “99%” if you will, is not only suffering from the lack of the vast resources that the 1% in the Capitol is enjoying, but are also brutally used and exploited for the 1%’s enjoyment as these Hunger Games, which are televised and are made mandatory to watch, are a combination of the Super Bowl and American Idol in scope, complete with a huge pre-games parade and an interview show featuring the young “Tributes”.

The fact that the tributes from District One and Two were usually the strongest fighters and the favored ones, as those districts had a training program which gave those young folks an unfair advantage which those who ran the Games used to, in a sense, rig the affair, was also a familiar thing as unfair advantages like that happen all the time and showed how the tributes from the other districts, namely District 12 where Katniss was from, usually had three chances in this brutal affair: slim, none, and no way. 

Which leads me to the second thing about this movie that I liked a lot:

2. Katniss, both the character and the actress who played her.

My first thoughts of this young lady as I was watching her in the theater was, “Move over Lara Croft, Hermione Granger, Dark Angel (the Jessica Alba character from that TV show a few years ago), Xena, and all those other heroines super and otherwise! Here’s a new young female hero who’s matched you all – and has surpassed some of you!”

Katniss was nearly perfect as a role model for girls, as she was not only strong – unlike Twilight’s Bella Swan, who tried to give of a strength vibe but was essentially the love-struck damsel in distress with her vampire significant other, Edward Cullen, protecting her all the time –  and the best fictitious archer I’ve seen since Robin Hood, she also had an extremely nurturing soul as she not only looked after her little sister, offering to risk her life for her, but during the games she also hooked up with another young girl, a 12-year old fellow tribute named Rue whom Katniss became quite close to before she was killed.

As she had a softness for younger kids that was quite endearing, Katniss’s anguish over Rue’s death, and the way she sang a lullaby to Rue as she was dying in her arms and cried bitterly after covering Rue’s body in flowers, was very touching, the kind of thing that, to me, characterizes Katniss as the type of girl that guys want to marry; her being the perfect combination of strength and nurturing tenderness.

Not to mention Katniss giving a salute to Rue’s District 11 in solidarity afterwards as if to say, “I’m going to win these Games for Rue.”

Oh yeah, the fact that she was very pretty didn’t hurt.

As for Jennifer Lawrence, well, I feel like apologizing to her for not noticing her before, as even though she garnered an Oscar nomination for Winter’s Bone a couple of years earlier, The Hunger Games, and her portrayal of Katniss in it, was the kind of thing that will undoubtedly change her life for good and change her status from being merely a very well-acclaimed actress into a mega-superstar along the lines of Julia Roberts and others of that ilk.

That will particularly be the case after the next two books, Catching Fire and Mockingjay, are filmed in the next few years.

I had read that many young and well-known actresses, including names like Emma Roberts and Abigail Breslin, wanted to play Katniss and were up for the part, but the producers made the right choice by hiring Lawrence as, after hearing about the others who were considered, I for one couldn’t see anyone else but Jennifer to play this role.

The bottom line to all of this is the fact that, while it may or may not approach Harry Potter status in terms of overall popularity and impact, The Hunger Games is an excellent film, so much so that if I had a vote in the Academy, I would nominate it for best picture - I liked it that much.

And while I would not recommend youngsters under the age of ten to see it, as it has some gory violence and depicts kids being brutalized and killed, I certainly urge folks ages ten and up, especially teens and young adults, to see The Hunger Games if they haven’t already.

Believe me when I say that you will thank me for it if and when you do.

                Everywhere people go, no matter to the grocery store, a friend’s house or a job, they are influenced by mass amounts of media during the process. There are posters on streets, billboards every half-mile, and people handing out flyers for various items of consumption and entertainment. Over the past years media has boomed to a peak of influence and power over the social aspects of major cultures. It influences clothing, hairstyle, language, ideas and ways of thinking. Media casts a huge blanket over society which presents the question of whether a person can live a normal life without this influence. With proper evaluation of this question it can be easily decided that this is not possible. Media is omnipresent which leads to the point that there is really no way to live a normal life in this atmosphere without being affected by it, especially in youth culture.

                As of now in the world, mass media has become omnipresent and casts an influence upon all that live within a normal society. Personally, it would be impossible for me to spend one day without being influenced by media. Even if a person wanted to avoid it, at this point evasion is not an option anymore. Everywhere that people go, and everything that people do has a hint of media presence within it, no matter how big or small. The media has intertwined itself into the social structures of our lives making it almost impossible for us to live without its presence. “TV People” provides a great explanation of how media is unavoidable. In the story the man tries so hard to not be associated with the television, but by the end of the story he had been brainwashed slightly and had given into the call of the television which was representing media as a whole.(Murakami 33) Media has a strong influence over social thinking as of today which shows it’s omnipresent.

                From discussing this huge entity of media being drawn over society, the question comes up of whether or not a person can lead a normal life without being affected by media. Simply put, the answer would have to be a no. There is no way for a person to go about a daily life without being influenced by media because media runs the aspects of our daily lives. We go to our jobs which in some way or another associate with mass media, we see media all the time while we just go about our day, we listen to music, smell foods, see movies and entertain yourself all from the mass media of our world. Media has dug its claws too deep into our ways of life to not cause a great influence on us every day. It is not possible for a person in our society to live a life free of media presence due to the fact that media is omnipresent and cannot be avoided in our time.

                Media gains so much of its influence and power by targeting the youth culture. To be “cool” in youth culture fully orbits around whether or not you are up to date and following along with the latest trends in social mass media. In the story “MTV for 7 Days”, the author helps to explain how this channel controls the youth and delegates what they do and how they do it.(Gallagher 45) It brainwashes them into wearing certain clothes, listening to certain music, having a certain attitude and overall changing their personality to fit what the media is defining as a “cool” teen. This consumes the teenage social hierarchy and is a huge reason why a youth cannot avoid media influence if they want to be a part of their culture. The point in a person’s life when they are of the teenage age is one where people are trying to find themselves. The media sees that and takes advantage of it to fulfill its own goals and desires. An ingenious plan, and this is why to be a member of youth culture you cannot avoid media influence.

Media affects everyone, every day, whether you choose to let it or not. Consciously or subconsciously something of mass media is being imprinted into our brains at all moments. Media being omnipresent allows it to influence society easily and always, which leads to why a person cannot live a normal life without being influenced by media. The information in this essay can help to enlighten more of the people being controlled by media of what is going on, which will give them the opportunity to change things. This must be realized because the media is deteriorating our society and making it a shell of what it was and what it could be. The media is being used in a selfish and negative way to brainwash and control citizens around the world. People need to realize what is going on everyday so that we can all be knowledgeable about the situation and then figure out a way to fix it.