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Why I feel absolutely no nostalgia whatsoever for the 1980s (posted 26 April 2006)
(Link thanks to The Bellman 2006-04-24.)
Ever wondered what you’d get if you created an unholy cross between We Are The World and Nightmare on Drug Street?
Well, citizen, wonder no longer.
A quick word of advice. If you’re planning on quitting drugs, you should not go out dancing in the street while you wait for withdrawal to kick in. Also, you should not just throw your bag full of pills, or crack, or whatever, into the garbage truck. Especially not right in front of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s creepy, watchful face.
Sergio Méndez replied:
Charles, I don´t know if I am getting the post right, but anyways, didn´t the war on drugs started in the 70`s in the time of the Nixon administration?
Rad Geek replied:
Sergio,
Most drugs that are illegal in the U.S. today were originally criminalized in the 1930s. Nixon announced the in 1971, and created the federal Drug Enforcement Agency by Executive Order in 1973. The Reagan Administration invested a lot of political and financial resources into escalating the drug war, both at a political level (through, e.g., pushing draconian federal sentencing guidelines and the establishment of the ONDCP, or office, in 1988). Another thing they did (partly because it was one of Nancy Reagan’s pet projects) was to heavily ramp up the use of really cheesy government propaganda, and encouraging a ramp-up in propaganda sponsored by freelance Drug War supporters (like Partnership for a Drug-Free America), in the form of commercials, after-school scare pieces, films for health classes, and ridiculous message songs like this one. Kids growing up in the U.S. during the 1980s were subjected to a nearly endless barrage of bizarro productions like this one.
Anyway, the post is mainly for showing off this video, as a flashback of sorts to one of the more ridiculous features of my youth.
Sergio Méndez replied:
Charles:
Pointe taken. When I started to see the video I thought intially that the “stop the madness” corus refered to stopping the war on drugs…silly me.
Stefan replied:
When I started to see the video I thought intially that the “stop the madness” corus refered to stopping the war on drugs…silly me.
You know things have been shot to hell when the government propaganda has that much irony. :)