Propaganda: Transformation

This is the first in a series of presentations of propaganda by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and their Above the Influence campaign, which has put its campaign advertisements on YouTube for us to watch and discuss. I would like to help them spread their message of making independent decisions, but from a perspective that the information you need to make better decisions cannot be one-sided. Helpfully we have also been provided with the scripts so that we can interact with the text as well as the implications.

This one is titled “Transformation.”

(Teenage boy standing alone in his bedroom, facing camera, with a spotlight above him. Piano music begins to play. He stands as other teens enter the room. They undress and redress him while he stands, expressionless and unmoving, under the spotlight. People continue to change him into different types of clothes. The boy looks around, put his hands out to stop them. All the people who have entered the room stare at him. As he walks out of the room the people disappear)

When you give up the ability to decide for yourself…
You give up what makes you, you.

(AbovetheInfluence.com logo appears)

(Some of the videos that were online yesterday have been removed; hopefully you will have been able to view this one.)

What is it that young people are supposed to be deciding for themselves here? Do we really want them to be making decisions that can harm themselves? Or do we assume that all decisions that teens make independently of their peers will be good ones?

Obviously the ONDCP doesn’t believe that teens should be able to make a decision to use drugs, but that’s precisely their message. Even worse, if a majority of their peers are abstainers, they will be more inclined to go against the flow. For example, deciding to smoke cigarettes is generally recognized as a gesture of rebellion, not conformity. Do we want young people to smoke tobacco?

I don’t encourage minors to use anything, though I know some will. If they will decide to smoke, it would be better if it were something that wasn’t physically addictive and cancer-causing. Many people who start smoking cigarettes never quit, and suffer serious health consequences including lung and heart disease.

I’m not saying teens should use cannabis either, unless it’s recommended by a doctor to treat some condition. There are too many who would use it irresponsibly, and that is why you should teach your children to wait until they are older to make those kinds of decisions.

Just like having sex.

On the other hand, adults should be able to make those kinds of decisions without the government intruding into their bedrooms. And we should give honest information to young people so that they will understand the context and consequences of the decisions they are going to be making for themselves.