Never Ask Meme

There is a good meme that I found recently on Reddit about the, shall we say, shadow side of so many famous and otherwise "great" philosophers throughout recorded history:

And to that, we would like to add the following:

Never ask 57% of Michiganders, what they voted for in November 1978.  

(Hint:  it set into motion a sweeping national trend since then, a very dubious, toxic, illiberal, and ageist trend that might not otherwise have occurred, and without it, the USA would have most likely been more like Canada in that regard.  Seriously.  The agony of regret indeed....)

"You Belong To The City" by Glenn Frey, 40 Years Later

The iconic 1985 hit song "You Belong To The City" by Glenn Frey (RIP), is now officially 40 years old.  It came out in September 1985, and was famously used in the TV show Miami Vice.  An excellent song and video, filmed in and taking place in New York City, very nostalgic indeed.

Note that this was literally less than three months before my home state of New York raised the drinking age to 21.  

A Message To Those Who Still Support The 21 Drinking Age And Other Ageist Policies

Here's a message to those who still support the 21 drinking age and other ageist policies:

(Mic drop)

What If We Have Gotten "Age At First Use" All Wrong?

What if we (as a society) have gotten "age at first use" all wrong in regards to addiction?  The conventional wisdom is that the younger a person is when first trying a given substance (whether it's alcohol, tobacco/nicotine, cannabis, or otherwise), the more likely that person is to become addicted or dependent on that substance, and the more severe the problem they will develop, all else being equal.  This idea is often paired with the controversial (and half-baked at best) "gateway drug theory", namely that the use of lesser substances (alcohol, tobacco, and especially cannabis) increases the risk for subsequent use and/or addiction to other, harder substances.  But while the "gateway theory" is relatively easy to debunk, the "age at first use" theory has had much more staying power to date, mainly due to the fairly strong, and seemingly rugged and robust, correlational evidence, often combined with relatively superficial knowledge of human brain development.

However, a new study (albeit not exactly a new idea) strongly implies that at least much of the observed association between earlier age at first use and greater likelihood of addiction is actually due to reverse causation.  That is, kids who were at greater risk of addiction actually showed measurable brain differences compared to those who weren't, even before they took their first sip or puff.  This is truly a paradigm-shifting study indeed, and one that will require everyone to fundamentally rethink their approaches to substance abuse prevention.

That is NOT to say that using substances at an early age (especially before 15) is actually a wise idea, of course.  It still appears to be at least somewhat riskier overall, and the results of twin studies (which completely control for genetics, and largely control for environment) of the past still have yet to be completely explained away.  (For the record, Twenty-One Debunked does NOT endorse or encourage the underage use of any such substances.)  But this latest study shows that the reality is far more nuanced than meets the eye, and that "delay, delay, delay that first drink or use at any cost!" is also probably not the wisest approach to prevention either.  And, of course, by implication, the 21 drinking age (and smoking age and toking age) now has even less support still from The Science.

(We should also note also that people who actually do wait until 21 or older to use such substances, especially alcohol, tend not to be very gung-ho about such substances to begin with, and thus tend to be non-drinkers, non-smokers, and non-users.  That is true for both age at first use, as well as age at first regular use.  It's basically tautological.)

Perhaps this why Denmark and Iceland, who each famously take diametrically opposite approaches to teen drinking (i.e. very permissive vs. very restrictive, respectively), still ultimately end up with remarkably similar alcoholism rates among adults.  Just like the USA vs Canada, basically.

Supreme Court Upholds Age Verification For Adult Sites

Among other terrible rulings yesterday, the increasingly reactionary Supreme Court of the United States upheld Texas' age verification laws for porn sites (and by extension, by several other states with similar laws as well).  As the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) reports:

Today’s decision in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton is a direct blow to the free speech rights of adults. The Court ruled that “no person—adult or child—has a First Amendment right to access speech that is obscene to minors without first submitting proof of age.” This ruling allows states to enact onerous age-verification rules that will block adults from accessing lawful speech, curtail their ability to be anonymous, and jeopardize their data security and privacy. These are real and immense burdens on adults, and the Court was wrong to ignore them in upholding Texas’ law.  

Of course, this ruling is relatively narrow, at least for now:

Importantly, the Court's reasoning applies only to age-verification rules for certain sexual material, and not to age limits in general. We will continue to fight against age restrictions on online access more broadly, such as on social media and specific online features.  

But it still sets a very questionable precedent at best, and we know that it won't stop there without a fight.  Twenty-One Debunked of course vehemently opposes the use of mandatory age verification in general (including, but not limited to, social media platforms) on First Amendment grounds, youth rights grounds, and cybersecurity grounds as well.  Stay tuned, because this fight is NOT over!

Conscription: The Machiavellian Solution In Search Of A Problem (And Why It Will NOT Help The Youth Rights Movement)

With World War III looking more and more likely on the horizon each day that goes by due to current events, it is only a matter of time before one of the biggest American taboos returns to the forefront.  The specter of bringing back the military draft (conscription) has been raised occasionally since it was last abolished in 1973, but it never seemed to catch on since then for a number of reasons:  1) it was unnecessary and redundant with today's technology, 2) it would mess up and dilute the increasingly professional all-volunteer military, 3) most Americans don't support such a policy.  And that's to say nothing of the collective trauma from the ill-fated Vietnam War that has lingered ever since to one degree or another.  

And there are also the fundamental philosophical-ethical arguments against conscription as well, of course, including Immanuel Kant's categorical imperative:  "Always treat humanity as an end itself, and never solely as a means".  And predictably, Niccolo "ends justify the means" Machiavelli himself, often seen as Kant's philosophical foil, was a huge fan of conscription, as he felt that mercenaries would be untrustworthy in terms of loyalty (gotta love that false binary there with no room for nuance whatsoever).  

But every so often, the old zombie arguments (often in superficial shiny new drag) in favor of bringing back the draft resurface like a bad case of herpes.  They can be grouped into the following:  1) Necessity, 2) Equality/Equity, and 3) Social Engineering.  And here we will not only debunk them, but also debone, slice, dice, julienne, and ultimately lay waste to their scorched remains.

The "necessity" argument is probably the only good and coherent argument strong enough to justify the forcible confiscation of labor services (i.e. slavery, which is what conscription really is) of innocent erstwhile civilians in an otherwise free society worthy of the name.  That is, if the necessity in question is actually true.  Spoiler alert:  for most wars throughout history, to say nothing of peacetime, that was not really true.  That is because a) most wars throughout history were unnecessary wars of choice that could have been avoided, and thus inherently wrong except on the side legitimately defending itself, b) there are almost always alternatives to conscription even if a war is necessary, such as (gasp!) paying our troops more, rather than forcibly doing it on the cheap, and c) a country that needs a draft to defend itself deserves to lose.  (And being the world's de facto police force is really NOT a war of necessity, by the way.)  And all of these apply a fortiori with today's technology, which reduces the need for the large numbers of troops in the wars of the more distant past.

(And any fair-weather "allies" halfway around the world who are unwilling or unable to defend themselves without forcing Americans to fight their battles for them, also deserve to lose by the way, a fortiori.)

Indeed, in a truly "just war" that meets all of St. Augustine's criteria (which, let's face it, is about as rare as a unicorn!), conscription would be unnecessary and redundant, since volunteers would be plentiful, at least for a while. 

Of course, to be fair, given a large enough scale AND a long enough duration of a war that really is NOT a war of choice and absolutely can't be pulled out of, the necessity argument CAN perhaps become valid in those select cases.  World War II and the American Civil War are textbook examples of such from history.  (Ditto for, God forbid, World War III, assuming it isn't largely an air and nuclear war, which would supersede this argument, albeit in a bad way).  But these "edge cases" are the exceptions that prove the rule.

Then comes the "equality" or "equity" argument, sometimes called the "poverty draft" or "skin in the game".  That is, poor and working class people (who often join at least partly for economic reasons) are disproportionately overrepresented in the all-volunteer military, and the rich are grossly underrepresented.  That thus makes it easier for our elected leaders and their wealthier supporters to be cavalier about making war in general, knowing that they or their kids won't personally be affected.  Also along with that, it is seen as a gross injustice towards the poor and working class, and especially for racialized minorities, that they do such a disproportionate share of the fighting and dying.  While there is a kernel of truth to both components of this argument, that does NOT change the basic fact that the elites have ALWAYS been able to get themselves out of harm's way, draft or no draft, and practically ALL wars in recorded history have been primarily fought by the poor and working class for the benefit and wealth of the rich.  And the real corrective for that is to simply abolish poverty and the desperation that goes with it with a robust social welfare state including, but not limited to, Universal Basic Income, single-payer Medicare For All, and free college.  And yes, per the iron laws of supply and demand, we will have to pay our troops significantly more than they are paid now, or more accurately, pay them what they are really worth for once!  And, of course, we have got to knock it off with the imperialistic wars of choice!

As for any supposedly "altruistic" or "humanitarian" wars (in the rare cases when it is not merely a cover for imperialism), hey, if you feel like YOU personally have a duty to risk dying for random people halfway around the world for whatever reason, be my guest.  You can even go start your own "Human Shield Brigade" with like-minded folks.  Just don't force or coerce other people to do it for you to soothe YOUR aching conscience, capisce?  Such "vicarious altruism" with other people's blood and treasure is really not altruism at all, but rather egoism in disguise.

(By the way, the mere presence of a draft does NOT preclude a country's leaders from being cavalier about war or getting stuck in long military quagmires.  See Vietnam, for example.  Or more recently, Israel.)

Regardless, in any case, two wrongs do NOT make a right!

Then there is the perennial "social engineering" or  argument, which is probably the most vexing one of all.  Not because is it particularly hard to debunk (it's really quite easy, as you will quickly see), but because of the way it sticks in people's minds so puzzlingly well even after the first two arguments are revealed to be hollow.  Basically, some people arrogantly seem to think that they somehow know what is best for everyone else at a personal level, and believe that they therefore have the right to force or coerce it upon them if they won't willingly accept it "for their own good" and the supposed "greater good" of society.  Such a thing is utterly patronizing and paternalistic, but we see it in so many other areas of life that few of us hardly even notice it anymore.  So when people claim that bring back a (presumably universal) draft would somehow be a panacea for whatever ails society, there will always be some people who listen and agree.  But regardless of how one feels about that and the limits of social engineering in a free society, it is literally the WORST argument there is for forcing people against their will to do something with as much gravitas (and danger) as military service.  Regardless of what ancillary utilitarian benefits there may be to a draft, it all comes back to Machiavelli versus Kant once again.  If we truly believe that human beings are ends in themselves and not just means to an end, then conscription is automatically a non-starter.

Otherwise, it is a Machiavellian solution in search of a problem, whatever that problem may be.

And all this is before we even get into the issue of age.  As Phil Ochs famously sang in the 1960s, "It's always the old, who lead us to the war, it's always the young who fall".  And that remains true to this day.  If we really want to "share the sacrifice equally" like some modern conscription advocates claim to want, then by that logic, perhaps we should draft people in their 40s and 50s and beyond too.  And of course, the very first to be drafted should be the billionaires, followed by the millionaires, and so on down the pyramid.  After all, they are the ones who benefit from it the most, while being historically the most underrepresented.  Or even fairer still, perhaps we could have "consensual conscription" where all wars are put up to a (non-secret) popular vote, and those who vote yes are drafted as needed, followed by those who abstained, and those who voted no would be exempt from the draft.  But otherwise, there is really no such thing as an equitable draft, since drafts are by their very nature discriminatory.

Finally, there also sometimes is brought up the idea that being back the draft would somehow help the youth rights movement.  It is true that the lowering of the voting age, age of majority, and drinking age from 21 to 18 was partly spurred by the Vietnam draft and the idea that it was wrong for someone to be considered old enough to die for their country but too young to vote, drink, etc.  But guess what?  The existence of a draft was neither necessary nor sufficient to effect such a change.  First, the draft was in effect with a draft age of 18 from 1941-1946 and from 1948 to 1973, and yet it took three decades until 1971 to lower the voting age and until 1973 to lower the drinking age and age of majority in most states to 18.  And meanwhile, Canada and the UK didn't have any draft since 1945 and 1960, respectively, and yet they still managed to lower the age for full adult rights to 18 by the early 1970s, which then became an international consensus.  And no Western country, draft or no draft, raised its drinking age from 18 back to 21 except the USA in the 1980s and Lithuania in 2018, the latter country doing so after they brought back the draft in 2016.  And in general, countries that currently have significant conscription don't seem to be more youth-rights friendly than those who don't.

It's more likely that demographics were the biggest factor:  in 1968, fully half of the American population was under 18, and a vast majority was under 25.  The same was true in many other countries well.  Thus they had a strength in numbers that we wouldn't see in today's ageing population.  Bringing back the draft would almost certainly backfire on the youth rights movement today, even if it may invigorate the anti-war movement all the same.

So let's put this zombie idea to rest once and for all.  If WWIII happens, then all bets are off of course, but in any case, it is NOT a net benefit to the youth rights movement.

And to those who still think we should bring back the draft, we say, "YOU FIRST!" Go on.  (crickets)

(Mic drop)

Texas Social Media Ban Dead For Now

The Texas social media ban for anyone under 18 thankfully is now dead (for now) as of May 29, 2025 as the Senate ultimately missed a key deadline for a vote on the bill.  But we must not rest in our laurels just yet, though.  Unfortunately, another bill passed, and was signed into law, that requires app stores to verify age and parental consent for people under 18 to download apps, which takes effect on January 1, 2026 if it doesn't get struck down by the courts in the meantime.  Even if that one is not quite as bad.

Texas' Potential Social Media Ban Strictest In The History Of The World

The latest bill in Texas to restrict social media for young people is the strictest one in the history of the world thus far.  This bill as currently written, which passed the House and is now heading to the Senate, would absolutely ban anyone under 18 from using social media platforms, period.  And anyone signing up for a new social media account would face mandatory age verification, with the exact details on how that would work still not quite cut and dried yet, but most likely would involve some flavor of uploading or otherwise entering government-issued IDs, perhaps via third party services.  What that means for existing accounts remains to be determined, but parents would have the right to force social media companies to summarily and permanently delete their under-18 kids' accounts upon request.  And there are NO exceptions to what counts as "social media" as long one can create and share content on a website or app, except for news and sports websites.  

That would mean that in Texas, a 16 or 17 year old would be legally old enough to get married, but yet still somehow too young to post their wedding on Facebook, or any other social media for that matter.  Let that sink in for a moment.

(Suddenly, Florida's less extreme law, with its lower and graduated 14/16 age limit, and more, if unclear, exceptions, looks almost....quaint and nostalgic by comparison.)

Our vehement opposition to this abomination of a bill is twofold:  1) this bill blatantly violates the First Amendment rights of people under 18, and 2) it also creates a potentially massive privacy and cybersecurity risk for ALL ages due to the mandatory age verification, assuming government-issued IDs or other sensitive personal information is required.  It is grossly overbroad, unconstitutional, illiberal, and unethical.  And NO amount of lipstick can save this pig.

The ONE good thing about this bill is that it will require all ID and personal data used for age verification purposes to be used only for that specific purpose and deleted immediately afterwards, unlike some other bills out there.  Thank God (or Nature) for small mercies, right?  But honestly, can we really trust Big Tech with something like that?  I think we all know the answer to that question.

And don't even for a minute think that it will stop there!  We have all seen some flavor of this movie before, and it doesn't end well.  It certainly will NOT stop at 18, mark my words.  If it passes this year, and other states and the feds subsequently join them, then it is almost certain that it will be raised to 21 nationwide by 2030, if not sooner.  Just look at alcohol and tobacco, for example, which the bill's proponents are already comparing social media to.  Whether they make a beeline for 21 as soon as next year, or perhaps take the scenic route via 19 first (to "get it out of the high schools"), still remains to be determined, but they WILL get there one way another unless they are stopped NOW.  (Other countries will at least probably stop at 18, but almost certainly NOT the USA if the zealots succeed.)  

And don't think it will stop at "merely" verifying age either.  This can VERY easily lead to an Orwellian nightmare where all privacy and any semblance of anonymity is a thing of the past, and political dissidents are targeted by the state for voicing their opinions on any controversial issues.  And it goes further downhill from there as well.  

Don't say you haven't been warned!  While this particular bill is a primarily Republican effort, it has bipartisan support, just like all other tyranny against young people.

If they really wanted to keep young people safe online (and adults too!), they would do the following:

• Pass comprehensive data privacy legislation for ALL ages which, at a minimum, would ban any and all "surveillance advertising" and "dark patterns".  This is best done at the federal level in terms of effectiveness, but states can serve as important trailblazers nonetheless.
• Regulate the algorithms better, audit them, and ban "addictive design features" for ALL ages.
• Perhaps even tax the data mining of users by social media companies.
• Have a voluntary smartphone buyback program like they do for guns.
• Since the latest trend towards "bell to bell" phone-free schools is basically a foregone conclusion at this point, they should apply it to everyone (teachers, staff, administrators, and visitors), not just students.
• If after doing all of that we absolutely MUST set an "age of digital majority", then it should be no higher than 16 (ideally no higher than 15, but certainly NO higher than 16, EVER!), and it should be a "soft" age limit with plenty of generous exceptions, and NO mandatory age verification involving any sensitive personal information whatsoever, period.
• And if after all of that, they still insist on mandatory age verification, then they need to have a billion-dollar guarantee that such information will never fall into the wrong hands, and delay implementation of that requirement until that can be guaranteed.  That is, if a person's sensitive information is retained, compromised, or misused in any way, shape or form, that person should be entitled to at least one billion dollars in damages.  But Big Tech would NEVER agree to that, of course.  And that is by design.

And perhaps even do a "safety recall" of various social media platforms, freezing or quarantining them for ALL ages until the platforms are made reasonably safer.

But this sort of ageist and Orwellian bill, or even the milder versions which are either passed or pending in other states, need to be rejected completely, and yesterday, full stop.

(Mic drop)

P.S.  If what the social mediaphobes say is true in that the Big Tech platforms "already know more about their users than the users know about themselves", then mandatory age verification is completely unnecessary for enforcing any sort of hypothetical age limit or age-specific restrictions.  Simply holding them to an "actual knowledge" (as in COPPA) or "knowledge fairly implied on the basis of objective circumstances" (as in COPPA 2.0) standard, and auditing their existing treasure trove of user data (including their own age estimates) to keep them honest, is all that would be needed.  The zealots really can't have it both ways!

P.P.S.  The fact that the author of the bill is a fellow Elder Millennial like me really does NOT reflect very well at all on what our generation has become!  Pulling up the drawbridge for younger generations just like our Boomer parents did, the apple really did NOT fall far from the tree!

UPDATE:  The Texas social media ban is now dead (for now) as of May 29, 2025 as the Senate ultimately missed a key deadline for a vote on the bill.  Unfortunately, another bill passed, and was signed into law, that requires app stores to verify age and parental consent for people under 18 to download apps, which takes effect on January 1, 2026 if it doesn't get struck down by the courts in the meantime.

Have A Safe And Happy Memorial Day Weekend

This weekend is the weekend of Memorial Day, often known as the unofficial first day of summer and National BBQ Day.  But let's remember what it really is--a day to honor all of the men and women of our armed forces who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country, past and present.  And that of course includes all of those who died serving our country before they were legally old enough to drink.  Let us all take a moment of silence to honor them.

As for Candy Lightner, the ageist turncoat founder of MADD who had the chutzpah and hubris to go on national TV in 2008 and publicly insult our troops, all in a vain attempt to defend the ageist abomination that is the 21 drinking age, may her name and memory be forever blotted out. 

And as always, arrive alive, don't drink and drive.  It's just NOT worth it, period.  And it's very simple to prevent.  If you plan to drive, don't drink, and if you plan to drink, don't drive.  It's not rocket science.  Designate a sober driver, call a cab or rideshare, use public transportation, crash on the couch, or even walk if you have to.  Or simply don't drink--nobody's got a gun to your head.  Problem solved.

(Mic drop)

Cutting The Gordian Knot For Good

The Gordian Knot is an ancient and timeless metaphor that still has just as much relevance today.  Per Wikipedia:

The cutting of the Gordian Knot is an Ancient Greek legend associated with Alexander the Great in Gordium in Phrygia, regarding a complex knot that tied an oxcart. Reputedly, whoever could untie it would be destined to rule all of Asia. In 333 BCE, Alexander was challenged to untie the knot. Instead of untangling it laboriously as expected, he dramatically cut through it with his sword. This is used as a metaphor for using brute force to solve a seemingly-intractable problem.

Does that sound familiar?  It certainly should.  What do the 21 drinking age and so many other types of illiberal and abominable policies (i.e. endless wars, creeping tyranny, voter suppression, revoking women's reproductive rights, mass deportations, and the all-out assault on the human rights of youth and other marginalized groups) all have in common?  They all revolve around, and are both caused and effected by, the illusion of control.  Per Wikipedia:

The illusion of control is the tendency for people to overestimate their ability to control events. It was named by U.S. psychologist Ellen Langer and is thought to influence gambling behavior and belief in the paranormal.  Along with illusory superiority and optimism bias, the illusion of control is one of the positive illusions.

And there you have it.  The Gordian Knot in this case is the illusion of control.  And how to cut it?  Simply abandon that illusion, along with (especially) the desire for such control over others as well, and don't look back.  Problem solved.

For example, whenever the fearmongers cite scary-sounding statistics and studies in their zeal to make a case for more and more restrictions on young people, the best way to respond is:  "Yeah, so?  And your point is?"

And now we can see why Denmark is one of the happiest countries on Earth.  At least a major part of the reason has to be because they have largely abandoned the illusion of control long ago.  After all, they are the only Nordic country where the Temperance movement never really caught on.

(Which is probably why when anyone shoves seemingly scary statistics and studies about their country's world-leading and often technically hazardous drinking habits in their face, for all ages and especially among young people, they likely respond with a "Yeah, so?  And your point is?")

In other words, once enough people realize that it is neither possible nor desirable for people to use public policy to have anywhere near as much control over other people as they think, peace and liberty shall finally return to the land for good.  That said, convincing that many people is a LOT easier said than done.  After all, it is far easier to fool people than it is to convince people that they have been fooled.

Until then, the Law of Eristic Escalation shall reign supreme.  That is, imposition of order = escalation of chaos.

It is long past time to stop chasing the illusion of control.  It's like "chasing the dragon":  you're never gonna catch it, and you end up doing far more harm than good by even trying.

QED

UPDATE:  Looks like we spoke too soon about Denmark.  Just this year or so, their overall zeitgiest seems to be changing in a more "protective" (read: restrictive) direction towards young people, both in the physical and virtual worlds.  So what we said just a few paragraphs up is now quickly becoming outdated with each passing day.  Alas, ever since they did their rolling COVID lockdowns and such five years ago, Denmark hasn't ever been the same, it seems.