Yeah, we've had a few laughs over the past few weeks at the expense of goofy educational films from the early 20th century. Yet how canst we say to our older brothers, Brothers, let us pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when we ourselves beholdest not the beam that is in our own eye? Which is a nice King James way of saying that while those guys way back then were kind of nutty, in the latter half of the century, we were out of our freakin' minds.
As proof I offer up Rockin' Nancy Reagan with some of her good friends including New Edition, Arnold Schwarzenegger, LaToya Jackson, Whitney Houston, David Hasselhoff, and Boogaloo Shrimp, (Where the heck was Mr. T?) all coming together to spread the good news about the First Lady's much ridiculed, yet oddly successful, Just Say No campaign. After watching this craziness, with its unlikely assemblage of future drug addicts, future centerfolds, and future Californian governors, it should be possible to go back and view some of those older instructional films with a new found respect for their dignity and restraint.
The message, at least, was valid. The Catechism tells us that "the use of drugs inflicts very grave damage on human health and life. Their use, except on strictly therapeutic grounds, is a grave offense. Clandestine production of and trafficking in drugs are scandalous practices. They constitute direct co-operation in evil, since they encourage people to practices gravely contrary to the moral law." Don't do drugs, kids, no matter how much PSAs like this one make you want to.
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