Mr. Rager

I first want to say that I’m glad we were assigned to read Becker’s “Becoming a Marihuana User” for this class. I was intrigued by the logical approach to the drug and, even though I’m sure you could argue it almost encourages one to smoke weed, I thought it was a neutral, simply informative perspective.
Because of all the neutrality and how refreshing I found it to learn about something real, I started to wonder why it had to be sketchy to some to learn about this particular topic in a classroom in the first place. Obviously the fact that using the drug goes against the laws our government has established has something to do with it, but isn’t it just as much a component of culture as anything else?

Whether it’s seen as something negative or positive, marijuana has created a subculture in our society and is, straight up, a popularly consumed substance. Several slang terms for marijuana have made their way into our language, certain articles of clothing have been stereotyped as what marijuana users wear, television shows and movies have been based off of it, and it appears in much of today’s music. Aren’t language, clothing, television, and music all the very identifiers of culture?

If you aren’t familiar with the significance of the picture above, it’s the album cover of Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon Vol. II: The Legend of Mr. Rager, and is one such example of the appearance of marijuana in culture. This particular album consists of several tracks that reference drug use, marijuana in particular, with one track actually titled Marijuana. As an artist, Kid Cudi has been very successful and we even hosted him for our Homecoming concert here at the U last year. Additionally, much of his music has become a signifier for marijuana usage. He’s open about the fact that he smokes weed and I suppose one could say he “represents” the practice. Is this a good or bad representation of our culture? That's your call.

The point I’m trying to make is that it should really be no surprise that an article about marijuana has found its way into this class’ program. I’m not necessarily saying I support consuming the drug; rather that I think being well informed about an aspect of cultural is crucial before forming an opinion. I’m glad this article was presented to us because we need to be exposed to all aspects of a culture, no matter how controversial, in order to fully and realistically understand it.