As a person who partakes regularly in drugs and whose friends partake also, I have to wonder about the intentions of the show Intervention. I was watching the newest episode last night, an interesting study into an antique collecting tweeker named Michael, when I felt the urge to smoke meth. How could an addict watch this show and not feel the urge to use? David Cross does a really good bit in his newest stand up Bigger and Blackerer where he essentially says the same thing about vicodin, and how he sympathizes with the addicts once he gets high. Cross says that getting high while watching Intervention is the best way to watch it, but for an addict it's not necessarily that it is the best way to watch it, it's that the show is 45 minutes of temptation; if I have the drugs that I see the addicts on TV using, you better fucking believe that I'm going to take them.
This actually used to be a fun past-time back in my early college days. My friend (a recovering junky these days) and I would find out the drug/drugs that were going to be in the spotlight that night, and we would stock up for our weekly Intervention ritual. Then, I started thinking about it more. How many other addicts are probably doing the same thing? How many addicts watch the show to see someone who is more of a loser than themselves and end up trying to score whatever they are seeing the addicts on the TV doing? If you've ever seen the show, you'll know that it is not an uncommon occurrence to have the addicts recognize the interventionist and be a avid follower of the show.
So what are the true intentions of the program? Is it really to document the struggle? It seems that documenting the recovery process would be more beneficial than documenting the last bender of a dwindling addict. I remember a station that actually tried this, I think it was called something like Recovery where there would be 10 minutes of drug use followed by 35 minutes of the recovery process, but it didn't work; it got cancelled after a season or two. Perhaps the show was too boring. Maybe it was too real. Maybe everyone just wants to watch people doing drugs. I guess what I am trying to say is that Intervention is its own worst enemy, an enabler. Addicts watch it to feel better about themselves. I distinctly remember my friend telling me as we were both rolling bowls, "Man... that guy is out of control... here take a hit." That doesn't mean I don't like watching it. I fucking love it, especially now that I've realized that they are hypocrisy incarnate. Addicts are good when it comes to dealing with mixed messages; we choose whichever one we like the best.
No comments:
Post a Comment