British history channel vs Japanese history channel
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Not all people are the same. Some people are mostly immune to drug induced addictions and can use drugs without ever getting sucked in. Others are extremely susceptible to it and will get addicted using the first time. It's not just mental but can also be physical. Native Americans for example are genetically susceptible to alcohol.
I seem to be unable to get addicted to nicotine. But I won't look down upon people who are addicted to nicotine. Pretending you just need to force yourself to kick a bad habit is idiotic as that bad habit is often just a symptom for deeper lying issues. Be it menal or physical.
Well considering that both of my parents and a bunch of direct family members all got sucked in, and I myself consistently struggle against an addictive personality (see aforementioned near gambling hole), I'd wager whatever genetic component exists is likely present.
I'm not "immune" due to being unable to be addicted, I'm immune because I never fucking put myself in a position where I begin to consume in the first place. You don't just wake up addicted to alcohol or heroin by accident, you have to actually use it in some way. And for those with legitimate uses like pain killers, you don't become addicted due to using it once, you begin down a path you need to watch yourself from going down through personal discipline.
Nothing you've said is wrong, but it just jumps over the most key component. Personal agency. Its not a random tragedy of life, its a deliberate choice made at some point that spiraled out of control. Even you yourself weaseled in the phrase "using the first time" as if its just a thing that happens through magic and chance.
I won't waste effort looking down on those who are mostly only hurting themselves, like a smoker who keeps that away from his family. But I won't offer them any sympathy either when their consequences come.
I see it this way. Getting addicted can happen very, very quickly and not just because you underestimated how bad certain substances are. For example if you've suffered serious personal loss. Loved ones dying. Perhaps even your child. Dealing with grief is very difficult which I know from personal experience although thankfully I've never used drugs to deal with it. And other times you simply didn't know how bad a substance was. That's what the Seckler family exploited and how the Opoid crisis in the US began.
But I agree with you partly. Offering sympathy to people who are in a hole but don't want to change and don't want any help getting out of it is waste of time and effort. An addict truly needs to want to change for someone to be able to help them. So personal agency is the most imporant factor in changing your life. You are 100% correct in that.
Getting out of addiction is a matter of personal agency. But getting into addiction only if you knew what you were doing. If you consume hard drugs knowing full well what the potential risks are then it's no different from jumping into a lions enclosure at a zoo and getting mauled to death for your stupidity. But that's unfortunately not always the case.
Everything you said is true, but it still requires you to start using it. Your pain and grief won't just conjure a meth addiction from nothingness. You need to make an active choice to begin, and that's the only thing that matters regardless of if its easier or harder for you to fall down the hole.
If someone gets hooked and gets clean, that's great for them and for the rest of us. But its also not something to be lauded either. I don't get a cake for doing the correct thing and just not doing drugs to begin with, so neither should someone else for fucking up their life (and everyone around them) and then fixing their mistake.
I tossed my own mother in jail for her junkie habits, I'm not going to be nicer to a complete stranger for theirs.
I disagree. For adults that may be true but many addicts start down on that path during childhood. Doesn't change the fact that they need to take responsibility for their bad habits as adults to change though. Only you yourself can fix your shit. Nobody else can do it for you. No matter the reasons why you fell down that hole. But it is of vital importance to understand WHY you fell down that hole otherwise you'll inevitably fall down again. Maybe it won't be another addiction but some other equally destructive behavior.
Making mistakes is unavoidable in life. Taking responsibility and fixing them is to be lauded as it shows that you have grown as a person. Obviously there are exceptions.
Now I'm not saying getting addicted to drugs is unavoidable but depending on your situation it can get very easy to make that mistake. If you grow up in a fucked up household in a fucked up city with a fucked up community and you manage to avoid to become a fucked up invidividual yourself that is actually an exceptional achievement that you should be proud of. Escaping the cycle isn't easy.
Not saying you should be nice. Not saying you should go on a quest to save junkies either. Most of the time junkies need a hard slap in the face to change anyway. And someone who isn't willing to fix their shit isn't deserving of your sympathy or help anway. It is a waste of time and effort. Sometimes you have no other choice but to cut people out of your life, even family and that is nothing to feel bad about. I've done so myself multiple times although (thankfully) not for drug addiction. So I won't blame you for cutting ties with your mother instead of wasting your life trying to fix her.
But to understand the reasons why they went down that path is extremely important and beneficial. Especially for a society but also for individuals. And most of the time it isn't as simple as "they didn't have enough self-control". Obviously it's irrelevant why a random stranger went down a bad path to me as an individual but understanding why my parents made certain mistakes was very important and beneficial to me as I was able to fix some of my own problems because of it.