The Effects of Drug use by Celebrities upon Young People’s Drug Use and Perceptions of Use.

Article By: Karl Witty (NCCDP Researcher)

An interesting article...

As recently as a century ago, the range of people who had the power to influence adolescent socialisation was limited to the relatives, peers, neighbours and teachers, with parents occupying the primary position of authority (Giles and Maltby, 2004). Young people in the UK today watch on average 2.8 hours of television per day, 82% of young people use the internet daily and 77% of 16-24 year olds read a newspaper during the week (Drugscope, 2005). The growth of the mass media and its use by young people has thus opened the floodgates to this previously highly exclusive collection of figures of influence. Boon and Lomore’s 2001 study into admirer-celebrity relationships among young people reported that 75% of young adults had at some time in their lives had a strong attraction to a celebrity, and 59% of the young people under study stated that their idols had influenced some aspect of their attitudes and beliefs. Despite research on the role of the media and media figures in the lives of young people there is a shortfall of work specifically targeting the influence of risky celebrity behaviour on the actions and perceptions of young people.

In recent months the issue of celebrity drug use has come to the forefront of public thinking due to some high profile stories. Model Kate Moss’s alleged cocaine use (‘Cocaine Kate’, The Mirror 15-09,-2005; ‘How Kate ‘Snorted Five Lines of Cocaine in Just 40 Minutes’, The Evening Standard 15-09-2005), Pete Doherty’s crack cocaine and heroin dependence (‘DOWNFALL OF A CHOIRBOY; A Brilliant Student and Talented Singer, Pete Doherty Risks Losing It All to Heroin. Will His Passion for 'Fiancee' Kate Moss Save Him?’, The Daily Mail 04-02-2005; 'I Don't Want to Turn into Peter Libertine Rehab King'; His Drug Addiction Forced Him out of His Old Band. Will Pete Doherty Be Able to Clean Up His Act for His New Project?’ The Evening Standard 30-07-2005) and also the debate over Conservative party leader David Cameron’s cocaine experiences (‘Tory Wives Ready to Ask Cameron If He Took Drugs’, The Daily Mail 11-10-2005). These examples illustrate that the issue has come to span the whole social and cultural spectrum, with relevance to the social elite as well as celebrity worshipping youth. Thus for a brief time at least the topic of celebrity drug use and drug use in general has been brought to the forefront of public consciousness, which may have implications for drug policy and research; especially when taking into account the strong young peoples theme in the UK drug strategy.

Degeneracy and Hereditary Factors

With people such as Britney, Paris or Lindsay, there seems to be a pattern of utter self destruction. All three have made it to a substantial degree of success, yet they have been lured by the bright lights of Hollywood. With countless people in their entourages, bad influences, immeasurable power, absolute freedom, they become high on their own decay, and spiral further into destruction. However, when one considers the Darwinist view of the entire situation, it is noteworthy to pay attention to the families of these people, for Darwin strongly believed that hereditary factors played a large role in assessing the future. In the case of Lindsay Lohan, hers is a family which includes an alcoholic father who has been absent from her life, has threatened her to appear in a reality television program, attempted to gain complete control over her finances, ‘whored’ himself on countless television programs, urging his daughter to find God as he has done and finally, continues to publicly insult her mother, Dina Lohan. Darwin would then attribute Lindsay’s wild behaviour to the hereditary genes attained from her father. His final statement would most likely included that a treacherous, immoral and unfaithful character such as Michael Lohan would most likely have a child who would portray many of the same characteristics.

Other brief examples:

Britney Spears:
Father: once an alcoholic, separated from Britney’s mother
Mother: estranged from Britney, given an official letter (by her daughter) to stay away from Britney’s children
Kevin Federline: Britney’s ex-husband, fathers three other children; Britney’s spiral began after she married Kevin (they wore pimp and ho sweat pants to their reception: pure degeneracy!)

Individual versus Tribe

As described in Darwin’s “Descent of Man”, there is high probability for a virtuous tribe to survive over one which is disloyal and disobedient; however, when it comes to individual versus individual, oftentimes, it is the disloyal and overall immoral who tends to survive over the more virtuous individual.

The problem that modern day society faces is that the masses of people around the world have been surrounded by an ever growing trend of degeneracy, which is bound to win over and furthermore, ruin our chances of progression. We are surrounded in every grocery line up, corner store, hair salon, doctor’s office, television set or by the internet. Everywhere we are, whether it be in the safe haven we call home, or out and about in our communities, we are surrounded by the countless ‘headlines’ that make every gossip blog, television show and magazine. The daily happenings of these media figures has become a regular on virtually every news cast, which all tend to add on their nightly segments of ‘entertainment news’. These individuals such as Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton or Britney Spears have coated our society with a decaying film, which has seeped into our own daily happenings. Our watchful eyes are easily lured into perezhilton.com (an extremely popular media website), versus wanting to read informative journalism about what is happening around the world--in Iraq, Sudan or Sierra Leone (issues that if regularly discussed as Britney‘s new hair colour is, may promote ideas of progression). Rather, our daily appetites for knowledge are cheaply filled by celebrity websites and tabloids that inform us of what crazy outfit Britney Spears wore this morning, how she yet again managed to make it trashy, what rehab Lindsay Lohan checked herself into or what posh club Paris partied at last night. We ourselves become materialized by watching the decay of these modern starlets and furthermore, we begin to seldom challenge our own immoral behaviour, due to the absolute degeneracy we compare it (our behaviour) to. Thus, Darwin would make the argument that our morals suffer because of these degenerates that have been selected as the “role models” for our youth. Like Darwin states, treacherous and immoral peoples, tend to pass on these characteristics. Therefore, this is how degeneracy spreads, and progression comes to a stagnancy. At this time, Darwin would most likely suggest that we should try to detain such degeneracy, either by putting such peoples in ‘confinement’ or simply, allow them to destroy each other or themselves.

Darwin on The Effects of Our Environment

In the Origin of Species, Darwin describes the many factors that an organism must fight against in order to survive. He states that, "...as more individuals are produced than can possibly survive, there must in every case be a struggle for existence, either one individual with another of the same species, or with the individuals of distinct species, or with the physical conditions of life". These conditions of life are the environments in which we are placed that we must navigate successfully in order to live and succeed. The concept of environment can be understood as a country, city, or even the social environments. With the environment constantly flexing its force against an organism, that organism must be able to deal with the pressures of the environment, or it will fail and possibly face death. In Darwin's words, "...Let the strongest live and the weakest die."

If we take this idea and view it in light of Starlet Degeneracy, we can see many instances where the environment that these young women are placed in is clearly hostile for them. They are unable to deal with the dangers and pressures of having a high profile and after a few years of being in the spotlight, fail utterly. The by product of their fame makes their fall even more public and shocking. We are faced with the fact that these young women are completely unable to control themselves in the face of all the various distractions and temptations, even if that means they do themselves harm.

Take two recent examples of utter degeneracy. The first, Britney Spears' Meltdown, in which she is trying to make a comeback from past folly, except at the interview she destroys the dresses she's to wear and even steals thousands of dollars of items that she was supposed to be photographed in. Her behaviour was erratic and could lead us to believe she may have been on some kind of drug. The second, Lindsay Lohan's DUI, in which, after a period of time in rehab and assurances she'd remain sober, she's arrested for drinking and driving and possessing cocaine!

Both of these young women are no strangers to causing trouble, as these two offenses are merely their most recent. Both were supposed to be redeeming themselves, but cannot avoid partaking in the dangerous temptations surrounding them. That is money, alcohol and drugs. The fact that there are many, many, stars out there who can control themselves and avoid such overt displays of degeneracy, means that these young women are simply unable to live in the difficult and stressful environment that many others stars can surely navigate without resorting to stealing and drug abuse.

Therefore, if they are to have any chance of surviving, they need to find a new environment for themselves. One that is not as hazardous to their survival. Because, if they do not, nature will simply select them out.

Any Publicity Is Good Publicity...Oh Please!

While reading George MacDonald’s children’s story The Princess and Curdie, one cannot help but recognize the character integrity and formation of feminism that MacDonald incorporates into the character of Princess Irene. Is she not a suitable role model for young girls to emulate? So how does Princess Irene compare to the degenerating starlets of today? She is somewhat famous, having the King for a father of course. She also has Curdie at her beck and call - a possible starlet? I think so!
What makes Irene so much more suitable as a role model in comparison to the emanciated, intoxicated, and generally inebriated ladies that young girls seem to look up to today? Is it her capability to kick some degenerating-populace-butt? Irene is shows bravery and courage when she states, “I will go with Curdie and the Uglies” (MacDonald 240). Irene will not step aside and let her kingdom be taken over, and she definitely will not be inactive and ‘pretty’ as she watched from the sidelines.
To follow the George MacDonald way, Lindsay, Britney, and Paris et al. should all be made into members of the Uglies. Forget jail time; take away their good looks and force them to live life by improving their personalities, just as MacDonald has made Lina do. Imagine Paris with “a very short body, and very long legs made like an elephant’s…her head…something between that of a polar bear and a snake…[and with a] throat [looking] as if the hair had been plucked off” (MacDonald 76). That’s Hot!
MacDonald unknowingly tackles current society’s issue with degenerating human beings that degrade any sense of the way a good female should behave. The issue of degeneracy and the downward spiral of the general populace applies because it is not only the starlets that are falling over themselves, it is the public’s compulsive obsession to watch them fall, while going through great lengths to obtain photographic evidence, that is fueling their behavior. Societies general belief that any publicity is good publicity is degeneracy unto itself!

Starlets and Paul...

“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things” – 1 Corinthians 13:11.

“And then she told him how he had been in the nursery long enough, and must go out now and see the world, if he intended ever to be a man” – Water Babies.

Kingsley echoes the sentiments of St. Paul in the selected passage. Tom must mature in order to experience the whole of the world. Tom has reached the stage when he must put away childish things in order to progress to the next level of development. His journey is only able to begin once he realises that there is nothing to fear. Each progression and development is supposed to happen and there are tools that are to be used by Tom should he ever need them.

Kingsley continues, “And then she told him how many fine things there were to be seen in the world, and what an odd, curious, pleasant, orderly, respectable, well-managed, and, on the whole, successful sort of place it was, if people would only be tolerably brave and honest and good in it” (157). The fairy allays Tom’s fears about his venturing from the nursery comforting him by telling him how good the world was and that if everyone would be honest and good.

In both quotations it becomes clear that there are stages in life and one must leave one stage before entering another. There is not the ability to have the “best of both worlds.” Both for Tom and St. Paul there exists the need to evolve and shed those things that would hinder them. In other words, childhood and adulthood are mutually exclusive.

In today’s society there is a tendency to want the best of both worlds. Starlets revel in the fact that their money allows them to do whatever they please; forgetting that with wealth and freedom come responsibilities. For example, the idea that it is all right to drink and drive. The mentality of these starlets says, “I’m not too drunk. I can drive.” Thinking only of themselves they forget that their actions have consequences they cannot see. Thousands of young children look up to these girls hanging off every word and action they say and do. Leaving behind childish things and taking responsibility for what you do is progressing and making the world the place the fairy speaks of.

As Degeneracy Spreads....

In an online article written by Katherine DeBrecht, she speaks of her painful disgust with the entertainment industry (mainly in Hollywood) and how the youth today are oftentimes being 'raised' by either the Internet or television, which is flamboyant in the areas of sex, violence and overall moral degeneration. Furthermore, she links the examples set by young Hollywood stars and how their actions are often mimicked and praised on popular (and oftentimes very dangerous) Internet sites like Myspace.com:

Kids mimicking celebs' debauchery?
By Katharine DeBrecht
(PICTURE-->LEFT: CHRISTINA AGUILERA, SINGER; RIGHT: YOUTH COPYING POSE ON MYSPACE WEBSITE)

Sex sells, and Hollywood and advertisers know it. Unfortunately in our society today, with families as busy as ever, often both parents working away from home, our children are being raised by the media in a celebrity culture that puts them at risk by programming them to think that sexuality is life's prime attribute.
Browse through the profiles on MySpace.com, a top Internet hangout for teens and magnet for predators and you'll see many underage girls emulating provocative poses of top celebrities – proof that this is the message they are receiving.
While children do not have the maturity and wisdom to understand the dangerous risks of these postings, predators do, and that is why they are lurking on MySpace and other popular teen social networking sites.

The teen years are often marked by the need to feel accepted and fit in. Is soft porn the way we show our youth how to be accepted? Are parents, by allowing Hollywood and advertisers to saturate our youth with visual and verbal sexual messages, leaving our children as bait for predators?
Unfortunately, many parents do not realize or ignore what is really going on in MySpace.com, a virtual everything-goes spring break for kids. Phrases like promiscuous, hottie and sexy title soft porn profile images of underage girls. Profanity, sex, gangsta, STDs, alcohol and drugs are frequent posting topics. Many profiles display a playboy logo and post about celebrities, including Paris Hilton.
Couple the Hollywood sexualization of our youth with the explosion in Internet porn and you have a match made in hell. To feed an addiction after being glued to Internet porn, what does the predator do to get his fix? Hop on over to MySpace.com and hunt for prey. According to the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, last year there were more than 2,600 cases of adults luring children via the Internet.
John Maltby, who lectures in psychology at Leicester University and co-authored a study on youth attitudes toward celebrity, says, "Celebrity worship now provides an important reference point for growing up. It's part of the transfer of attachment from parents to peer group. Also, whereas in past times family, friends and teachers were influential role models, celebrities now fulfill that role."

Consider one of the largest "tween" stars, Ashlee Simpson, and her soft-porn stint as one of the latest Candies Girls. Kneeling on her bed with a teddy bear in the background, Simpson dons a low cut tee with a lacy bra poking out, lace underwear and Candies high heels.
How does the CEO of Candies, Neil Cole, see this ad? "She's a little promiscuous, but everything's covered, and she just looks fun. She looks a little bit sexy." Cole says the ad shows "a young girl who's growing up. And it's a combination, I think – in a lot of young girl's rooms you see teddy bears, and they probably have high heels."
Candies has established a foundation to use celebrities to speak out about teen pregnancy and offers T-shirts with the phrase, "Be sexy, it doesn't mean you have to have sex." In a world that sees a plague of sexual predators after our children, do we really want our tweens dressing like 20-somethings?
According to Michelle Elliot of Kidscape, "Parents have to beware. If you dress your child in a sexual way, it will justify the pedophile. We're making children vulnerable."
According to media consumption statistics from the Motion Picture Association of America, cited in a report by Ted Baehr of MovieGuide, by the time he/she is 17-years-old, the average child will have spent up to 63,835 hours watching movies, videos and TV programs, playing video games, on the Internet or listening to music, 11,000 hours in school and only 2,000 hours with parents. Sadly, it is no wonder that 70 percent of teens say they get their information about sex from the media, according to two recent studies.
As much as parents can turn off the television, attempting to shield our children, celebrity influence is pervasive in our society. By the mere poses of these children emulating celebrities on MySpace.com it is evident that celebrities do influence our children. They are copying Hollywood traits, images, values and ideals. The glamorization of their immoral behavior on and off screen is giving children sexual license without any regard to the consequences that puts our children at risk. Celebrity out of wedlock births, divorce and infidelity are glamorized, yet these same behaviors cause disastrous results for mainstream American families, such as poverty, teen pregnancy, STDs, depression and suicide.
The bottom line is our youth are being fed celebrity idolatry for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with very little parental guidance. Teens themselves do not have the maturity to be able to see through the trance of idolatry making sex look good to them. At their young age, they do not have the ability to see the dire consequences of early sexual experiences. Because of the images they see on a constant basis, subliminally programming them toward sex instead of innocence, they skip the innocence of their youth and are deprived of a safe and clean environment in which to mature and flourish.
It is common for parents to claim that when children emulate sexy celebrities, it is either a phase or the sign of the times, yet look at the times we live in: excessive Internet porn, sexual predators in the home via a computer screen, teachers charged with statutory rape, etc. Is the molestation, abduction, rape or murder of our children a "phase" or "sign of the times" we are going to accept?

Charles Darwin's "The Descent of Man"

Natural Selection aided by Inherited Habits
The Descent of Man connected the habits and hereditary factors between man and animal. Darwin starts out by stating that man has inherited ‘instinctive feelings’ which are also apparent amongst animals. The difference which separates the two is that human feelings have further. Nonetheless, he states that we both attain this same “general disposition”. An example of this shared general disposition is the feeling of unease which is felt when one separates from his/her comrade. Thus, here both species are feeling some degree of love (“they would have “warned each other of danger, and have given mutual aid in attack or defense”. (Descent handout, 1) These can be further explained as the sharing of social qualities, which would include sympathy, fidelity and courage. Darwin states that these same qualities were in no doubt “acquired by the progenitors of man in similar manner, namely, through natural selection, aided by inherited habit”. (Descent handout, 1)

Fear of Prospering Degeneracy
In The Descent of Man, Darwin also discusses the ideas of natural selection. First he argues that natural selection is entirely positive and purposeful for a group of species, as it only elongates their chances for future survival. However, natural selection does not necessarily aid the most genuine, courageous, sympathetic or faithful people when the competition is between an individual versus another individual. It was scenario’s such as these that made Darwin worrisome for the future, for he thought that people with conniving and overall degenerative characteristics would come through as the survivors, only to further procreate and thus, promote degeneracy.

Tribe versus Tribe: In a scenario such as this the victorious tribe would be the one which includes the greater number of “courageous, sympathetic and faithful members, who are always ready to warn each other of danger, to aid and defend each other…[this tribe would succeed better and conquer the other]”. (Descent handout, 1) Darwin goes on to state that there is a greater advantage for the disciplined soldiers over those who are not disciplined, which is attained through a great sense of comradeship.
Individual versus Individual: In this scenario, there would be competition between two peoples of the same group. Darwin concludes that when it came to battle, the most faithful, courageous and sympathetic soldiers were the ones who would volunteer to battle first and thus, they would die in larger numbers. Therefore, the realization was that through natural selection and the “survival of the fittest”, virtuous people seldom survive as individuals (versus how they would survive when competing against a separate group).

Darwin feared that these degenerating characteristics would only be passed on to these people’s children, which would further produce self serving, treacherous, immoral humans. In other words, Darwin feared that our future would end up devoured by untamable degeneracy. Furthermore, Darwin states it as essential for our society to ‘eliminate’ these immoral or “worst” human beings for our civilizations to have a chance to progress. He gives examples of how “melancholic and insane persons are confined, or commit suicide…[and] violent and quarrelsome men often come to a bloody end”. (Descent handout, 4) Thus, it is important to prevent these peoples from reproducing in order to secure a progressive future, for like Darwin states, in the “eternal struggle for existence, it would be the inferior and LESS favoured race that had prevailed--and prevailed by virtue not of its good qualities but of its faults”. (Descent handout, 5)

Lindsay and the Doasyoulikes.

In Kingley’s novel Tom encounters a fairy who shows him a book entitled “The History of the great and famous nation of the Doasyoulikes, who came away from the country of Hardwork, because they wanted to play on the Jew’s harp all day long” (158). These people were content to laze about listening to (though not playing any instruments) music and eating grapes. Kingsley writes, “There were never such comfortable, easy-going, happy-go-lucky, people in the world” (160). They lived their entire lives oblivious to to the fact the nearby volcano might explode.

Within the next five hundred years the volcano has exploded and two thirds of the Doasyoulikes were destroyed. These people were so wrapped up in doing whatever they wanted that they did not notice the impending explosion of the mountain. The fairy says, “I did warn them all I could. I let the smoke come out of the mountain; And I laid the ashes and cinders all about; and wherever there are cinders, cinders may be again. But they did not like to face facts, my dears, as very few people do” (160-1).

And so, the Doasyoulikes continued doing as they liked degenerating into the apes they evolved from. The Doasyoulikes ignorance of the fairy's signs remind me of the frequent trips to rehab that Lindsay Lohan has made. It seems that no matter how many warnings or reprimands she receives, she does whatever she wants. The drunk/high on cocaine driving charges, the numerous stints in rehab, and the accidents should all be clear warning signs to her.

Lindsay Lohan would do well to take the advice of Kingsley and stop making poor choices that could end up with the extinction of her career. It seems that as her popularity increased, Lohan became as complacent as the Doasyoulikes. According to Kingsley, there exists in work a restorative power similar to nature. As the Doasyoulikes were lazy, they did not see the need to move away from an active volcano. Had they exerted themselves and relocated, their race would still be alive. Lohan seems to spend more time partying than doing any viable work. As a result there abound about her rumours of drug use, anorexia, drunkenness and general moral degeneration. The life and death of the Doasyoulikes share a number of things in common with today's starlets the least of which is their inability to heed the warnings about them. Lindsay may yet be able to save her career if she pays attention to the ashes and cinders surrounding her.

For a time line of Lohan's exploits (good and bad) click here.

Britney and the City.

“But soon the road grew white, and the walls likewise; and at wall’s foot grew long grass and gay flowers, all drenched with dew; and instead of the groaning of the pit-engine they heard the skylark saying his matins high up in the air, and the pit-bird warbling in the sedges, as he had warbled all night long.” – Water Babies

As Tom and Mr. Grimes leave the Charles Kingsley makes it apparent they are leaving behind them the dirt and degeneration of the city. As they leave the city things begin to turn white, an indication of purity and cleanliness. Nature begins to take precedent over the industrialised, machinated city. The sounds of the pit-engines fade away and they are left with the regenerative sounds of nature, in the form of the skylark, to listen to.

Kingsley uses the song of the skylark to show the divine aspect of nature. In the quotation the skylark sings his matins. While meaning “the morning song of birds,” it also means “[o]ne of the daily offices appointed in the breviary of the Western Christian Church, usually taken as forming (with the following office, lauds) the first of the canonical hours” (“matins” def. 1b OED). It was designed to prepare the people for the first mass of the day. Here it indicates that as Tom and Grimes are leaving the city they are about to enter something holy and the songbird is preparing them to commune with the divine.

It seems to me that as Kingsley Romanticised the country, we seem to prize the values associated with the city. With our insatiable consumerism and fast-paced lifestyles, we rarely leave our comforts to enjoy the restorative aspects of nature. It is apparent, from the above passage, that the ultimate goal of Kingsley was communion with the restorative aspects of nature and this could not happen without leaving the city.

Starlet Britney Spears was born in a rural Louisiana town called Kentwood. Population: 2656. As her career took flight it drew her to the destructive city like a moth to a flame. It seemed the more her career became successful, the more power the city had over her. We watched as her moral character degenerated from the lovable girl in the Mickey Mouse club to the vampish young lady we saw in the Slave 4 You video. We watched also as she married a young no-so-gentleman named Kevin Federline.

With today’s 24/7 “news” networks, every step of Britney’s degeneration was documented. From her alleged child abuse to the nervous breakdown she suffered when she shaved her head. Not a detail was left out. One wonders if Britney has ever read, let alone ever read Kingley’s Water Babies. If she had, she would have realised that city living ain’t easy and perhaps it would have been better for her moral character, and ours, had she never left the quaint, upstanding, rural town of Kentwood. But then again, there’s no million dollar record deals in Kentwood.

The Origin of Species: The Dangers of Complacency

Leaflet #1: The Facts about Natural Selection

In the beginning was the simplest of single-form organisms, which eventually, after millions of years, evolved into more complex species. After evolving for hundreds of millions of years, out of the primordial slime arose land animals. Do not think that humans have quickly and painlessly evolved from these primeval organisms. The reality is natura non facit saltum, viz. nature does not proceed by leaps. Before evolving into homo sapiens, our ancestors had to endure a process of evolution that spanned hundred of millions of years, and that included nearly countless transformations of one species into another. How these proto-humans changed and progress was by means of natural selection.

The mechanism of natural selection works like this: imagine a tree that flourishes with fruit. Now, put a lake with fresh, potable water beside the tree. Assume that the lake and the tree are the only sources of liquid and food in an entire area that is inhabited by many species. Those species that adapt best to the environment, and that develop the mental and physical attributes best suited for acquiring resources from the tree and the lake will survive, while other species die. Natural selection determines which races of organisms are fit to subsist and evolve. Those species that survive are indebted to natural selection for vouchsafing them superior traits than their competitors.

As in nature the strongest, the cleverest, and those with the best physical features progress and defeat their rivals, so is the case in civilization, which is the subject of our next leaflet.

By Dr. Pope, Darwinist PhD, ThD.

Leaflet #2: A Warning

As all informed people know, Darwinism is not merely a theory for academic reflection; natural selection is a scientific fact that governs all of nature. Our duty as enlightened 20th century intellectuals is not just to understand evolution, but also to contribute to its progress. Since we know where we have come from, we can perceive where we are headed. As the 19th century luminary, our founder and forefather, Charles Darwin proclaimed, the universal struggle for life is the only truth.

The industrial revolution and globalization have completely altered the course of evolution. Civilizations and imperial powers are now no longer bound as in the past by geography. Technological innovations have broken barriers that once limited communication. Although technologically first world nations have progressed since the last two centuries, there is so much social and moral decay that western civilization is degenerating.

From terrorism, to poverty, to illegal immigrants, to alarmingly high murder rates and violence, to declining educational achievement, North America is on the brink of self-destruction. Pervasive drug use in forms of new chemical compounds plagues us. We are in peril of becoming so obese that for the first time since the beginning of the 20th century, our succeeding generation will have a shorter lifespan than the previous! This is proof of degeneracy.

If we do not prevent degeneracy, we will be left behind in the global development project and will be surpassed by communist states like China, or worse still we will become the next endangered species.
Next, we shall make a closer examination of degeneracy in action.

By Dr. Pope, Darwinist PhD, ThD.

Leaflet #3: Degeneracy in Action

For an example of degeneracy, let us take a look at popular culture, with which we are all unfortunately too well versed.

Remember that prior to the technological breakthroughs during and after WW II, celebrities were famous for displaying discernible talents. With the advent of the MTV generation, celebrities are now famous simply because they can get their faces on television. There is no person who exemplifies this vexing phenomenon more than Paris Hilton. She became world renown overnight because she is a billionaire heiress who appeared on a scandalous video that circulated around the internet. Instead shunning her for her inglorious scandal, the media and much of the general public have become enamored with every facet of her extravagant and promiscuous life. This young woman has attracted millions of adoring fans, yet she is glorified not by any contributions to science, to society, or to politics. Her followers love her purely because she lives an opulent and profligate life, one that is packaged neatly by paparazzi for mass consumption. People like her have become America’s drug. Rather than spend their time in worthwhile pursuits, the public makes following celebrities’ lives its scholarly expertise. Many are scholars of pop trivia, reading time consuming nonsense like the tabloids. Average high school students know more about Paris Hilton’s latest fashion trends than they do about evolution. Youth are so deluded and hypnotized by popular culture – via music, movies, and the internet – that they have no clue the commoner’s mind is degenerating.

If more young girls become like Paris, then the coming generation will face epidemics like sexually transmitted diseases, idleness, and ignorance. The world has degenerated into this sad state, in which people are revered for no other reason than that they have money and are famous. Paris Hilton is the embodiment of modern female degeneracy.

Hollywood has played an insidious part in society’s potential downfall as well. While filmmakers are generally to be lauded for their commitment to the science of Darwin, the silver screen has tragically produced personages who threaten mankind’s progress. Lindsay Lohan is a prime example of a degenerate whose self-destructive behavior is damaging because the public is titillated by her worthless activities. This starlet is the offspring of a criminal father and an unscrupulous mother, both of whom have genetic flaws, which predictably have been passed onto their daughter. When teenagers who idolize Lohan see her on the news constantly carousing, partying, and drinking-and-driving, what will these young girls do but imitate her?

Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan’s degeneracy is the degeneracy of North American young girls. These impressionable and ignorant youths will invariable ape their starlet goddesses. Degeneracy affects both genders, though, as young boys are in no better position than the fairer, more delicate sex. The popularity of degenerate starlets entices men to lust for unhealthy and unfit women who ought not to reproduce. Furthermore, young girls will not develop the intelligence that they need. While rich degenerates like Paris can survive and live luxuriously without ever acquiring many skills, middle-class women will grow up to discover that the world is a harsh and maleficent place, where natural selection destroys the weak.

Although eugenics is a controversial subject, it indisputably has scientific merit. Scientists are identifying key genes that are linked to criminality and violent dispositions. In the near future, science will tell us who are fittest to propagate, and who should not spread their genes. For now, those of you who are vigorous, patriotic, and intelligent, you should marry a similarly endowed partner and make plans for a large family. Nature has given you favored traits, so you are obligated to pass them on and replenish our race.

By Dr. Pope, Darwinist PhD, ThD.

Leaflet #4: An Exhortation for Social Intervention

The final step to progress is advancement of evolution’s tenets. Intellectualism and science have been relegated to the obscurity of academia. Immorality such as promiscuity and drug abuse are considered liberating and acceptable. The characteristics of a progressing society are healthy, intelligent, well informed, and well bred citizens. Tragically, we are in short supply of people who match this description. You can make a difference though. Just as recycling requires the commitment of millions of individuals, so too does progression depend on personal effort from millions.

Please do not think that just because you do not participate in behavior that harms the environment, yourself, or others that you will be exempt from degeneracy. Unlike in the past, when degenerates usually die in large numbers from disease and starvation, today’s universal healthcare system ensures that they live longer and drain the resources of taxpayers like you and me.

For more information, please contact our offices and speak directly to a local, friendly Darwinist.

Charles Robert Darwin: 1809-1882

Darwin was a British naturalist, known to many as the father of evolutionary biology, for he revolutionized the sciences of biology through his demonstration of evolution by natural selection. He would go on to write his widely read workings such as, On the Origin of Species By Means Of Natural Selection, and The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle of Life, which when first published, sold out immediately. Showing interest geological specimens at a young age, his then Botany professor (John Stevens Henslow) decided to invite Darwin on an expedition to survey the HMS Beagle to Patagonia. This voyage took five years to complete (years 1831-36) and upon his return back home, Darwin had recorded many observations (while voyaging through Tenerife, the Cape Verde Islands, Brazil, the Galapagos Islands, etc..) These observations had lead to the publishing of many works (several to be exact), while attaining the title of the 'secretary of the Geological Society' (years 1838-41). In 1839, Darwin married his cousin, Emma Wedgewood and when he wasn’t devoting time to his observations and research, led quite a simple life of a country gentleman. Throughout the 1840’s Darwin dove deeper into his workings on the origins of species and later, when he published his most popular work: The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, there was heavy attack against him, for his works directly opposed the bible’s depiction of creation (In the book of Genesis). His works concluded that evolution worked naturally (his theory of natural selection) and thus, there was no room for divine involvement. However, it is important to note that Darwin himself did not apply his theory to humans. This may have been to divert the unwavering criticisms that would have taken place (not only against him, but also against his friends and family). Nonetheless, Darwin would continue to publish works (for Darwin’s religious beliefs altered from Christianity in his youth to Deism and finally, he had evolved to agnosticism much later on in his life) on his theories, amongst which The Descent of Man was extremely popular. This work would go on to show the similarities between man and animal in their expressions of emotions and furthermore, planted the seeds for the science of ethnology. Darwin died in Down, Kent on April 19th, 1882 and is now buried in Westminster Abbey.