Matthew Perry Postscript

An occasion for educating young people.

Many readers of my post this morning— Matthew Perry: Emperor of Drug Dunces—commented that my post was too harsh and unforgiving of Mr. Perry. They missed the point.

In writing my post, I was concerning myself with the education of young people, not with the matter of forgiving adults for their weaknesses and vices.

It’s an obvious fact that our society has a generally permissive attitude towards recreational drug use while at the same time insisting that some people (like Matthew Perry) can’t handle occasionally indulging in recreational drugs and therefore become lifelong addicts.

In my post I argued that holding this set of poorly examined and contradictory attitudes is a terrible mistake as it bears on the education of young people. We don’t think twice about educating young people to regard all manner of criminal conduct with contempt and revulsion. Consequently, the majority of young people wouldn’t even think about committing most serious crimes. However, when it comes to recreational drugs, we make excuses and exceptions.

Educating young people is the business of equipping them with the attitudes, discipline, and wisdom that will give them the highest probability of leading healthy, prosperous, and joyful lives.

This means cultivating in young people an attitude of contempt towards substances and bad habits that will harm them, and admiration for good habits that will enable them to achieve their potential. If I were educating young boys, I would point to Novak Djokovic as a model of virtue, discipline, diligence, and strong-mindedness. Conversely, I would point to Matthew Perry’s bad habits as a cautionary tale of what young people should avoid like the plague.

The greatest wisdom an adult can confer to a young person is that the pain of regret is far greater than the pain of discipline and sacrifice.

Regarding the proper attitude towards Mr. Perry: what is compassionate about telling an addict that he is a helpless victim?

It seems to me that of the many delusions that beset our confused society, the greatest is that those who advocate the victimhood model of the human condition are the most compassionate. I would argue that, on the contrary, those who offer the message “you are a helpless victim” are in fact the greatest saboteurs of human flourishing and happiness. Such people are enamored with their self-image of being “compassionate” while doing absolutely nothing to help anyone to achieve anything.

Far more kind and compassionate are those who insist that, for all of your life’s difficulties, you are NOT a helpless victim. By adopting the right attitudes and developing the right habits, you can fight back against the formidable enemies arrayed against you such as drug and alcohol addiction. The fight will be extremely difficult, and you will often be tempted to capitulate to the enemy, but a great triumph ultimately lies within your grasp.