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[siddx]

Yeah, I would be concerned if my kid tanned everyday or drank everyday or what have you. There is a point where you are doing too much of anything. Those three things it would be if you do it everday. Eating too much a day that's a problem. If you go to the gym too long everyday that's a problem. Obviously, you could go everyday but if you spend 4 hours everyday, it gets to be unhealthy, etc. I think at the point where you smoke everday, admit to it being a crutch and also that you are addicted, it's a problem. Don't you?

It's a very rare thing in life to find someone who can walk through it without a crutch to help. Whether it be a few times over the course of his life, or consistently. We all look to crutches that very often are completely unhealthy. And on the flipside, you have to wonder, what is more unhealthy? Stress or sess? Will his life be any better or less harmful to him now that his parents have removed Gaf from his life and locked him down to make sure he never smokes weed or acts like a bad non christian boy? Or will it in fact be far more unhealthy now that he has no coping mechanism to deal with a stressful situation of having this conflict and change in his life.

I think the bottom line is you and I are two people both straddling the same line of the issue, just on different sides. We are close enough in agreement that either one of us could concede large parts of what the other is saying. All I know is I am having a very stressful time in my life right now myself and all I want is to start smoking again but instead I am relying on Southern Comfort 100 proof as a crutch instead. But everyone I know tells me I should be smoking weed instead...including my own parents :lol

 

[Eteric Rice]

Your parents were worried about you, and since you wouldn't open up to them, they wanted to find out what was going on, on their own. While it may have been a breach of privacy, it was done out of love and while I'd ask them to respect your privacy, I wouldn't hold it against them.

As for them worrying about you going to hell and what not. More accurate translations of the bible say that hell isn't what modern Christians think it is. It's simply the grave.

But that's a WHOLE different subject. It's something I studied when I was sort of obsessed with biblical lore.

I say if they truly have faith in their God, then they'd leave you and your destiny to him and not worry to much about it.

But either way, keep in mind they did all of that because they love you. Love you makes you do silly and illogical things. Love is blind.

 

[dudeworld]

I'm so glad that I don't have brain washed parents

 

[Hylian7]

This has probably already been said a billion times in this thread, but I'm going to say it again regardless:

I honestly hope your parents read this entire thread, perhaps it will open their eyes a bit. I can understand SOME of the stuff they wanted (such as no weed in the house, as they probably don't want that in the air of their own home since it is their house). 90% of the things they did were ridiculous. I say don't leave GAF keep posting and lock your computer in the future!

As for EzLink's parents:

He is TWENTY-ONE years old! He can waltz into a liquor store and legally buy alchol, lottery tickets, buy porn, go to strip clubs, and whatever else I can't think of that you have to be 21 to do. In short, he's a grown man and you shouldn't be going through his private stuff (such as his computer) like he is a 12-year-old. Not wanting the weed in your house is one thing, I can understand where you're coming from with that, but everything else is just ridiculous.

Forcing a religion on your own children is ridiculous. It's a matter of opinion, which is how religion started to begin with. It was basically "Well who made all this stuff? Obviously someone had to" or the argunement of "Nature did it." We don't know for sure, and it's a matter of OPINION not a FACT. If it's a matter of opinion, he should be able to choose what to believe on the subject. When I have kids one day, I won't force them to be of any particular religion, and I'll leave it completely up to them if they want to join a church or not. If they want to try one church or another, I'll gladly help them and take them there. If they don't that's fine too. Just forcing a religion on someone is wrong though.

 

[BocoDragon]

Except he wasn't brow-beaten because his parents didn't know about the potsmoking when he said he said that and he already called bullshit on all the DARE stuff. I used to smoke weed pretty much every weekend and I never said I was addicted because of being brow-beaten by authority figures.

Just pointing out that one man's addiction is another man's normal form of relaxation... The only metric is whether its impairing one's ability to live their life, and that's a matter of opinion and perspective... heavily influenced by authoritarian inquisitions like the one EzLink just went though.

EzLink here seems to be in a post-fight conciliatory phase... overly ready to admit his own faults in order to move forward with his parents. Just because he says he was "addicted" at this point doesn't necessarily mean it was a serious problem until his parents encouraged him to see it as such.

There is definitely the potential to be psychologically addicted to things like marijuana... but I believe that in this case, the conclusion that it was a "problem" was made under duress from parental influence. That said.. it is Ez's conclusion for himself, and since he has made the conclusion that it was an addiction and he's quitting, I would never suggest that he do anything otherwise. I just don't think, from what I've read, that he was really an addict with a problem... so much as he has been socially prodded to see it that way...

 

[Aselith]

It's a very rare thing in life to find someone who can walk through it without a crutch to help. Whether it be a few times over the course of his life, or consistently. We all look to crutches that very often are completely unhealthy. And on the flipside, you have to wonder, what is more unhealthy? Stress or sess? Will his life be any better or less harmful to him now that his parents have removed Gaf from his life and locked him down to make sure he never smokes weed or acts like a bad non christian boy? Or will it in fact be far more unhealthy now that he has no coping mechanism to deal with a stressful situation of having this conflict and change in his life.

I think the bottom line is you and I are two people both straddling the same line of the issue, just on different sides. We are close enough in agreement that either one of us could concede large parts of what the other is saying. All I know is I am having a very stressful time in my life right now myself and all I want is to start smoking again but instead I am relying on Southern Comfort 100 proof as a crutch instead. But everyone I know tells me I should be smoking weed instead...including my own parents :lol

I agree with them. For you, definitely get on the weed if that keeps you from the drink. Look at all the information that Gaborn posted and make the better choice. I'm not saying that weed is the worst thing ever but you always want to make the healthier choice. Weed addiction is a crutch so you move on to a healthier choice and on down the line until your stress management stuff is good enough that you can cope with your life and still be a healthy person. Occasional pot use to have a good time and relieve stress is of course ok. Again I don't have an issue with pot itself. Just doesn't seem like this dude is using it in a healthy way which he admits himself that he isn't.

EzLink here seems to be in a post-fight conciliatory phase... overly ready to admit his own faults in order to move forward with his parents. Just because he says he was "addicted" at this point doesn't necessarily mean it was a serious problem until his parents encouraged him to see it as such.

There is definitely the potential to be psychologically addicted to things like marijuana... but I believe that in this case, the conclusion that it was a "problem" was made under duress from parental influence. That said.. it is Ez's conclusion for himself, and since he has made the conclusion that it was an addiction and he's quitting, I would never suggest that he do anything otherwise. I just don't think, from what I've read, that he was really an addict with a problem... so much as he has been socially prodded to see it that way...

He was mentioning something his parents saw in a thread in which he was posting BEFORE he got caught. This was when his activities were still covert so that doesn't really apply.

I'm not sure there is any statistical evidence that suggests smoking marijuana every day is more risky than smoking it semi regularly, though if you have some I'd be interested in it.

I'd say the same about alcohol. I don't even think a person that drinks every day is unhealthy, but if they drink every day and get DRUNK every day because they can't cope with their life, that's a problem.

This is what I was talking about. I wasn't refering to potential health risks but rather the psychological effects of needing to toke up on the daily. Again, alcohol vs. pot one being better than the other is not at issue because it's not a choice between the two. You can seriously pick to not choose to do either daily. I know it may seem like a choice of one or the other but it can potentially be neither.

 

[Nameless]

I'm so glad that I don't have brain washed parents

Just I few weeks ago I verbally thanked my parents for not raising me in a religious environment. They're both believers but they felt it was important for me to come to my own conclusions, they also didn't want me to go through the crap my did went through being raised in an extremely religious house hold.

It's crazy how totally different two situations can be. My dad and I actually buy weed for each other sometimes. :lol

 

[dudeworld]

Just I few weeks ago I verbally thanked my parents for not raising me in a religious environment. They're both believers but they felt it was important for me to come to my own conclusions, they also didn't want me to go through the crap my did went through being raised in an extremely religious house hold.

It's crazy how totally different two situations can be. My dad and I actually buy weed for each other sometimes. :lol

Lol my parents let me come to my own conclusions as well, although they were never really religious. We went to church a couple times when I was a kid and that was it.

I've heard plenty of similar stories. I find it interesting how most people who come to their own conclusions hardly follow a religious path.

 

[vas_a_morir]

OH OH OH

Change ezlink's avatar to permanently say "Hi mom" after the permaban.

 

[GhaleonQ]

Lol my parents let me come to my own conclusions as well, although they were never really religious. We went to church a couple times when I was a kid and that was it.

I've heard plenty of similar stories. I find it interesting how most people who come to their own conclusions hardly follow a religious path.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost

This indicates laziness more than anything (whoever is right). I'm not going to learn another religion to the extent that I know my own, for instance. The same goes for moving from 0 to 1.

 

[Futureman]

It's really irrelevant that he's 21. The way we have our society set up, if you are in college and your parents are paying for it, they pretty much still call the shots.

This dude's gonna be blazing the second he gets back to college though, ha.

 

[fallout]

EZlink: You'll be missed in the Metal Thread.

For what it's worth, I went through the whole religious upbringing --> atheist thing. Maybe not to the extent that you did, but it was a similarly painful transition.

Best of luck!

 

[PflargBlarg]

This thread could be a gold mine for psychologists.

I was horrified by the responses here, but then it came upon me that maybe they weren't just trolling, but that they actually believe what they said.

*looks up at the NeoGAF logo*

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/9588/1428800-colbertnooooo_1_.gif[IMG][/QUOTE]

Willy105
[B]Motherfucking dumbshit member[/B]

Yep, you're just all superior there buddy. I don't even know what you're talking about. I think most people have agreed that smoking weed, while not particularly harmful, against the rules of the house was a bad idea. But are you really going to argue that it was totally cool for his parents to go through his browser history? Or how they flipped out over his atheism was totally fine and rational?
Parents aren't there to control what their child thinks (after a certain point anyway), especially when he's 21 years old.

 

[RDreamer]

This whole situation makes me pretty thankful for my own parents. I was always thankful for them, but this just kind of brought it up again. They're pretty religious and slightly strict, but there came a point where they had to let go and let me and my sister make our own decisions in life, whether they agreed or not. I moved out of the college dorms and in with my girlfriend who moved up from Indiana to Wisconsin. They didn't think this was right, and also thought it was against our religion, but they knew I wanted to do it, and so they helped me as much as they possibly could along the way. They could have stepped back and said go ahead and try, but we won't help, or they could have done like EZ's parents and got a tighter grip on me, but they did the absolute opposite thing. They helped me at any point they could, and they still do. I'll always remember that, and I intend to raise my children the same way.

 

[Epcott]

OP: "Yeah I'm kinda in a bad financial position so I'm living with my parents, I love them and they mean well but they're old fashioned Christians and did some shady things to check on me because of their nature. We're at odds since they found my posts so I think I'm going to chill for a bit. Learn from my mistakes, lol! Thanks for the good time guys!"

GAF: "COMIENZA LA REVOLUCIóN"

OP: "Wait, what?"

:lol

Pretty much this.

Well OP, it was cool seeing your avy around these parts. Happy trails.

Hopefully you'll exercise a little more moderation in your next endeavors: drinking, smoking (when you start again), religion/atheism, communication with parents, school and social life, etc.

Hopefully GAF Mom and Pop will too!

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

Hi Ezlink's parents!

I know nobody is going to disavow you of the notion that your son's unbelief will send him to hell, but please don't try to force him to conform to your point of view. Coercion into a set mode of behaviour is not belief and any result of this will be damaging.

Essentially, you need to live with the son you've got - not the one you wish you had.

EDIT: Not that I condone your son's behaviour or necessarily believe his justifications for it - after all, everything in moderation. Pot isn't as bad as you've been led to believe (it's not physically addictive, unlike tobacco) and this is coming from someone who rarely drinks and has never smoked in his life.

 

[Biff]

I love how OP defends weed even though it has ruined his life.

If that doesn't speak to how addictive this shit is than I don't know what will. He even admits to his addiction but says it is "harmless".

I'm financially tied to them, and will be until I have my degree and a stable job. So unless I want to double my student loans just to smoke weed, I have to suffer through their rules until I'm officially out of the house

Sooo... You could theoretically get your own place if you give up weed but don't want to? wat :lol

 

[kame-sennin]

Guys, stop calling me spineless :lol I'm not changing who I am. The only thing I'm forced to change is my weed smoking.

Yea, honestly this is not a big deal. They don't want illegal drugs in their house, and he's complying with that rule so that he can live there - for FREE - while he's in college. They're not forcing him to accept Jesus or telling him what sites he can visit, they just won't allow drugs (that could get them in trouble) in their house. It also seems like the whole thing has pretty much blown over, so I wouldn't move out if I was Ezlink.

And for all the people outraged by the snooping, get over it. Two people who pay a mortgage on a house when into one of the rooms in said house and looked through a computer they probably paid for. Should they give their adult child more privacy? Yes. Are their beliefs completely irrational? Yes. But if Ezlink wants to live their for free, he needs to deal with their personality quirks - the worst of which, as I said, seem to have blown over already.

Btw Ezlink, why are you quitting gaf? Your parents already know you're a dirty heathen. As long as you don't admit to smoking more weed, I don't see how anything you say on here now is going to affect you.

And I'll still browse GAF, possibly even have an alt. account. But I couldn't reveal my true identity, as there is always a chance they will see it and go through and read everything else I'm posting as a new member. It has less to do with me "changing my life" in accordance with their policies, and more to do with the fact that there is still shit I won't want my parents reading from me and I want to take precautions to avoid further unnecessary stress on the home front

Not to contradict what I said above, but you're an adult and your parents are the ones taking it upon themselves to look through your posts. If they don't like what they find, then they need to get over it (aside from weed). You got in this mess by hiding your life from your parents. Now that you've been exposed, this is your opportunity to let your parents learn a valuable lesson; when it comes to their adult child's private life, the only choices they have are blissful ignorance or the ugly truth. Let your parents snoop all they want, they'll eventually get tired of it (repulsed more likely) and you will develop new, healthy boundaries.

 

[Kalnos]

Oh memories, I remember when I told my mom that I was an agnostic atheist. I'm pretty sure she just chose to ignore that I ever said it since we haven't talked about religion in a long while. :lol

 

[WascallyWabbit]

Oh memories, I remember when I told my mom that I was an agnostic atheist. I'm pretty sure she just chose to ignore that I ever said it since we haven't talked about religion in a long while. :lol

What's an agnostic atheist?

 

[El Sloth]

I love how OP defends weed even though it has ruined his life.

If that doesn't speak to how addictive this shit is than I don't know what will. He even admits to his addiction but says it is "harmless".


Sooo... You could theoretically get your own place if you give up weed but don't want to? wat :lol

wut

OP's whole point is that he is giving up weed so he can afford going to school.

 

[thesoapster]

What's an agnostic atheist?

I'm guessing someone who lives life as if there is no higher power and personally believes there is no higher power, though keeps the technical possibility open that there COULD be one, however unlikely. I believe this is how Richard Dawkins describes himself, actually.

 

[mavs]

The internet stuff is ridiculous, but I can't really blame them for getting upset over pot. I'd be pissed if I found out my roommate was smoking inside. Ignorance is bliss on that front, though.

Sooo... You could theoretically get your own place if you give up weed but don't want to? wat :lol

wtf? He could pay his own way through college, in which case he would be free to smoke. Or he could live with his parents and keep their assistance.

 

[way more]

Woah, woah woah, Milk chocolatey ass?


I just wanna give a quick shout-out to EZLink's parents, your boy has been a good member and I hope you forgive him he probably needs an outlet and this can work as one.

Peace out!

 

[Jintor]

Laters EZLink. You're a cool cat. Don't like what your parents did lookin' at your private stuff but them's the brakes. Keep with the schoolin'.

 

[WascallyWabbit]

I'm guessing someone who lives life as if there is no higher power and personally believes there is no higher power, though keeps the technical possibility open that there COULD be one, however unlikely. I believe this is how Richard Dawkins describes himself, actually.

lol maybe that's why Kalnos' mom never brought it up again, she was just confused by the definition

 

[Salsa]

So glad my parents are a couple of atheist hippies who smoked weed in their youth.

They would never go through my stuff, your parents are nuts. Run now.

 

[Gaborn]

This is what I was talking about. I wasn't refering to potential health risks but rather the psychological effects of needing to toke up on the daily. Again, alcohol vs. pot one being better than the other is not at issue because it's not a choice between the two. You can seriously pick to not choose to do either daily. I know it may seem like a choice of one or the other but it can potentially be neither.

I didn't say it was one or the other. I have never smoked marijuana and I probably drink less than once a month.

Dependency is a problem regardless of a substance but just because someone can become dependent on most substance that's not in itself a reason a substance is inherently bad. Any drug can be used safely, and any drug can be abused. You seemed more interested in the fact the EZLink may have become dependent on marijuana specifically as if it validates the idea that marijuana itself is an inherently dangerous substance. All I said is that my response (and any sensible response) should be directed at the dependency regardless of the particular substance.

 

[YoungHav]

:lol I usually just ignore these wall of text posts but this was the most entertaining farewell post I've seen. LOL @ Dad Vic Mackey tackling you for your drugs. Tell your folks God made weed for his children to smoke.

 

[Kalnos]

lol maybe that's why Kalnos' mom never brought it up again, she was just confused by the definition

Nah, she doesn't bring it up because she's just happy to believe I'm 'lost' and will eventually find myself or something of the sort.

Also, the terms atheist and agnostic aren't mutually exclusive. Atheism deals with belief, or lack thereof, while agnosticism/gnosticism deals with knowledge.

 

[Druz]

They have every right to shit on you for smoking weed. You lose any kind of credence by trying to argue about how harmless it is... kind of amazing you'd try that. Even if it was fucking good for you doesn't make it legal.

All of your issues only makes your atheism look worse... to them you probably sound like a crazy person yelling how sane they are. Can't help yah there pal. No matter how insanely retard christian they are you aren't innocent and have no platform to argue from -- their son is a drug user.

 

[Hylian7]

What's an agnostic atheist?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkEJtQJ5tz4

This explains it pretty well.

 

[Rewrite]

Good luck. You'll need it. Take care and adios.

 

[BocoDragon]

They have every right to shit on you for smoking weed. You lose any kind of credence by trying to argue about how harmless it is... kind of amazing you'd try that. Even if it was fucking good for you doesn't make it legal.

All of your issues only makes your atheism look worse... to them you probably sound like a crazy person yelling how sane they are. Can't help yah there pal. No matter how insanely retard christian they are you aren't innocent and have no platform to argue from -- their son is a drug user.

I hope this is a troll.

 

[IamMattFox]

Some suave Gaf member needs to sweep EzLink's mom off her feet. She'll start her cougar phase, accept Gaf, and all will be well in the world.

 

[Chemo]

They have every right to shit on you for smoking weed. You lose any kind of credence by trying to argue about how harmless it is... kind of amazing you'd try that. Even if it was fucking good for you doesn't make it legal.

All of your issues only makes your atheism look worse... to them you probably sound like a crazy person yelling how sane they are. Can't help yah there pal. No matter how insanely retard christian they are you aren't innocent and have no platform to argue from -- their son is a drug user.

Hahah, WHOA.

Whoa.

 

[Plywood]

They have every right to shit on you for smoking weed. You lose any kind of credence by trying to argue about how harmless it is... kind of amazing you'd try that. Even if it was fucking good for you doesn't make it legal.

All of your issues only makes your atheism look worse... to them you probably sound like a crazy person yelling how sane they are. Can't help yah there pal. No matter how insanely retard christian they are you aren't innocent and have no platform to argue from -- their son is a drug user.

 

[Papercuts]

Some suave Gaf member needs to sweep EzLink's mom off her feet. She'll start her cougar phase, accept Gaf, and all will be well in the world.

Clearly this is Combine's destiny.

 

[Max]

I'm glad no-one can view my posts from my account, for some reason

Max, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.

 

[wolfmat]

I'm glad no-one can view my posts from my account, for some reason

Search is disabled. Posting history lookups are done through the search function.

 

[Max]

NO ONE IS SAFE.

Wait, his parents figured that out? Because I had no idea I could search for anything other than thread titles o.o

 

[UrbanRats]

Some suave Gaf member needs to sweep EzLink's mom off her feet. She'll start her cougar phase, accept Gaf, and all will be well in the world.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1178663/ ?

 

[ultron87]

So did we ever find out how his parents so effectively looked up his post history with the rather ineffective Google search bar?

 

[WillyFive]

Yep, you're just all superior there buddy. I don't even know what you're talking about. I think most people have agreed that smoking weed, while not particularly harmful, against the rules of the house was a bad idea. But are you really going to argue that it was totally cool for his parents to go through his browser history? Or how they flipped out over his atheism was totally fine and rational?
Parents aren't there to control what their child thinks (after a certain point anyway), especially when he's 21 years old.

I'm not saying that I would love for them to go through his browsing history, but it shouldn't be a big deal that they did, as parents they should have been able to do it. It is irrelevant what age he is, he is old, but still their son under their roof.

And of course they are going to flip out that their son has been living a radically different life than they thought he had. No rational person would just react to news that big with "Oh OK, that's fine.", unless they were under some serious influence.

You don't have to like it, but his parents had the upper hand. It's incredible you would argue otherwise.

 

[Fusebox]

Leave home. Now. You are 21 and your parents are insane.

I love it when a first post delivers the answer to the entire thread nice and succinctly.

It is irrelevant what age he is, he is old, but still their son under their roof.

Lol, he may be their son but with age comes the wisdom and the balls to tell your parents when they are WRONG.

 

[Thunder Monkey]

Shit sucks man.

I'll smoke weed for you.

 

[Hylian7]

So did we ever find out how his parents so effectively looked up his post history with the rather ineffective Google search bar?

Firefox and all other browsers have something similar. I'm sure his parents are smart enough to know that.

 

[lunarworks]

Wow, OP's situation is kinda horrid. Parents should not have that much influence over a 21 year old's life. However, they are paying big money for school...


Anyway, another tip to avoid parental snooping: Do your unsavoury browsing in a non-default browser.

Install Chrome or another browser not already on your system. Make sure there's no link to it in your Start Menu, Dock, or whatever. When it asks you if you want it to be the default browser, say "don't ask again". Browse in private mode. There you go. Safe, private browsing, good against all but the most technologically savvy of parents.

 

[Black-Wind]

Yeah, but he can ask for a mod to change his name. *Hint Hint*. Replace Avatar and your parents probably won't know.

You can have your user name changed by a mod?
Is there a "change your user name" thread?

 

[WillyFive]

Lol, he may be their son but with age comes the wisdom and the balls to tell your parents when they are WRONG.

Wrong? According to the opening post, they apparently got a pretty good view of EzLink's life here. You can't just say they are wrong when they have your actual post in front of you. Well, you can, but you'd sound stupid doing it.