Straight Edge, Reimagined

I’m indie writer Teague de La Plaine. This is Open Logbook—a public log of observations on humanity, shared systems, and the long future.

“At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: I have to go to work—as a human being.”
— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.1

The term straight edge comes with baggage.

For some, it conjures images of hardcore scenes, Xs on hands, rigid rules, and moral absolutism. Abstinence as identity. Purity as posture. A line drawn in permanent marker.

That’s not what I mean.

What I’m reaching for is older—and newer—at the same time.

A way of living that says: I will choose deliberately in a world that profits from my distraction.

A way of living that asks: What happens if we stop anesthetizing ourselves from the consequences of our lives?

This is straight edge, reimagined—not as subculture, but as a modern, ethical operating system.

Not about being better. About being clearer.

The Legacy World

We inherited a system that runs on extraction.

Not just of oil, minerals, forests, and animals—but of attention, health, meaning, and time.

It trains us early:

• Eat what’s cheap, fast, and addictive
• Buy what’s trendy, disposable, and synthetic
• Upgrade constantly
• Outsource responsibility
• Debt-finance comfort
• Let institutions decide what “normal” looks like

The legacy world is loud, stimulating, convenient—and profoundly numbing.

It doesn’t ask much of us. Just compliance.

Straight Edge as Conscious Friction

The original straight edge rejected substances that dulled agency. This version goes further.

Modern straight edge introduces friction where the system wants ease.

It slows us down. It asks questions. It makes consequences visible again.

Not through self-denial for its own sake—but through alignment.

What We Eat

Food is the most intimate political act we perform daily.

A straight edge lens asks:

• Who suffered so this was cheap?
• What ecosystem paid the price?
• What am I training my body to crave?

For many, this leads toward:

• Plant-forward or fully vegan diets
• Fewer ultra-processed foods
• Simpler ingredients
• Local where possible
• Enough, not excess

This isn’t about purity. It’s about reducing harm per calorie.

Eating in a way that doesn’t require willful ignorance.

What We Wear

Fast fashion is fossil fuels masquerading as self-expression.

A straight edge approach to clothing favors:

• Fewer garments, worn longer
• Natural fibers where possible
• Repair over replacement
• Secondhand before new
• Function over novelty
• Coordinated capsule wardrobes

Not aesthetic minimalism—but ethical minimalism.

Clothes that don’t scream. Clothes that last. Clothes that don’t require someone else’s suffering to feel “affordable.”

What Technology We Allow In

Technology is not neutral. Some tools expand agency. Others quietly erode it.

A straight edge tech ethic asks:

• Does this serve me—or train me?
• Is this helping me think—or outsourcing thinking?
• Is this extracting my attention for profit?

This often means:

• Fewer platforms
• Fewer notifications
• Open-source where possible
• Tools over feeds
• Creation over consumption

Not Luddism. Selectivity.

Choosing tech that supports a life, not replaces one.

Who We Bank With

Money is stored intention.

Where we bank determines:

• What gets built
• What gets extracted
• What gets foreclosed
• What gets weaponized

A straight edge financial posture favors:

• Credit unions and public banks
• Ethical or cooperative institutions
• Transparency over convenience
• Long-term stability over speculative growth

Money as ballast—not leverage.

Who We Legitimize

Every purchase, subscription, vote, and habit is an endorsement.

Straight edge living asks us to be honest about who we’re propping up:

• Governments that externalize suffering
• Corporations that privatize gains and socialize harm
• Systems that require perpetual growth on a finite planet

Withdrawal is not apathy. Sometimes it’s the only available form of dissent.

Living Smaller (and Freer)

This may be the hardest shift. The legacy world equates more with better.

Straight edge flips that:

• Smaller homes
• Fewer possessions
• Less debt
• Lower energy throughput
• Slower timelines

Not as austerity—but as liberation.

When your life requires less to sustain, fewer people own you.

Shedding the Legacy

This is not about escape. It’s about transition.

We are living through the long unwind of systems that no longer work—but haven’t yet let go. The task isn’t to perfect ourselves inside a broken framework.

The task is to prototype the next one with our daily choices.

Straight edge, in this sense, is not rebellion. It’s preparation.

The Emergent Life

The emergent world will not arrive fully formed. It will arrive through people who live as if it already matters.

People who:

• Choose clarity over comfort
• Responsibility over convenience
• Enough over endless
• Care over consumption

Not loudly. Not self-righteously.

Quietly. Daily. Deliberately.

A Closing Thought

Marcus didn’t ask us to retreat from the world. He asked us to participate as human beings.

Straight edge—reimagined—is simply this:

To live awake.

To live aligned.

To stop anesthetizing ourselves from the cost of being alive.

And to build, piece by piece, a life that belongs to the future rather than the past.

All One/Teague

48.8767° S, 123.3933° W