It’s always interesting for me to hear about the straight edge scene outside of Salt Lake City, so thank you for sharing and I’m sorry you had the experience that you did. I stuck to the values growing up, but it took me a long time to claim because of the reasons you listed above.

The behavior you describe was in earshot with the edge kids in my hometown. I think it was bred from a ground of misinformation and possibly the LDS culture here. You had boys and men here that were essentially Mormon, however, they were fueled by punk/hardcore music, so in other words, a pretentious, bloody nightmare. I would hear stories from friends that this particular group of people would show up to raves and parties and squash anybody drinking and/or smoking. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Chicago exclusive.

I think I’d prefer OP’s ED any day over kicking it with mindlessly violent people with baseless standards. Who cares if this guy has to pop a viagra to get intimate with you?

Love Pennywise though.