I like this discussion. My 2 cent is that its really important to take a step back and look at this forum community and how this dialogue is different than other forays into the kava world. Ima make a few assumptions here but bear with me. Its just a lot easier for me to write this using in-group pronouns like "we", "us", etc.
Generally speaking, the people posting regularly on these forums, and especially the impassioned voices in the tudei debates, drink a LOT of kava. A LOT. I bet many of us are the resident kava nerd in our various social groups. We are drinking it daily, cranking the dose up or down as needed. With many of us drinking it in a medicinal capacity, this stuff is profoundly important to us.. our life blood
. Our sacrament. It irks the MAKAS out of us when friends and loved ones see kava as some crazy ooga-booga snake oil product, superficial counter-cultural fashion, or some chronic addiction. Especially if they have never given it a chance. That in mind, consider this:
- Those persons who prize kava specifically for effects we may not consider to be characteristically noble. Imagine these folks think of some ignoble products the same way we think of smoooooth Noble kava , or Kava at large. (or possibly K@)
- Those brave eclectic types, or those in adventurous moods, that want to try something super cool. A novelty. Some might go as far to say "legal high" (but don't quote that! ). Not all these folks are newbies. Some are just occasional drinkers. Some are K@ drinkers. And they have the potential to know just as much about kava and the surrounding culture as anyone posting here.
I've read a lot of the arguments and opinions on here. I see how those can be interpreted as overwhelmingly bad sentiments for Kava's perceived sanctity, or its reputation. It might look disrespectful to the elements of kava culture that we think of as more righteous. These notions might irk the makas out of us just as much as the other folks I mention that irk the makas out of us!
I get it! I'm WITH it! We NEED advocates that stand against this crap, and try, on some level, to uphold the elements of kava culture which make it the wonderful plant it has become through ages of tradition.
Jeez, get Chuggs a shell
But if there's a bone to be picked, its with the sentiment. Not the people. And more importantly, there
is no 2 groups of heretics and a single group of righteous kava proponents. These are all stereotypes. Some might suggest they are products of insular cesspools of thought gone uncontested, inevitably echoed again and again and hyperbolized at each interpretation, like a game of telephone or a photocopy of a photocopy. There are viewpoints infinitely around and in between these stereotypes. Discouraging voices shuts people out of the conversation. Vibes can neither be created nor destroyed. When shut out, they just compartmentalize into their own insular groups... the very groups that
produce the stereotypes that are so passionately renounced. If we want to arbitrate what's "good for Kava" and what's not, it needs to be with some tact, so we can hash through disagreements like we are now, without talking heads discouraging discussion that doesn't play nice with someone's self righteous greater good for kava. Not to mention turning the thread into a lame soap box that pairs better with sleep deprived conspiracy rants than it does with smooth shells.
If you ask me, all of the irking sentiments stated here dwarf in comparison to the larger issue of elitism. Its not good to actively keep kava out of the mainstream, inevitably linked disproportionately with counter-cultural sentiments. The value of kava must be proliferated. The market drivers of TODAY are informing what and how much will be available years from now. It may feel really good taking newbies under wing, making sure they only represent the "right" image for kava, and maybe steering them clear of "newbie mistakes". But some see that as patronizing, and it shuts folks out.
The thing is, many of the things we agree on about "good kava" and whats "good for kava" are things that we
arrived at independently through experience, as well as discussion. I believe that if folks are given the voice, and are heard with open minds, the community will evolve sustainably in the direction that promotes higher quality and quantity of kava being put in the ground. When it's forced, backlash is inevitable. The forums function best when they are a platform for honest discussion, both collaborative
as well as competitive. Not information wars.
The mods continue to do a tremendous job maintaining that ideal platform, I might add.