Blame Gwyneth Paltrow for Psychedelics Losing their Cool?
This article is over 3 years old, but new to me. John Semley’s attempt to besmirch Gwyneth Paltrow for exploring the growing science and fascination with psychedelic science seems little more than a grown-man tantrum playing out an outdated, grumpy caricature online. The pessimistic author of Hater: On the Virtues of Utter Disagreeability, opines in superfluous paragraph after paragraph about tech bros, pseudoscience, and the psychedelic 60s. His bias is loud and palpable. He equates the psychedelic movement to its “origins” at Woodstock and Hell’s Angels, negating to acknowledge or recognize the thousands of years of cultural and religious use, the burgeoning academic and research institutions of excellence, or parse out the bad apples from the clear and profound data supporting these substances as medicine and healing agents.
Even if we were to pause to expand on what the 60s represented, distilling it down to “hedonistic recreational excess” completely dismisses the context and conditions that allowed the anti-government, anti-war, anti-establishment movement. This was a time shortly after the Second World War, The Cold War and its growing tensions with Russia during nuclear proliferation, the Korean War, and included the drafting of young men into soldiers for the Vietnam War. There was no internet to share ideas and connect one another. The government had more authority, power, and control over people’s lives and information; and a growing faction of people were sick of it. They created their movement and free expression as a “fuck you” to the government. They didn’t weaponize guns and bombs to use against the government, but rather music, mind-expanding drugs, and love. This was civil disobedience on a large scale, which fundamentally shifted the conversations and perspectives around our government. And yes, there were people in pain choosing to play out their maladaptive coping strategies with mind-manifesting medicines, but were also likely attempting to self-medicated untreated mental health and mixing substances that created the quintessential images that people reference to discredit the hippie movement.
At best, this is an example of bad journalism and biased reporting. At worst, it is an attempt to discredit a paradigm bursting wave of new medicine and modalities that threaten to upend mental health treatment. News flash: psychedelics aren’t supposed to be cool; they are powerful medicine to be treated with reverence and respect. There historical use predates innovative science and brings us back to a time when we gathered in villages, lived in communities, and took care of one another. Where the health of one was the concern of all. Where we gathered together to heal, instead of isolated alone to die.
Even if we were to pause to expand on what the 60s represented, distilling it down to “hedonistic recreational excess” completely negates the context and conditions that allowed the anti-government, anti-war, anti-establishment movement. This was a time shortly after the Second World War, The Cold War with it’s growing tensions with Russia during nuclear proliferation, the Korean War, and included the drafting of young men in soldiers for the Vietnam War. There was no internet to share ideas and connect one another. The government had more authority, power, and control over people’s lives and a growing faction of people were sick of it. They created their movement and free expression as a “fuck you” to the government. They didn’t weaponize guns and bombs to use against the government, but music, drugs of mind-expansion, and love. This was civil disobedience on a large scale, which fundamentally started to shift the conversations and perspectives around our government. And yes, there were people in pain who choose to play out their maladaptive coping strategies with mind-manifesting medicines, but really were probably attempting to self-medicated untreated mental health and mixing substances that created the quintessential images to discredit the hippie movement.
Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop are an easy target as they are bringing new ideas into the topic of health and wellness. There have been some claims made and products sold that I don’t agree with, but if consumers are turning towards Goop for the answers it’s because they are being let down by the institutions that are supposed to be beacons of health. I spent over 20 years in the medical system, and while there are some remarkable advances, the disease-treating model is no different than saying the fear-based abstinence model is the best we can expect for sexual education - dismissing all of the pleasurable opportunities available to intimate relationships. The western medical model needs you sick. There is far more money, technology, and research that goes into treating disease than investing in prevention or promoting wellness. The absence of disease is not wellness, and we would be deluding ourselves to think otherwise.
Psychedelics represent a new approach to mental health. They offer a window to self-inquiry and exploration, an opportunity to comb the archives and treat our pain at the source, and offer a treatment that doesn’t create a state of dependency on a pill or an institution. I commend Gwyneth and Goop for using their platform and their celebrity to introduce their audience and expand on the growing conversation around psychedelics. I commend anyone who is willing to open their mind and explore the propaganda – and stigma - that has been passed down from the “War on Drugs” rhetoric. Psychedelics are not the answer for everything, or a panacea as often termed, but they are a damn good option to help millions upon millions actively and/or silently suffering in human bodies. Instead of perpetuating the “virtues of utter disagreeability,” perhaps it’s time to adopt the virtues of curiosity. Disagreement is an important aspect of evolving discourse, but it can be done with grace. Curiosity offers us the lens to stop othering or marginalizing one another, and instead, start to hold each other with compassion. Be gentle to yourself and your fellow human beings.
