They also believe in not doing drugs or smoking cigarettes. Faithful to their partners, they believe in not having sex with more than one person in life. They keep their internal bodies clean by not eating meat or any animal product; it goes much further than just this though. They also will not use any product that may have been tested on or made out of an animal derivative (Shoal Interview). They believe in a cruelty free lifestyle. Sound like the perfect heavenly gr

violent (Shoal Interview). A person who judges all Straightedgers by the ones in Utah, and by their actions, should not. Utah Straightedgers according to Mike: "they are just Mormons who have the right values but couldn't join a minority gang, so pretend to be Straightedge, and blow out anger by violence."

Straightedgers have real values. In a world today filled with A.I.D.'s and S.T.D.'s, no one can live absolutely safe; or can they? What is the easiest way to not get a S.T.D.? "Don't have sex at all" would be the correct answer. But what about abstinence? Abstinence relays a main facet of many world religions. Straightedgers believe in abstinence, could they be a religion? Maybe, and then again maybe not. Abstinence is just a means in which Straightedgers can keep their bodies pure and clean. How else do they keep their bodies clean? By not drinking alcohol or doing drugs. Drugs include cigarettes, and for some, over-the-counter and prescription medicine. Well they don't drink and they don't have promiscuous sex, what else do these angels not do? Straightedgers not only hope to keep their bodies clean, they hope to keep their minds clean too. In a Straightedge song by Ayn Rand he states: "Man cannot survive except through his mind. He comes on earth unarmed. His brain is his only weapon. From this simplest necessity to the highest religious abstraction, from the wheel to the skyscraper, everything we are and everything we have comes from a single attribute of man-the function of his reasoning mind." Straightedgers believe in animal rights. They lead a cruelty free lifestyle. Straightedgers live as vegans, which is an offset of vegetarianism. Veganism includes not eating animal flesh, but it

The wonderful values of the Straightedgers could solve many of the problems in our world today. The world that the youth live in today is harsh. It is hard to stay clean and straight. The Straightedgers try to teach and show youth that it staying clean is easy. If they appear considered to look as a gang, then they would have to look as a good gang. But can any good gangs exist? Well, Straightedgers have the right values. Gangs will always exist in the world, "they are a part of a controversial, to many disturbing, trend in American life whose impact seems destined to grow in the coming years (Maasick and Soloman, Cultural Outlaws 563)." Could the Straightedgers happen as the new future of gangs? The new future of good gangs? Gangs with real values? In the Signs of Life it reads "the new outlaws are news not only for law enforcement personnel but for such popular cultural institutions as Hollywood and the fashion industry (563)." Hence the many new movies and TV shows about Straightedgers. Some have even considered Straightedgers to just exist as a new fashion trend.

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Approximate Word count = 2056
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)