The stupidity of society - The normalcy of alcohol
What would a healthy relationship with alcohol look like?
I read this article in a Dutch magazine about how female alcohol usage is growing. It spoke of the dangers of alcohol for females (most notably, the statement that even moderate alcohol usage increases chances of developing breast cancer by 10%) and it wondered if there should be more focus on discouraging the usage amongst women.
This article displayed a couple of reader responses. The general consensus was that alcohol usage should become less normal and the fight against alcohol should be focussed mainly on young people, since they are most impressionable. This is much the same, I guess, as the fight against cigarettes.
One woman responded to this article, stating that television has a part in this aswell. She said that sports presenters were always seen drinking alcohol while discussing sports. There are talkshows that show the same and many series (like Game of Thrones) also show a lot of alcohol usage.
I think she made a good point. Look at the fight against cigarettes. How many people do you still see smoking on tv? Media has such a big influence on people. When trying to change society, media should play a big part and set a good example.
I drink an occasional glass of alcohol myself. I do this, because I like the taste (mead, anyone?). I don't feel there is much harm in this, mostly, because I never feel the need to go for a second glass. I don't like drunk people and what they are capable of, so I never want to experience that myself.
When I was younger, I never went out much. I guess this is how I missed out on the whole Drinking alcohol makes socializing more fun reasoning. I still don't understand what that is all about, though from what I've heard, it has to do with the whole losing your inhibitions thing. For me, this is illogical. If you do not enjoy spending time with the people you are with, don't spend time with them. If you need alcohol to enjoy yourself with friends, find new friends or spend time on your hobbies instead. Or even just find other ways and places to spend time with these friends.
I think the problem with alcohol is precisely as many women stated in the article: We think of it as normal.
Do you visit someone in the evening? You can be pretty sure they'll offer you wine, beer or another alcoholic beverage. Having people over for dinner? Don't forget to get wine. Your guests might even bring you a bottle themselves. Visiting any kind of sports or music event? You'll see many stand selling beer. This same image is shown on television.
If you want to discourage people from drinking alcohol, don't make it an easy, go-to choice. Cut back on alcohol displayed in the media. This, I think, is a very important step to cut back on alcohol abuse amongst young people.
My views on alcohol are less extreme than my views on cigarettes. I feel people should be able to decide for themselves if and how they want to ruin their bodies. Smoking causes direct side-damage to people close to the smoker. This, to me, is unacceptable, which is why I am very much against it. I am happy to see smoking becoming less and less normal.
Alcohol does not have this direct side-damage. If you don't drink it, your body won't suffer, no matter how much your friends do drink.
The damages to people around you are still there though.
Think about stuff like:
- Drunk driving, which can cause both physical damage (people you crash into) and psychological damage (family of people you crash into and your own guilt);
- Alcohol addiction, which causes a lot of psychological pain to anyone who cares about you;
- Fights, which sometimes get started by mean drunks (physical damage, obviously);
- Drinking can cause you to lose your inhibitions, making it much easier to 'accidentally' cheat on your partner (psychological damage to your partner and yourself).
If we would ban alcohol, I would not lose any sleep over it. However, I don't really care one way or another if people drink a glass or two. What I do mind, is the need to get drunk, especially amongst younger people. I think this is where the main focus against alcohol abuse should lie.
The way that young people use alcohol makes it way too normal to over drink. To them, it is not a luxury product, it is not a special drink on special occasions. It is something to boast about. It is a requirement to have a good time. In many young, social circles, when you don't drink, many friends would call you a wuss. That is what needs to change. The sooner, the better.
What's your stance on alcohol?
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Have you ever seen an alcoholic in a blackout and what damage this can cause? I did! I think it's one of the most dangerous, so called "normal" drug ever. It destroys families, relationships and harms in many ways. I wish alcohol in all forms would be more expansive and unaffordable. I can't stand drunk people. I do drink occasionally but I am lucky that my body reacts normal to this substance. I am addicted to nicotine ( not proud of this) but I never hit in anybodys stomach or face. Alcoholics turn into aggressive monsters when reaching blackouts. A drug free society would be a wishful thinking! It feels best to be clear minded. Young generations should be taught more at home, schools and from media indeed!
Thank you very much for your comment @mammasitta. I definitely agree with you on this. I can't stand drunk people, either. I know not everyone gets violent when drunk, but I much prefer clear headed people aswell. Alcohol should be a luxury product, especially to young people. Not a let's consume as much as we can to be awesome kind of thing. Right now, it is used way too often as a status rising consumable by young people.
ive seen healthy relationships with alcohol (where the people don't harm others verbally or physically and they take care of their job/responsibilities etc) and i have seen far too many unhealthy ones. i think there is huge influence today in music and media to get ppl to drink and it's amazing that despite all the damage it causes to ruin families and destroy lives, cannabis is the one that's illegal lol neither of them should be illegal but certainly not cannabis when it is far less dangerous to the individual and society :) or so i think anyways, great post btw upvoted!
Thank you for your comment and upvote! I don't feel too warmly towards either. I don't really mind anyone using it, as long as they don't take it too far (or they do it in the privacy of their own home).
Sadly, there are way too many examples of people who don't know when to stop. I know a lot of Steemians are pro choice for anything and partially, I agree. Where the general well being of society is concerned though, I can't always agree with this stance. Too many people have proven time and time again that they cannot always be trusted with free will. In a society as crowded as ours, I do think there need to be regulations against these types of substances and I would applaud it if the media would help us make it less normal/accepted.
as someone who has drug addicts in my family I have seen first hand the failure of the war on drugs and present regulations.. they can't even keep drugs out of prisons .. so i think that just goes to show the complete failure in attempting the feat. Those resources and man power would probably be much better spent on real crimes that actually have real victims. There are also a number of friends and family who suffer from a variety of diseases and I have seen firsthand cannabis work for them when nothing else would, including aiding seizures of my friends daughter who suffers from epilepsy.. it's an amazing plant and contributes to the betterment of society in many ways. illogically and harshly restricting/regulating is only to our own detriment as a society.
Using cannabis as a medicine has definitely shown good results and I do approve of that. I think I heard they legalized its (regulated) growth here in Holland now. Honestly, if used and perscribed as a medicine, I see no problem in it. I think these people would probably use it at home, meaning no one would even take notice. It would be like any other medicine: there will be restrictions on what you can do when you're on it (like, don't drive a car).
It's a difficult thing to manage. I agree that it's impossible to keep drugs out of the hands of everyone. Criminal circuit will always be there and sometimes, it's better to keep it in plain sight, as the quality can be better regulated that way. Maybe creating a witch hunt against drugs and alcohol through government is not the right solution. Maybe we, as a society, should work on making it less acceptable, needed or normal. Ban its positive image from media and such.
does it make sense to infringe upon my freedom because of the actions of another human being? (choosing to abuse their freedom) .. i dont think so :) but thanks for the discussion!
Not always and I'm pretty sure it will feel wrong most of the time. In a crowded society, though, you can't really escape some bounds to freedom, because of the actions of others.
When you talk about "alcohol", you must specify how much alcohol. This is always a "must" when there is chemistry involved. Sugar, by example, is deadly over certain amounts, produces addiction too, and kills as well.
Just cheating on quantities, we can proof almost everything (stones, water, oxygen, pizza, milk) is dangerous and addictive.
The traditional use of wine , in countries where wine is a long tradition, is more or less one glass each big meal. This is not hurting at all.
I think being pro, or against anything is a little weak position: pro/against is just a bit of information. When the matter is more complex than this, it's not enough.
There is no "stance on alcool". Just drink 5 liters of water in a row (means: never stop drinking until you reach 5 liters) , and you will see how bad water is. If you survive, which is not likely.
Chemistry is about quantities. And when you talk about substances, you are talking about chemistry. How complex is not an argument: still chemistry.
I definitely agree with you that the amount is important in this. As I've stated in the article, I am not against anyone drinking a glass or two (Wine in a wine glass, beer in a beer glass, etc.). I think many people do this sometimes, during dinner or a gettogether.
As you stated, the problem arises when people take too much. This, ofcourse goes for any kind of substance, though the effects differ a lot. For alcohol, I mean when people get drunk, lose their inhibitions and cause trouble for themselves or others.
I do think people have different views on how much is acceptable, though. Some people don't mind anyone getting crazy drunk. On the other side of this are people who have been too close to alcohol abuse and they might not approve of even one glass.
Then your question is "what do you think about abusing any substance"?
Well, seems easy. Abuse is bad.
It is indeed! Though I'm sticking to my original question, because as I've said, some people might not approve of even one glass. That's not really abuse, but a possible reaction to past pains.
Thank you for your comments, by the way!
Due of my technical bias, I am not that comfortable when mixing problems, like any people into human sciences seems easy to do.
When it comes to "the reasons" a person is abusing substances, is not about "past pains", the very point is the "reward system", a specific area of the brain involved in what we call "satisfaction" and "dissatisfaction".
If you focus into "it is good to abuse" , the obvious answer is "no". When you add this "reward system" issue, then we are discussing about something else.
In short, the reward system is a part of the brain which generates the "anticipated pleasure" , which is the sense of excitement/need you feel before of pleasure (due mostly to dopamine) , then you have a release of substances which are generating some pleasure too, telling your brain this happens, then you have serotonin, the star of pleasure, which is going to make you feel satisfied.
Almost whatever thing or action can be linked with the anticipation mechanism, the raise of stress because of dopamine: there is almost nothing you cannot be addicted to. Until your brain generates dopamine while thinking to it, you may be addicted to poker, alcohol, food, sugar, water, beach volley, sport, whatever.
It happens when you think to it dopamine and stress are increasing, so you need relief. This has not the past pain as a cause, even if thinking to a past pain could trigger the stress, so the need of some exit action, like drinking.
But, if you are in such a situation, alcohol is just one of possible action you can use to have relief. You may use facebook, sex, sport, anything.
This is more about stress management. Alcohol is just a little detail of this issue, IMHO. Most of people now are using sugar and fat (=food) to get relief from stress, by example. This is why obesity has grown more than alcohol in the last years.
With the 'past pain' I was talking about, I actually meant that of a person who could have had a family member or friend in trouble due to substance abuse. Maybe a mean drunken dad, husband or boyfriend. Something like that.
What a great response, though. I don't have that much knowledge of the inner workings of our reward system, so your text is very informative to me.
I do indeed see that addiction is a very difficult thing. I also wonder how fine the line is between just having pleasure and being addicted. Like people who play online games all evening (which I have been guilty of, years ago). Many would say these people are addicted. But what about the people who watch tv or sports all evening? How many people would say these are addicted? Do you think there is a part to play in this for social acceptance?
I hate this limit of nested comments steemit has. Hope this comment will show.
About the reward system, this is a pretty good explanation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reward_system
The point of social acceptance or personal acceptance is more about semantics than reality. I mean: at a certain point, the stress level increases and dopamine is released.
Now you need relief. You could use alcohol, running, food, sex, hugs, facebook, whatever. Once your stress is gone with the "escape" you choose , then you associate this to relief. From now on, just thinking to it will make your stress level to increase , and you will "need" this.
Of course, is very easy to say you are addicted to alcohol, than to extreme sports. Or to running. Or to reading. This is because you measure a visible damage: alcohol and drugs are damaging your body in a visible way. Running will not damage your body, until you don't abuse it, especially when you are a woman. Eating will make you obese, which may or may not be as socially accepted as alcohol.
So your issue seems to be "how visible addiction is?", then "if visible, how socially accepted is?".
This is one reason cocaine is that popular: addiction is not that visible, damages are hidden until they explode in the late phase, so it's easy to be socially accepted in the early phase.
So alcohol will be socially accepted until it looks cool. When it starts to damage the person in a visible way, then it will not. Most of addictions are working like this: they are socially accepted as they start, but not where they end .
Is not only the case of alcohol, I think.
Great post ! Thanks for shareing !👍
Thank you, Karen. I'm glad you liked it!
if you are looking for healthy relationships combined with alc. visit Germany. Not that I agree with the way things are ( i'd rather have legal marihuana) but I know many for whom drinking after work is as normal as breakfast and confronting them about the unhealthy impact on our bodies causes people to look at you like you are from Mars... so pretty integrated in our culture here
Haha, yes, that's my point: it's considered normal. But look at smoking. My parents tell me about birthdays where there used to be cigarettes lying on the table for everyone to take. Compare that to how it is now, where smokers are forced to take their habbit outside, because it is bad for people.
I wonder if this will ever happen for alcohol, though, because the damage it does to our bodies is contained to the body that does the actual drinking (accidents excluded). But if you look at the fights rising up against sugar, fat and salt, I wouldn't be surprised if alcohol would one day be considered less normal or acceptable. It would be a long road, though, as it is very much integrated into many of our cultures.
I assume we have to thank the internet spread knowledge for all those fights. Change is inevitable and will come in effect faster than during the ages before electricity, yay :)
True, I think you're right about that!
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