Effectively, the West has a serious problem with alcohol that it has yet to admit to.
The UN recently listed it alongside malaria, and smoking, as one of the top ten killers in the world. The correlation between over-consumption and violence are likely recognised by the common sense – even personal experience - of everyone here.
Yet the blame always appears shifted towards small groups of individuals, rather than referred to the fact that alcoholism has become a natural part of Western culture – certainly British culture, if nothing else. And worse than that, it is accepted as normal.
Yes – I'm an ex-alcoholic (sort of!) and haven't touched it since 1997. I can fully appreciate the appeal of moderate social drinking. In fact, it really is amazing to see what a powerful social element it is. But it also a powerful personal and social poison.
I'm not against alcohol, so much as our inability as a society to even recognise that drinking is a problem.
So what is required to address it?
Let's see if that's an adequate starter for discussion...
The UN recently listed it alongside malaria, and smoking, as one of the top ten killers in the world. The correlation between over-consumption and violence are likely recognised by the common sense – even personal experience - of everyone here.
Yet the blame always appears shifted towards small groups of individuals, rather than referred to the fact that alcoholism has become a natural part of Western culture – certainly British culture, if nothing else. And worse than that, it is accepted as normal.
Yes – I'm an ex-alcoholic (sort of!) and haven't touched it since 1997. I can fully appreciate the appeal of moderate social drinking. In fact, it really is amazing to see what a powerful social element it is. But it also a powerful personal and social poison.
I'm not against alcohol, so much as our inability as a society to even recognise that drinking is a problem.
So what is required to address it?
Let's see if that's an adequate starter for discussion...