Carr refers to the whole culture of alcohol in the Western world as a brainwashing exercise. He says that from when young we are bombarded with messages about how alcohol quenches your thirst, tastes good, makes us happy, steadies our nerves, gives us confidence and courage, relieves stress, helps us to relax and eases pain. It is also an integral part of a successful social occasion. It is portrayed as being sophisticated and when we are legally able to drink it. Indicates that we are grown up. On television and in films we see alcohol as a positive part of life. A baby is born in a drama and out comes the champagne. People arriving home from work after a hard day reach for the bottle to ease the stress of the day.
Intoxication
On the other hand, drinking alcohol leads to intoxication. Note that the word toxic is incorporated into that word – so it is acknowledged that alcohol is a poison. Also it is true that some films and television serials and dramas do depict the more negative sides of drinking. With some portraying the destructive effects of alcoholism very accurately. Nonetheless this will not stop those of us destined to become alcoholics from buying into all the so called positive effects of drinking until it is too late.
Alcohol is a Drug
Alcohol is a drug, in some ways no better than heroin, for example. If it were to be introduced to this country today it would almost certainly be banned. It kills tens of thousands a year – whereas heroin ‘only’ kills around 1000 a year – but on which drug do we look more askance? Around one in ten people who drink are alcoholic. Why do we look down on heroin users so much more than alcohol imbibers?
Because one is legal and because the vast majority of us are on the inside when it comes to alcohol but on the outside when it comes to heroin. So we see heroin use for what it actually is. We buy into the world of the happy drinkers but not the happy heroin users. What we are not prepared to see is the unhappiness caused by alcohol which almost certainly occurs at all ‘successful’ social gatherings. In many homes throughout the country where there is a lone drinker.
Boring Effects of Alcohol
For some reason, not drinking is seen as being boring yet if you are not drinking you can see just how boring the effects of alcohol can be! People repeat themselves, talk too much (often about themselves), become rude and obnoxious, nasty and aggressive etc. And it makes people very ill, either temporarily with a hangover or more seriously with long term liver disease, digestion and stomach problems, deterioration of mental functioning etc. That is all just for starters! Alcohol has many more physical health consequences than the obvious and it is not contested that it is a killer.
If you bought a bottle of champagne to find out that it was just fizzy water you would complain. But if you were told the fizzy water was laced with poison to make it into champagne, what would you do?