ScottL wrote:The problem is that you think you're right and I think I'm right. At least we can disagree.
As for better comparisons, no problem. The sun is considered the cause of 2 million skin cancer diagnosises each year, perhaps we should blot it out through a prohibitive law.
As for alcohol, it reduces blood pressure and is recommended that a glass of wine a day will improve your overall health.
I don't really have a problem with alcohol, but I do think people ought to face the truth about it's negative effects on some individuals and society. I don't care if people get blotto faced, as long as they are taking care of their responsibilities.
Yes, a glass or two of red wine daily is supposed to be good for you. I occasionally try to get my mother to drink some, (Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Villages ) but she is having none of it. For some reason she's afraid of becoming a "drunk."
Of course I can see why she might have a dim view of Alcohol. Her father was a drunk (Half Cherokee) and he would crawl on his knees in front of her school while all the other children laughed at him. She was humiliated in front of her classmates on many occasions. Two of her brothers were killed by a drunk driver. (Who amazingly enough survived the deadly crash) Two others were badly injured in the same accident.
One of her brothers used to get drunk and beat up on his wife till one day he got drunk and his wife killed him with a shotgun. His first son died as a young boy. He was sickly and had medical problems. My mother blames it on his mother's drinking while pregnant, and on his father having given him beer and whiskey in his baby bottle to make him be quiet when he was an infant. His only surviving son, (my cousin) got drunk one night, and as a friend was driving him home, he refused to cooperate. Saying he wanted to go back to the bar and drink more, he opened the door of the vehicle traveling at highway speed, and fell out onto the highway hitting his head and killing himself. His Sister is the only surviving descendant from that part of the family. She doesn't drink.
One of her brothers that survived the car crash ended up drinking his life away. He died of Renal failure last year, no doubt due to the heavy damage his heavy drinking did to his liver and kidneys. He would drink a couple of fifths per day (He liked Captain Morgan's "Captain's Select". Good quality stuff.)
Another of her brothers would get depressed when he drank, and one day shot himself to death. I found his suicide note while cleaning out my Uncle's house after he died last year.
My Mother's Husband, (my father whom i've never met) would get drunk and not work, preferring to spend his time at the bar, leaving my mother to fend for her kids until she was no longer able, eventually putting us children into an adoption home, while she went into the hospital. She thought she was going to die, but she eventually recovered. She occasionally tells me stories of how she would give my older brother lunch money, only to find out months later that his father was beating him and taking his lunch money to spend it at the bar. Eventually she had had enough and told him to get lost. Just as well, he could not even take care of himself, let alone us, his children.
Her oldest son, (my brother) became a drunk, and used to do nothing but sit around and drink beer, and he actually still does pretty much nothing. He married a Comanche woman and they live on her property and get benefits from the tribe and the US Government. (Thanks Gamblers and taxpayers!
)
I could go on about some of my mom's friends and acquaintances, but I think you get the picture. Given her experiences with people who consume the stuff, If my mom doesn't want to drink the wine, i'm not going to bug her about it.
‘What all the wise men promised has not happened, and what all the damned fools said would happen has come to pass.’
— Lord Melbourne —
