American Alarmists
American culture is torn when it comes to sex. Everyone is doing it, everyone is talking about it, but nobody is supposed to cross the invisible line. I am of the opinion that the invisible line stretches every few years, but it is still there, hovering over film directors, warning them to 'Show it, but not too much. Talk about it, but use other words'.Don't get me wrong, I happen to be a bit of a foul-word-hating modestly-attired prude myself, but I can see hypocrisy when it hits me in the face.
Europeans are much more uninhibited when it comes to cinema, ad billboards, photos allowed on tabloid magazines, etc. I don't know if that's good or bad -(Expose your children so that they will be immune, or shield them from all so that they will sneak behind your back and crash? And there's always the middle ground...)- but it is at least truthful.
Sex wasn't the original subject of this post. It was supposed to lead to alcohol. Free sex is here to stay, for better or for worse, but mention the word 'bartender' and people throw you into rehab.
I know, I know that alcoholism is a serious condition. I know that American college students drink too much (is it because they had to wait so long?), I know that drunk drivers crash their cars, I know that drunk parents ruin their families.
I'm aware of all that.
But I also know that occasional drinking does not one an alcoholic make.
You know how it works. I'll say that in Europe people drink every day, you'll tell me that Europe is full of drunkards. I'll say yes, there are many drunkards, but there are many people who could have 2 or 3 drinks every night without getting affected by the alcohol. It happens in America too, right under your nose.
So why the alarmism?
My Czech coworkers in Prague, young healthy women, would always have a few shots of Vodka at social gatherings. Conversation continued as usual, and they were back in school the next day, fully sober and without traces of a hangover.
I dare say I hold alcohol pretty well for someone of my proportions. I usually attribute it to my Russian blood, although that may be plain nonsense.
The bottom line is, lighten up! Not every beer lover is a raging alcoholic child-beater.
So shut up and let me enjoy myself.
posted by RomanWanderer @ 10:25 PM
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