The Monster in the Closet
Let’s first take a look at the great wonder of humanity that is alcohol. Our obsession with booze has been traced back all the way 7000 BC with traces of it being found in Chinese jars. Whether or not you have any strong opinions on it, it’s important to understand its purpose in society and hopefully come to see that it may even be worse than the PSAs about drunk driving make it out to be.
Alcohol actually started out for more practical reasons. Booze made water safe to drink in a way similar to how rubbing alcohol and hand sanitizer work. The ethanol or isopropanol causes the cell membrane of bacteria to not function properly and essentially explodes the cell. Enough of these molecules in water makes (relatively) safe to drink. At least a farmer wouldn’t get water poisoning with all the dirt and other crud still floating around.
Of course, over time booze started to be experimented with in order to find new methods, flavors, and varieties for recreational use. It also became much stronger due to better technology. Industrialization comes in and says that “drinks for everyone” as the price of alcohol plummets. Now, everyone has access to great quality and cheap prices without having to set up a home brewery. While alcohol’s ability to purify water made it much easier for our ancestors to live, the amount of alcohol in today’s drinks actually does the opposite effect in that it severely hinders human health and productivity.
Just think about it for a moment. This substance literally kills all of the cells inside of the drink. Your liver treats it like any other toxin when it’s processing your blood stream. And then people go ahead and find that fastest ways to get wasted. It’s similar to how getting the getting the least amount of sleep has started to become a bragging point for students. Purposefully killing the body in order for … fun I guess? Even I’m not quite sure why I sometimes like to get only 4 hours of sleep.
Then there are the more mature people, parents for example, who have learned their limits and drink responsibly. A few every now and then can’t be that harmful .. right? Well, something new has taken a look at this idea. A recent global study looked at the statistics across countries and ethnicities and found that no amount of alcohol improves your health in the long run. There have been other studies which showed that small amounts have specifically improve heart health, but the researchers have seen that there are more bad than good sides to it. I could go into a lot more detail about it, but to suffice to say that there are a lot of deaths and illnesses associated with drinking, and every researcher was adamant that they saw it as a menace to society.
While it is a (supposedly) great way to have fun, I fail to see why people defend it with that reasoning. Heroin is a great way to get high, yet I would be that there is a lot less support for that. The “it feels good” argument could be used with any illicit substance with similar success. The only reason why alcohol holds a special place is because its a part of human history. People have been drinking it for ages beforehand; it’s been built into the system of justice. Marijuana, while still somewhat illegal, is significantly less harmful, yet up until recently, possession of it was worth a felony. Society’s perception of danger has been shifted by a history drinks.
So what does that mean for you? I would say just stand by your personal beliefs. Whether you agree with me or not, it’s important to know what you stand for and why. Just blindly believing the past or the older generation leads to a lot of problems. “It’s just been that way” just doesn’t cut it. Personally, I will try to stay away from it alcohol as much as possible, and I hope you come to the same conclusion based on your own research.