Drinking alcohol (ethanol) is a socially acceptable drug in Western society, especially here in the good old USA. Yes, ethanol is a drug, highly addictive, highly toxic and taken in a large enough quantity to quickly it will cause death. People get pissed when you call it a drug.
Recent news story - fraternity hazing party - freshman pledge drinks 18 shots of alcohol and falls down stairwell, passes out - his drunk frat "brothers" put him to bed - next morning he is dead. Some brotherly love.
But I thought drinking alcohol was going to provide a "good" time? I know - he was stupid, he drank too much too quickly, became drunk and unable to walk, falls down stairs hits his head, passes out and dies - it was the "hitting his head" that killed him we are told. As unfortunate as this scenario is, it get's a bit of news worthy press and then is quickly forgotten. Our society is in love with alcohol and has "it only happens to someone else" syndrome.
Not once do we here a politician rant about our "alcohol" epidemic which kills way more people than todays modern "opioid" epidemic. We accept the deaths of alcohol as "one of them" as this doesn't happen to normal drinkers. You know the "normal" drinker.
One of the greatest things about being a non-drinker is the entertainment factor of being around "normal" drinkers. I recently attended a sporting event where normal drinkers were on exhibit. It's absolutely hilarious to see what goes on, some of the behavior is outright reality TV material, some of the behavior is scary.
But our society accepts this as part of the sports culture. Here's good news for you drinkers - they only charge $12 for a 24oz Miller Lite at this sporting event. And the local establishment only charged $7 for a pint of draft beer. Figuring light beer is 95-98% water, that is some expensive fuel.
Our society accepts these outrageous prices because - it wouldn't be American at a sporting event without alcohol disguised as beer in this case.
How did we get to this point as a society?
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