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Alcohol Industry Propaganda

Old 12-12-2011, 08:02 PM
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Alcohol Industry Propaganda

Last night, I went out for my final drinks. I had set up my sobriety time to today so I decided to get some last drinks much like a convict awaiting death row gets his last meal. I decided to go out alone and really think about my last drinks and the whole world of drinking versus sobriety. It was the first time I had ever really thought about the whole experience

So I sat at the bar, I had my four favorite drinks (originally meant to have two final drinks...go figure) and I watched the whole bar scene. Here I was drinking a poison in a dimly lit room filled with drunk and semi-drunk people.

The whole scene is alcohol industry propaganda...all of it. The bartender was a thin pretty 20 year old girl with very very very short shorts...of course they have pretty bartenders for a reason...so you will spend more money on booze. Then of course they put the liquor in shiny bottles on a beautifully lit island right in the middle of bar on a pedestal as though as though alcohol is meant to be worshiped. At every turn the walls are covered in giant beer ad posters and on the big screen TV, there pops up a beer commercial that features regular guys having fun and being friends by drinking beer. Of course.

On the tables next to me, there were about 15 drunk guys watching the cowboys game and getting way way too excited about it. Every time the cowboys scored a point or thwarted their opponent's offence, the drunk people would get so ridiculously excited. Excited over something that has no meaningful implications in their lives or the lives of those they love. I think that the alcohol allows them to live vicariously. They don't have their own life, so instead they shut down the part of their brain that tells them what reality is and use alcohol as a means of living a fantasy. It's all propaganda. Propaganda to separate you from your dollar.

So that evening I spent a grand total of $18 on four drinks (that was during sunday happy hour--kind of expensive, huh?) and left the bar scene for life.

The next day, I get on facebook and am greeted with numerous alcohol adds (as facebook always does). Ever notice that alcohol is advertised disproportionately at a higher rate than any other consumable item? For every soft drink ad, I will show you ten beer ads easily. It's all propaganda...because, keep in mind, the alcohol industry is a drug pusher. They are drug lords. They will do everything they can to convince you that alcohol is an essential part of a healthy, happy life. Practically all socializing on TV shows is done with alcohol in hand (product placement). Then there are the commercials and billboards and once in a while the news will put out a study that says moderate drinking is good for you (not good for you...just thins out the blood--just follow your doctor's orders if your blood is too thick).

My friends are pretty much all taken by this propaganda. When I announced today on facebook that I quit drinking, I get greeted with an "I hate you" (jokingly of course) and "no one likes quitters" (jokes). They probably think I am not serious that I just had a bad hangover and will soon be back to drinking. Not drinking is like heresy to them...and my friends are not hard partiers, they are average people.

This is probably why staying abstinent is so hard. I am in my twenties and I am a single guy who is an Agnostic. I don't have a high pressure career (though I do have a full time job) or wife, kids or religion to keep me from drinking and a society that says I should be drinking. So I am going to have to commit complete heresy against society by being a nondrinker.
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Old 12-12-2011, 08:08 PM
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Best wishes on staying stopped!
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Old 12-12-2011, 08:13 PM
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Well I think you might be selling sobriety a little short. I think that you will discover as you get some sober time under your belt that having to quit drinking is far from a curse. In fact, the hell that my life was has largely disappeared since I got sober. Looking back I'm not sure why I put off the decision to get sober for as long as I did. It seems sort of silly, why did I continue to self-sabotage for so long when a manageable life and a shot at happiness was just as simple as putting down the bottle. FWIW, I too am single, no kids, in my twenties, no real responsibilities, but that makes my sobriety all the more important: we are both at a unique time in our lives where we can really focus on ourselves without the burden of taking care of a family or a career.

I think once you give it some time you'll discover that the love affair was over a long time ago, and you'll wonder why you didn't leave your mistress sooner.
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Old 12-12-2011, 08:21 PM
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I think back and it was a kick in the gut to think about never drinking again or that party or that feeling. 20 years last I'm so glad I'm still sober. I think it was about 18 months sober when I really found what living sober is all about in other forms/ways. Now once in a while I think sure it would have been nice but today I want to be ME without some substance. It is a growth and a new light everyday of feeling and enjoying life. I don't care for it and every once in a blue moon do I think hey it would be nice... But the reality of it is I wouldn't give my sobriety up for a few illusional moments of being someone I'm not.
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Old 12-12-2011, 08:22 PM
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You are right, Calvin1. Alcohol is everywhere and I never noticed until I tried to give it up.
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Old 12-12-2011, 08:43 PM
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I am also in my 20s, single, no kids, atheist and newly sober. Tonight I felt quite depressed (not sure about what?) but reading these forums is so helpful. My drinking days are over. Alcohol has prevented me from growing. It doesn't help us in anyway but to just keep us coming back for more and more. I think you are right about the propaghanda. Alcohol has been marketed brilliantly and the industry is desperate to keep people "drinking responsibly."

Is drinking alcohol ever responsible? It sure isn't for me. I don't know if it is for anyone...how does altering your judgment=responsibility?
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Old 12-12-2011, 08:55 PM
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Yep, it sure is a money spinner.

I grew up in a neighborhood that made their own wine back in the 60's.
It was cultural, made their own tomato paste and their own bacon and their own pasta, garden and vegetables.

The food was, just it! Basil, Garlic and it eventually became a VERY large family ( neighborhood size ) Pizza.
Believe me, the Pizza is in the sauce of that era, not the mass produced chemical sauce it is today. No need to add pineapple to offset today's yukky underlying taste.
I remember many Pizza bars had it's own unique home made sauce and bacon.

With the wine making I saw the whole lot being made and put in those old wooden barrels and joined in helping cos they had a home made machine using an old washing machine motor that crushed the grapes and we drank straight out of the part where the juice came out from.
To me it was just like orange juice, except this was grape.

I got drunk, but it was laughed at cos I was kid at the time and this thing they did was a rare and private event. Not private as in cloak and dagger private, but each their own, it was their way of family back then, private.

All this was to lead up either Xmas or Easter or some other cultural celebration, sometimes I was there, other times I was doing my thing.
It was not about the wine being the main focus, but lots was consumed, the women mixed it with lemonade.
I never saw anyone get drunk to blackout, it was all merry and happy, food was the main, if not THE main focus and the wine complemented the food.

Not today, the propaganda is the exact opposite of what I remember.
It's all a memory and the art of making these home made supremos has faded away.
Nothing tastes the same anymore, not even meat.
I'm off meat, grog, junk food and canned liquid sugar.

$$commercial propaganda$$ seems to have destroyed the cultural standards of that era
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