Apologies in advance if anyone gets offended with the proceeding.....
*breaks out the soapbox*
As the child of sober alcoholics who has had many a frank conversation with his parents and siblings on the nature of alcoholism, as well as attended Al-Anon off and on for some 27 years.....
kudapucat said:
for a long time I really despised ppl who "wouldn't" hold their drink, and "wouldn't" know when to stop. It's only recently I've realized wouldn't = couldn't.
That is complete and utter horse hocky.
As has previously been noted by Matrix4b, how alcoholism is portrayed in our society is a gross misrepresentation.
Alcoholism is, put plainly, a failure to grow up. It is a refusal to accept the world for what it is, to react to situations maturely, to be responsible for one's actions.... it is not a disease, it is not an addiction.... it is weakness. And like all weakness it should not be understood, or sympathized with. It should be scorned.
The idea that alcoholics "can not" control themselves is absurd. Society is not made better when we give people excuses to not behave and perform as they should. My father has said there is one indisputable truth about alcoholism: The best way for an alcoholic to quit drinking, is to quit drinking.
The absurdity of political correctness has led us to classify alcoholism as a "disease", and has gotten to the point of such absurdity that the US EEOC has sued Old Dominion Freight for telling an alcoholic driver that he won't ever drive for their company again. Oh, never mind the fact that 90% of Alcoholics relapse at least once within four years of completing rehab. No no, let's put the guy in the driver's seat of a semi-truck, so that when he relapses he causes a 50 car pile up that kills 20 people and permanently maims 60 more. What a great freaking idea that is!
Alcoholics choose to drink too much. They choose to pick up the bottle, not just the first time, or the second time, but the 15th time when they're so blasted they can't remember their names. These are choices. No drug, no devil, no force in the universe can take away your ability to choose..... nor your responsibility for the consequences of those choices.
I am tired of people getting passes for their failures. When we say people "can not" in regards to things that are purely issues of willpower we open the door to the collapse of Western Civilization.
Fundamentalist Muslims argue that a woman must be covered, for the sight of a stray hair will send men into an uncontrollable fury of rape. Western Civilization says that a woman can stand stark nekkid in front of a man, and unless she says "come hither" he's expected to walk away.
Trivia: Which culture has been to the moon? The two are not unrelated.
(and I'm deleting about 4 paragraphs from this, because I started wandering off topic into related, but not relevant issues)