2nd January 2006, 12:26 PM
DJ (and grumbler)/ That's exactly how I felt. In all honesty I was afraid of it growing up because I watched my sister (major drinking problem) go through hell because of it. But it's nothing to be afraid of, it's a form of entertainment that has its positives and negatives like anything else.
beer was invented by the egyptians but not as entertainment really, it was a liqued food high in carbs and proteins to quickly feed slaves while they worked and kept them in a buzzed state that was easy to control. Imagine hundreds of thousands of slaves with only a few guards with small sting whips standing between them and freedom, keeping them in an altered state with the ideal of absolute fear is the only way to control huge masses. Even today people believe the harder you work the more you should have a beer, it's ingrained in every culture around the world.
The romans (whom we base all western society after) loved the idea and decided that because being drunk or buzzed is a form of entertainment, other forms of entertainment might work on the same level as well. But instead of giving it to their jewish slaves, they gave it to their own people. Imagine living in a country ruled by Caligula or Nero, everyone should have been depressed 24/7 as they watch the empire crumble within a two or three lifetimes, they'd stop working, stop attenting temples, etc. But keep them entertained with sports, public executions, comedians and musicians and of course alcohol all they'll worry about is where the next big party is going to be.
So alcohol definitely has some powerful destructive roots but as Europe evolved after the fall of the Romans the ideas of alcohol turned in to something to be enjoyed privately in the home with friends. The idea of getting drunk was only secondary, the experience centered around tasting strange mixtures and enjoying the acquired tastes, using it in banquets of cheeses, fruits and chocolates to highten the natural flavors of the alcohol. And slowly it became a social celebration between friends, a practice that the irish created loooong before Mr. Peter came to say hello. Drinking to them is a practice to bring out the soul of a person to your bare core and say what you want about your love for a best friend or hate for a co-worker.
And today you still have these two views of the stuff. People who are slaves to it, and people who enjoy it as a kind of private social celebration. I'm guessing you grew up seeing more of the negative than the positive, but in the end it's just a slightly non-lethal (if prepared and consumed correctly) poisonous drink used eleviate stress and take down emotional barriers created out of need to live and work in a highly unstable society. Having a fear of a particular type of escapism is common because you only know what you know, but certainly trying it a few times in your life would only be beneficial.
As a kid we spin in place and over-dose on sugar to get natural highs and alter our state, as an adult those methods hold less gratification so we create more sophisticated ways of altering our state, whether it be escaping in to the art of certain types of media, relationships of friends and lovers and of course chemically induced escapism. It's all the same to our brains.
beer was invented by the egyptians but not as entertainment really, it was a liqued food high in carbs and proteins to quickly feed slaves while they worked and kept them in a buzzed state that was easy to control. Imagine hundreds of thousands of slaves with only a few guards with small sting whips standing between them and freedom, keeping them in an altered state with the ideal of absolute fear is the only way to control huge masses. Even today people believe the harder you work the more you should have a beer, it's ingrained in every culture around the world.
The romans (whom we base all western society after) loved the idea and decided that because being drunk or buzzed is a form of entertainment, other forms of entertainment might work on the same level as well. But instead of giving it to their jewish slaves, they gave it to their own people. Imagine living in a country ruled by Caligula or Nero, everyone should have been depressed 24/7 as they watch the empire crumble within a two or three lifetimes, they'd stop working, stop attenting temples, etc. But keep them entertained with sports, public executions, comedians and musicians and of course alcohol all they'll worry about is where the next big party is going to be.
So alcohol definitely has some powerful destructive roots but as Europe evolved after the fall of the Romans the ideas of alcohol turned in to something to be enjoyed privately in the home with friends. The idea of getting drunk was only secondary, the experience centered around tasting strange mixtures and enjoying the acquired tastes, using it in banquets of cheeses, fruits and chocolates to highten the natural flavors of the alcohol. And slowly it became a social celebration between friends, a practice that the irish created loooong before Mr. Peter came to say hello. Drinking to them is a practice to bring out the soul of a person to your bare core and say what you want about your love for a best friend or hate for a co-worker.
And today you still have these two views of the stuff. People who are slaves to it, and people who enjoy it as a kind of private social celebration. I'm guessing you grew up seeing more of the negative than the positive, but in the end it's just a slightly non-lethal (if prepared and consumed correctly) poisonous drink used eleviate stress and take down emotional barriers created out of need to live and work in a highly unstable society. Having a fear of a particular type of escapism is common because you only know what you know, but certainly trying it a few times in your life would only be beneficial.
As a kid we spin in place and over-dose on sugar to get natural highs and alter our state, as an adult those methods hold less gratification so we create more sophisticated ways of altering our state, whether it be escaping in to the art of certain types of media, relationships of friends and lovers and of course chemically induced escapism. It's all the same to our brains.