A really thought provoking article - thank you Carrie! Our drinking culture over here is so unbelievably bad. The quote you included about ‘seeking a safer pleasure’ is so fascinating. I had never thought about collective and individual consumption of alcohol that way. Because it is inherently unsafe in a multi layered way (personal, financial, health, inciting violence etc etc), so what does that say about the wider necessary human need for safety if most of the pleasure society seeks is so unsafe? Creates an atmosphere that is completely unfulfilling. (Always thought alcohol is unfulfilling of course but I mean I’ve never thought about it so collectively across the whole of the UK for example). It’s like we’re all be sedated about the state of the world by the alcohol companies that own so much. And cause so much damage.
I wonder where it goes from here. Perhaps going sober needs to be reframed a lot more as for the community as well as yourself. As a gen z I have never known so many sober people as I do right now as I have many sober peers. I hope that means something good.
This is great. Scale of production and the financial power of major alcohol producers make them wildly unsustainable as well as too powerful. Especially interesting considering much alcohol began being made to deal with agricultural waste!
Thanks Martha. I think more and more people aren’t drinking at all, which is great, but also means alcohol companies look for new markets elsewhere... I try to imagine a world where if we choose we can indulge safely and without either pressure or judgement ... or not!
A really thought provoking article - thank you Carrie! Our drinking culture over here is so unbelievably bad. The quote you included about ‘seeking a safer pleasure’ is so fascinating. I had never thought about collective and individual consumption of alcohol that way. Because it is inherently unsafe in a multi layered way (personal, financial, health, inciting violence etc etc), so what does that say about the wider necessary human need for safety if most of the pleasure society seeks is so unsafe? Creates an atmosphere that is completely unfulfilling. (Always thought alcohol is unfulfilling of course but I mean I’ve never thought about it so collectively across the whole of the UK for example). It’s like we’re all be sedated about the state of the world by the alcohol companies that own so much. And cause so much damage.
I wonder where it goes from here. Perhaps going sober needs to be reframed a lot more as for the community as well as yourself. As a gen z I have never known so many sober people as I do right now as I have many sober peers. I hope that means something good.
This is great. Scale of production and the financial power of major alcohol producers make them wildly unsustainable as well as too powerful. Especially interesting considering much alcohol began being made to deal with agricultural waste!
Absolutely. Thanks for reading and commenting. I’m going to be reading and writing more about these connections in 2024
Thanks Martha. I think more and more people aren’t drinking at all, which is great, but also means alcohol companies look for new markets elsewhere... I try to imagine a world where if we choose we can indulge safely and without either pressure or judgement ... or not!