“At this point in my life, the pros outweigh the cons,” one reader argued.
Welcome to Up for Debate. Each week, Conor Friedersdorf rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Later, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.
Last week, I asked readers, “Are humans better or worse off for having beer, wine, and spirits? Or, if you'd prefer introspection, how about you personally?” Several of you pointed out that humanity benefited greatly from alcohol in bygone eras when there was a dearth of clean water. But today we’ll focus on the modern era.
Replies have been edited for length and clarity.
Dave shared his family background and its effect on his attitudes:
On one side of my family, alcohol was generally forbidden and never touched during family gatherings. On the other, it was central to every family event. If you asked me which side is more fun, I’d say the drinking side. Maybe as drinkers, we flock to others like ourselves and learn to block out forces that we identify as threats to our drinking high. Over time and following a few family deaths, we migrated away from vacationing to the nondrinking side of the family, and candidly, I can’t remember the last time I saw any of those relatives.
Alcohol can leave a dark shadow, especially when it deteriorates someone’s health like it did to my father. At the same time, I’ve moved around a lot, and when I move to a new city, I almost always find community in local bars that is as warm and welcoming as a church. My brother made a career out of alcohol as a brewer. When the pandemic hit, he began working overtime because of how dramatically their supplies were flying off the shelf. I think people found comfort and perspective in popping a top and relaxing for a while.
My best friend is also my best drinking buddy, and every Friday at happy hour, drinking gives us a chance to check in on each other. I don’t think we would catch up as regularly otherwise.
Both of my parents are sober now, and have been for a number of years. I assume I’ll do that someday too. But today, I’m a young person living in a big city where drinking is the culture. I also network as part of my job, and having a drink in my hand helps me quell my social anxiety. So rather than “better or worse,” I’d say alcohol is more. More expensive, more taxing on your health, more connection, more community, and more things to think about—even if it’s adversely affecting your memory. I don’t know if it’s right for me, but I do understand the pros and cons, and at this point in my life, the pros outweigh the cons.
Jaleelah made a case against alcohol:
Most people understand the harms of alcohol addiction. Many understand the harms of deciding to make alcohol the center of adult social life. But many insist that alcohol itself can be useful, that the problem is overconsumption. Everyone else wants to be nuanced these days, so I’ll take the extreme position for variety: Society would be a better place with zero alcohol.
Alcohol is a social crutch. People use it to calm their nerves at parties and create excuses for being more honest than usual. Many insist that their tipsy selves have special qualities and skills that they could never develop sober. But in the absence of alcohol, the need for honesty and social bonding would still exist. Former drinkers would simply find other ways to build the skills that they currently rely on alcohol for. I grew up in an alcohol-free household. My parents certainly taught me how to interact with new people and how to be forthcoming with my opinions. Former drinkers are often successful in developing these skills when they turn sober. It is clearly possible to be the coolest version of yourself without alcohol; most people simply have no reason to try.
And alcohol is an emotional crutch. A lot of people live depressing lives because they don’t make enough money to live comfortably. Instead of working through or capitalizing on their anger, they drink. Society would be a better place if there was no way for people to numb their senses of justice and fairness. I’m sure that some people get mild fulfillment from “drinking healthily,” but alcohol’s negative effects outweigh the positive ones.
Jack reminded us that there’s another side to alcohol deaths:
There is often a calculation of how many lives alcohol has cost. People rarely consider how many lives alcohol has CREATED. How many millions of us owe our lives to the shot of whiskey at the bar that motivated our fathers to walk up to our mothers? Or the glass of wine that emboldened our moms to join our dads on the dance floor at a crowded party?
Humans are certainly better off for having alcohol!
Johanna wrote, “I have never known a human who was better for having alcoholic beverages.” She explained:
Begin with the horrid road of alcoholism that my mother traveled, dragging her abused, neglected, and tortured family with her. Too drugged to retain a good sense of reality, she birthed six children and proceeded to bounce between true love and unrelenting hate for those children. I cannot even begin to know the deep torture she put my good father through, although he became a bitter, bitter man over the 50 years they were together.
I grew up and abstained from alcohol into my 30s, but a newly single lifestyle brought it to my door through my many new friends and new social life. There were such good times! But I lost my own good sense of reality and made mistakes while intoxicated that I can never fix. Finally, in retirement, I gave up alcohol altogether after witnessing what it did to not only me but my friends and family. Fighting, misunderstandings, bad choices, cockeyed lives.
I have seen many times that alcohol made more vibrant and memorable, but only for a time. The slurred voices and sloppy mannerisms always showed up and taught me that alcohol is indeed a drug and eventually gives its ugly side. The death of my only sister from alcoholism, who swore to never become an alcoholic, was the last straw. And so, from my perspective, humans are certainly no better off for having beer, wine, and spirits.
Nati feels that she has been better off as a result of alcohol:
Back in my late teens (and any period before that), I could mostly characterize myself as a neurotic mess, forever socially anxious, stuck in dread loops that reverberated fragments of bad memories again and again. A few things helped me become less socially anxious over time, starting with alcohol. While it did not entirely alleviate my anxiety, I was way more open, fun, and exciting (at least in my head), and was able to build a social life I had fervently wanted for two decades at that point. While my evolving life eventually obviated alcohol consumption as a necessary ingredient in my social-life recipe, I still view it fondly. I am aware of the health impacts of drinking any amount of alcohol and sometimes will try to avoid it now; but I sometimes formulate (apologies for the math) life enjoyment as the integral (in math terms, or more plainly: the sum) that has a fixed value, while its components (temporal enjoyment, longevity/overall health, time spent exercising) are inextricably inversely linked. There’s no wrong answer. You want to live longer? You’ll sacrifice temporal euphoria, and vice versa.
Garion lives in Australia, “where beer, wine, and spirits are so culturally prolific that they are part of our national identity.”
He explained:
In colonial times, pubs were often the first structures erected in new settlements, with the towns being built around them. Before he died, one of our most beloved prime ministers, who set a world record for drinking a yard of ale in 11 seconds, launched a brewery (its motto: “One for the Country”). Our current prime minister has just returned from China, where he posed with Australian [beer] and petitioned Beijing to, among other things, drop tariffs on Australian wine. (Someone named a beer after him, too). On ANZAC Day, after the dawn service, it is a tradition for many to go to their local RSL Club, grab a few pints, and play two-up. At the beginning of the colonial period, rum was famously used as a currency.
I like all of these quirks. Other countries tend to reckon with alcohol in a different way than we do. The American experiment with prohibition, and the drinking age being as high as 21, seems to imply there’s something wrong with alcohol, which is an attitude we generally don’t have unless you're exhibiting signs of problem drinking.
I think about this because the more adverse side to alcohol, particularly addiction, often takes place behind closed doors, and the effect this has on families is not so visible to outsiders. This makes it harder to identify when there’s a problem, even though many of us will say that we know someone who “goes too far” when they drink. But it’s worth remembering that alcohol is a global phenomenon. The enjoyment of beer, wine, and spirits spans generations and civilizations. It has been propagated for thousands of years, is a part of Christianity’s foundation story, and will be enjoyed, I suspect, long after we’re gone.
I enjoy a drink socially, usually at the pub, and grabbing a beer with my friends to unwind is something I look forward to. Alcohol is not a universal good; it has unfortunately caused a lot of pain in some people’s lives, and I can only imagine how hard it would be for those who try to avoid it altogether. However, if alcohol has been this popular for this long, and is common across so many cultural divides, I believe in my heart that we’re better off, not worse off, for it existing. When I sit down at a pub or a gathering and look around, there is one thing I notice most viscerally—the smile on everyone’s faces.
Brent quit drinking:
I was a steady, consistent drinker over the last 20–25 years. In the end, I was drinking at least some alcohol six days a week, sometimes seven. I would suffer a mild hangover at least once every two to three weeks and a bad hangover after big events now and then. Just over two years ago, I decided I had to have a cleanse/break from alcohol for 30 days. During that time, I came across a book called This Naked Mind, by Annie Grace. It was an eye-opener for me and literally stopped me in my tracks. I haven’t touched alcohol since, and it has been easy. Long story short, alcohol has gone from being very relevant and important in my life to irrelevant and of no consequence. Not only that, but I live a much fuller life now, spending more time with my wife and kids, not to mention being noticeably more productive with my business. I can’t think of one thing I miss about alcohol.
Walter praises alcohol:
What a treasure it is to be able to alter our state of consciousness in a relatively predictable way with an easily obtainable substance of various highly nuanced flavors. To experience ourselves and our world with less inhibition and constraint, to indulge desires with more freedom, and to do so, paradigmatically, in a communal spirit of conviviality! There’s a cost to it, but that is true of many, if not all, favored human endeavors.
Errol drinks to socialize:
My favorite thing to do involving alcohol is going to a bar and talking to strangers. It’s the most joyous thing to get a random interaction with someone you’ve never met before and may never see again, and a bar setting is the only place where this can be done that I can imagine. They may be there to avoid rush hour or grab a bite or watch the game, but they’re so often willing to chat, they almost never have earphones on, and the social lubricant is kicking in.
I have a spot I go to in L.A. that’s like my Cheers, where most of the patrons are locals, and it’s the only place I ever see them. We shoot the shit with each other and with the bartenders. Some patrons are staunch Trump supporters who couldn’t care less about Israel versus Palestine. Others are left-wing Brits who hate America and the NFL, and I get along swimmingly with both. These aren’t people I would have deep friendships with, but there’s something special about us collecting from time to time, knocking back beers and arguing about bidets or regulations or whatever comes up in the moment. Without alcohol, I struggle to find another way these kinds of encounters can happen, and having friends at all levels is vital not just for your mental health, but for combating our greatest vice: these bubbles that social media and the internet is putting us all in.
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Andrew Mitrovica
Mort Laitner
Rami G Khouri
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
Nikkei Editorial
visit website
