TROM Poems - Alcohol & Partying

Many of us live in cultures where the norm is to get absolutely wasted every weekend or whenever one has the excuse to do so. Maybe, that’s because human connection is otherwise rarely found in these cultures. Maybe there are larger structural forces in play (trade) pushing humans to intoxicate and numb there bodies as a way of dealing with this predatory and polluted world.

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Music: Earnest by Kevin MacLeod

Sources:
3.3 million net deaths attributable to alcohol consumption: https://www.who.int/substance_abuse/facts/alcohol/en/
Increases suicide by 3x: https://web.archive.org/web/20150701200635/http://www.cdc.gov:80/violenceprevention/pdf/nvdrs_data_brief-a.pdf
Alcohol consumption and suicide: https://academic.oup.com/qjmed/article/99/1/57/1523792
Cannabis: https://www.who.int/substance_abuse/publications/cannabis_report/en/index7.html
Iceland: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/01/teens-drugs-iceland/513668/

Alcohol & Partying
By Seb

Most movies, music, media, and people in so-called
developed societies reinforce you to drink,

rather than to critically
question and think.

The harmful use of alcohol results in the
death of around 3 million people annually.

Some overdose at once, whilst others kill
themselves drinking it gradually.

It also causes illness, injury and emotional
damage to millions more,

yet most people continue to drink excessively without
really asking themselves the question: what for?

Instead, so many people’s main motivation
is to get absolutely wasted,

suppressing real life for a temporary high
that a day later will make them feel devastated.

Some of them even go deaf because
today’s techno clubs are so loud,

yet most don’t care as that’s the attitude generated
by a drugged up and hypnotized crowd.

Alcohol impairs rational decision making
and is related to 6% of all deaths,

but that doesn’t itch today’s rave culture where people
are conditioned to drink booze to show off their wealth.

It seems like social interactions are increasingly
packed with insecurity, distance, and fear,

maybe that’s one of the reasons why so
many people have to drink so much beer.

In other words, maybe alcohol helps people
deal with all the anxiety structurally induced

by our modern lives in today’s concrete,
cold and unsocial society.

Or maybe the liquor industry is marketing all it can to boost alcohol
sales from Monday to Friday and throughout the weekend,

seducing people to spend, lend and bend in the face of
humanities potentially quite shallow and intoxicated end.

Alcohol has become so embedded
in western traditions

that it has become a cultural
substance of addiction.

Hence, peer pressure is a big thing,

as people tend to do what is socially reinforced
by their immediate surroundings.

Alcohol can, of course, be relieving,
exciting and extremely funny,

but ultimately we must look at it
for what it really is:

a massively promoted toxic substance that
makes a few people a whole lot of money.

It’s funny how alcohol is so widely accepted,
as it kills so many people,

yet something like cannabis that doesn’t kill anyone
is still in so many places around the world illegal.

Our values seem twisted.

Instead of a culture that reinforces health,
curiosity and social inclusion

we have one that pushes emotional and
physical suppression through alcohol,

which if you don’t consume will separate you from
many members of today’s modern western society.

I am not saying that one should never drink
alcohol or that it is terrible for all.

I enjoy a drink here and there as well
at times, but what I am saying

is that having a social structure that fetishizes
and pressurizes so many people to misuse

such an intoxicating substance is deadly,
unacceptable and needs to be changed.

There is so much more to life than to get completely wasted
every weekend or to overdose on some substance.

To understand more please check out how Iceland has
significantly reduced the abuse of substances and alcohol

over the past decades through fun activities,
education, and sports.

Also, check out the work of Gabor Maté
and his work on addiction,

showing how a person background, circumstances
and the degree of abuse they have endured in life

are major contributors as to why people
get hooked on substances,

thus challenging what most people
would think about alcoholics.

A new socioeconomic structure that boosts public
health, education, and solidarity with one another

together with exciting adventures
and experiences

can surpass this issue and
most others we face today.

To understand more about such a trade-free system
please check out Tromsite,

The Venus Project and The Zeitgeist Movement.

Thanks for listening and much love.

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