Booze, part 2

Speaking as the person who usually sticks with soft drinks at parties, I was interested to see this article on the BBC website yesterday. An eminent anthropologist suggests that many of the behaviours associated with alcohol are nothing to do with the physical effects but the result of personal or social expectations around drinking.

This comes as no surprise to me. I've long believed that in many cases inebriation is more psychological than physical. Of course balance, reaction times and the like are impaired; you won't catch me arguing that it's safe to drive or perform open-heart surgery when under the influence of alcohol. But there's nothing in a bottle to make someone become verbally or physically aggressive, jump into bed with a stranger, or do any of the other things that tend to be explained away with "I'd had a few drinks". I'm convinced that what really happens is the drinker sees an opportunity to act outside established social norms without having to take full responsibility, because society has allowed alcohol to be an acceptable scapegoat.

I know a person who when drinking becomes argumentative, opinionated, generally obnoxious. From the very first sip. This behaviour wouldn't be considered acceptable in many other countries where drinking is just as deeply ingrained. In Spain and Italy for example, many people drink a large amount over the course of a week but it isn't seen as extraordinary and doesn't lead to extremes of behaviour. Try convincing a magistrate there that it wasn't your fault, it was the drink. I suspect you wouldn't get far.

Alcohol is a depressant yet we're told some people become dependent, which seems a strange state of affairs. I can understand addiction to a stimulant, but how often do you hear someone say "I had to take more and more to get the same low"? I suspect that alcohol addiction is more about freedom from social norms than anything physical. And maybe there are others out there like me, who can enjoy the taste of a drink without turning into lager louts.

So, back to the subject of alcohol on the coach. Perhaps these secret G&T drinkers aren't bound to misbehave and it's all a storm in an Irish coffee cup.