Youth Alienation Crisis and Binge Drinking
Why the children of Ireland are turning into drinkers 13 January 2008 By Tom McGurk Sunday Business Post Binge drinking is a product of our modern consumer society that is obsessed with popular culture. Here we go again: all the statistics point to the fact that we have the worst binge-drinking culture in the EU. And once again, the political classes are moving to do something about it. Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan is assembling an advisory group to look at the problems associated with the abuse of alcohol. The taskforce is being asked to move quickly and report back to the minister by March 31. Some of the matters at which the taskforce will apparently look include raising the legal age for buying alcohol in off-licences to 21, alcohol sales in shops and garages and the possibility of on-the-spot fines for public drunkenness. The drinks industry was first off the mark following the minister’s announcement, remarkably disputing the extent of binge drinking among over 18s and calling for a concentration instead on underage drinking. Its spokespeople also disputed the minister’s figures showing that our consumption continues to rise annually. To paraphrase Mandy Rice-Davies: ‘‘Well they would, wouldn’t they?” But in our 21st century society - driven by the free market - Lenihan’s belief that the state can stop some of its citizens inflicting enormous damage on themselves and on society in general through alcohol abuse is quite touching. Apparently, he hasn’t yet discovered that the power of the consumer society has long ago outstripped the political powers available to any government, particularly in a liberal democracy. The poor man still thinks that we live in a society, as opposed to a market place. For a start, because the level of duty and taxes on alcohol is so high, the state is actually the largest net benefactor from our binge-drinking culture. Isn’t it remarkable that as a society we raise millions in tax from our children drinking themselves into oblivion and then have to spend most of it trying to put their bodies, minds and lives back together again? I wish the minister and his greybeards well, but the notion that somehow, by state regulation, this problem can be solved or dealt with is nonsense. It might make for good headlines and get the political class off the hook, but it will not make an iota of difference. Raise the legal age to 21, limit alcohol outlets, even bring in on-the-spot fines - but all you will do is drive youth binge drinking under ground. When the same approach was tried in the US the consumption of illegal narcotics to replace alcohol took off instead. Indeed, given that drugs in Ireland are already illegal yet readily available, how on earth can anyone imagine that limiting the availability of alcohol through a few easily-got-round measures will make any difference? Have those on his committee seen the sights on the main street of any Irish town between 2am and 4am on any Saturday or Sunday morning? Have they taken up a watching brief at the same hours in the local A&E? Before they report, will the minister load them on a coach in the early hours and take them for a tour of our drunken, vomit-splashed Hades some weekend? Here’s a question the minister’s committee might consider: why is it that, in Europe, it’s the young citizens of the English-speaking cultures who binge drink? Why are Ireland and Britain way ahead of the rest? Surely, it has to do with the awesome power of our particular English-speaking popular culture and the way in which it promotes and sells alcohol as a part of a wider life-style package. More importantly, it is a culture which equates the concept of excess with notions of individual freedom and self-liberation. The sub-text of this culture is the economic freedom to purchase - the inalienable right of the consumer to do what they like with their money and woe betide anyone, including the state, who attempts to interfere with that right. And no market is more important than that of the under-21s with its naivety and immaturity, its youthful crisis of self-esteem - and its money. Perhaps, the minister’s committee members might ask themselves this question: why is it that their grandmothers, when they were 15, didn’t go to the local dance on a Saturday night dressed like child prostitutes with a half bottle of vodka and their knickers in their handbags? What produced the society whose revolutionary icon is not Che Guevara, but Britney Spears? And given the way in which market forces subtly and ruthlessly target the individual’s sexuality, self-esteem, shape and size, is it any wonder that most 18-yearolds need to get pissed to get the courage to go out into the alligator tank that consumerism has made of their society? In the most profound sense, the 19-yearold girl lying in the recovery position in a pool of her own vomit in the A&E corridor as dawn breaks is a victim of consumerism - and, of course, a very good customer. Instead of playing games about regulation and access, what Lenihan’s committee needs to do is to open up a wider debate about where our society ends and the marketplace begins. We are all slowly disappearing under a tidal wave of junk culture and alcohol is only one of the weapons being used on the battlefield to reduce us to the state of utter compliance. Even in journalism, where this battle should be fought, the white flag of ‘infotainment’ has been hoisted over most places. In recent decades, religion in Ireland surrendered its authority to secularism. It then quickly surrendered its authority, not to a new humanism, but to mere market forces. In our wisdom, we decided that Britney Spears up on the wall was a better bet than Therese of Lisieux. I wish Lenihan’s greybeards well, but I hope they realise that our binge drinkers are a mere chorus dancing around the edges of a far deeper and widening crisis.
Why the children of Ireland are turning into drinkers 13 January 2008 By Tom McGurk Sunday Business Post Binge drinking is a product of our modern consumer society that is obsessed with popular culture. Here we go again: all the statistics point to the fact that we have the worst binge-drinking culture in the EU. And once again, the political classes are moving to do something about it. Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan is assembling an advisory group to look at the problems associated with the abuse of alcohol. The taskforce is being asked to move quickly and report back to the minister by March 31. Some of the matters at which the taskforce will apparently look include raising the legal age for buying alcohol in off-licences to 21, alcohol sales in shops and garages and the possibility of on-the-spot fines for public drunkenness. The drinks industry was first off the mark following the minister’s announcement, remarkably disputing the extent of binge drinking among over 18s and calling for a concentration instead on underage drinking. Its spokespeople also disputed the minister’s figures showing that our consumption continues to rise annually. To paraphrase Mandy Rice-Davies: ‘‘Well they would, wouldn’t they?” But in our 21st century society - driven by the free market - Lenihan’s belief that the state can stop some of its citizens inflicting enormous damage on themselves and on society in general through alcohol abuse is quite touching. Apparently, he hasn’t yet discovered that the power of the consumer society has long ago outstripped the political powers available to any government, particularly in a liberal democracy. The poor man still thinks that we live in a society, as opposed to a market place. For a start, because the level of duty and taxes on alcohol is so high, the state is actually the largest net benefactor from our binge-drinking culture. Isn’t it remarkable that as a society we raise millions in tax from our children drinking themselves into oblivion and then have to spend most of it trying to put their bodies, minds and lives back together again? I wish the minister and his greybeards well, but the notion that somehow, by state regulation, this problem can be solved or dealt with is nonsense. It might make for good headlines and get the political class off the hook, but it will not make an iota of difference. Raise the legal age to 21, limit alcohol outlets, even bring in on-the-spot fines - but all you will do is drive youth binge drinking under ground. When the same approach was tried in the US the consumption of illegal narcotics to replace alcohol took off instead. Indeed, given that drugs in Ireland are already illegal yet readily available, how on earth can anyone imagine that limiting the availability of alcohol through a few easily-got-round measures will make any difference? Have those on his committee seen the sights on the main street of any Irish town between 2am and 4am on any Saturday or Sunday morning? Have they taken up a watching brief at the same hours in the local A&E? Before they report, will the minister load them on a coach in the early hours and take them for a tour of our drunken, vomit-splashed Hades some weekend? Here’s a question the minister’s committee might consider: why is it that, in Europe, it’s the young citizens of the English-speaking cultures who binge drink? Why are Ireland and Britain way ahead of the rest? Surely, it has to do with the awesome power of our particular English-speaking popular culture and the way in which it promotes and sells alcohol as a part of a wider life-style package. More importantly, it is a culture which equates the concept of excess with notions of individual freedom and self-liberation. The sub-text of this culture is the economic freedom to purchase - the inalienable right of the consumer to do what they like with their money and woe betide anyone, including the state, who attempts to interfere with that right. And no market is more important than that of the under-21s with its naivety and immaturity, its youthful crisis of self-esteem - and its money. Perhaps, the minister’s committee members might ask themselves this question: why is it that their grandmothers, when they were 15, didn’t go to the local dance on a Saturday night dressed like child prostitutes with a half bottle of vodka and their knickers in their handbags? What produced the society whose revolutionary icon is not Che Guevara, but Britney Spears? And given the way in which market forces subtly and ruthlessly target the individual’s sexuality, self-esteem, shape and size, is it any wonder that most 18-yearolds need to get pissed to get the courage to go out into the alligator tank that consumerism has made of their society? In the most profound sense, the 19-yearold girl lying in the recovery position in a pool of her own vomit in the A&E corridor as dawn breaks is a victim of consumerism - and, of course, a very good customer. Instead of playing games about regulation and access, what Lenihan’s committee needs to do is to open up a wider debate about where our society ends and the marketplace begins. We are all slowly disappearing under a tidal wave of junk culture and alcohol is only one of the weapons being used on the battlefield to reduce us to the state of utter compliance. Even in journalism, where this battle should be fought, the white flag of ‘infotainment’ has been hoisted over most places. In recent decades, religion in Ireland surrendered its authority to secularism. It then quickly surrendered its authority, not to a new humanism, but to mere market forces. In our wisdom, we decided that Britney Spears up on the wall was a better bet than Therese of Lisieux. I wish Lenihan’s greybeards well, but I hope they realise that our binge drinkers are a mere chorus dancing around the edges of a far deeper and widening crisis.