June 11, 2004

I Fall Down... No Problem

I was talking to a friend about the attitude towards alcohol in the Czech Republic, and I realized that it’s another one of those subjects where I’ve so completely assimilated the Czech version of reality that the American version now seems crazy to me.

The Czechs are mostly a beer-drinking people, and it’s not uncommon to see a grandmotherly type putting back a few pints with lunch. A lot of people have lofty political ideas about the "Velvet Divorce” (the Czech/Slovak split), but I know the truth: the Czechs wanted the split because once the liquor-drinking Slovaks were off behind their own little border, the Czechs were finally and easily able to edge out their German neighbors and become the highest per capita beer consuming nation in the world. Yay, Czechs! And yay to the grandmas, for doing their part to keep the country on top.

So beer is a fairly integral part of Czech culture (where else would the "best book of the century" be about a beer-loving soldier), and alcohol in general is looked upon with a fairly friendly eye. There are drunks, especially around the train station, and they are annoying (my friend described them as “belligerently trying to stand upright”) but the Czech attitude seems very much to be “hate the sinner, not the sin”. The people are idiots: the alcohol merely exacerbates, rather than actually causes, their public displays of idiocy.

My favorite definition of alcoholism is this: What's the difference between a drunk and an alcoholic? Drunks aren’t required to go to those boring meetings. A generally accepted Czech definition of alcoholism, while perhaps less witty, is a reflection of the attitude towards alcohol. An alcoholic is a person who is unable to perform the duties expected of him because of alcohol. An alcoholic cannot make it to work on time, or maybe even hold a job; cannot maintain relationships; cannot keep a family. In the United States, an alcoholic is a person who is unable to perform the duties expected of him without alcohol. If you cannot go a day without alcohol in the United States, regardless of how well you get through that day with a drink or two at the end of the bar at the end of the day, you are considered an alcoholic. Whereas here, you can close the bar every night, and as long as you can get to work the next day (ideally without effectively euthanizing the tram with your morning-after breath) and do a full day’s work, nobody seems to care.

Are Americans too puritanical? Are Czechs too permissive? I do think that the strictness of many U.S. laws makes it almost impossible to take a deep breath without the risk of breaking something. I’m well into my 30s, and I still am frequently required to show proof of my age to buy alcohol in the United States, where the legal drinking age is 21. I know it’s meant to discourage young people, and maybe it does, but it induces a fairly incredible thirst in me, which certainly seems the opposite of what one imagines to be the intended effect. The Czech official drinking age is 18, but the unofficial age is “as soon as you reach the bar”, and even recently, it wasn’t uncommon to send the most underfoot child off to the local pub to bring back a pitcher of whatever was on tap. The disadvantage is that most Czechs have been absolutely staggering at least once by the time they’re 15, but then few of them lack the sense to say “No!” when it’s suggested that they join in a quick boat race when they move away from the more watchful eyes of home (and you would most like to think of them as being responsible).

I should admit that part of my affection for the Czech attitude has to do with a certain, ah, vested interest in that point of view. So I know which approach I prefer. But I am interested to know: Is it a uniquely American attitude, this "away with rum!"; all alcohol is bad, and some is even worse? And if so, what’s it like elsewhere? If the U.S. attitude is not the norm, is the Czech attitude common, or is there a middle ground... what’s it like where you are?

Posted by anne at June 11, 2004 09:32 PM
Comments

But there are so many cultures where alcohol is integrated and where there isn't the obsession with age that are reported to have many people who have problems with alcohol...what about Russia? And in many Latin American countries they don't have the obsession with age and there are lots of alcoholics.

I don't think rates of alcoholism can be explained by the American attitude or by the laws alone. The puritanism doesn't make people alcoholics.

I guess I would compare the U.S. to Mexico and it seems about the same. There isn't such a need to define people as 'ill' there generally--in the U.S. it seems every problem becomes a strict demographic category. You have ADD or you are an alcoholic or panic disorders or bla bla bla.

So there are people whose lives are very badly affected by alcohol because they are addicted to it and get in car wrecks, fights, etc., etc. in Mexico but less inclination to categorize people generally. In fact, some explain the rise of evangelism as partly because of the benefits of the rules on alcohol.

I.e., it's still a problem but less emphasized and socially defined...

Posted by: Miel at June 12, 2004 12:54 AM

Alcohol... not really part of the social environment here. Smoking and fast cars, on the other hand....

Well, alcohol is available here in 0m^~ but only if you're a non-M@$l`# foreigner (and if you can be bothered to get a permit) can you get takeaway, and the amount is regulated. Anyone, including locals, can drink alcohol in a bar (say, in a 4 or 5 star hotel). You would probably be seen as a Bad Example of your religion if you were a local and you did; but not by all. On the other hand, if you have a traffic accident and have any alcohol in your system at all, you're done for.

Of course, there are ways to get around it if you're determined, but any problems with it are Not Mentioned. I'm not sure about the age thing. Other countries in the area have varying regulations of course.

Coincidentally, frogstar was talking to a friend the other day who said that a number of years ago alcohol had been available in his country and then it had been banned (to what extent it had been available I don't know). There was subsequently an increase in (other) drug problems, since they were easier to smuggle in. Interesting.

So - if you prohibit it, you'll have problems, as shown by history, but will you have more problems if you don't? And do grades of availability make a difference?

Posted by: flerdle at June 13, 2004 09:24 AM

Here, in eastern Austria, the drinking age is 16, I think, and social drinking at parties and discos by kids that age is not uncommon (social drinking = getting drunk with other kids). My oldest daughter will be 15 soon and sometimes asks to take a sip when we are drinking something, which is fine by me as it usually tastes foul to her and she loses interest.

My father tells us stories of running down to the local pub as a 5 year old tyke in Chicago to buy his dad a bucket of beer. I suppose it wouldn't be a problem to send my kids, even the small one who is seven, to get me a bottle of beer from the store... I've seen kids that age buying cigarettes for their moms.

I don't think this has much of an effect on alcoholism here, either way. We have a couple in the family here (one died of cirrhosis of the liver, one goes to AA meetings), the rest seem to drink in moderation. I am probably the heaviest drinker in the immediate family, and I don't drink all that much. Although my youngest was announcing at a restaurant last weekend that "my dad likes to get drunk!"

Posted by: mig at June 14, 2004 08:05 PM