On Drinking.

Anyone who knows me for very long will discover that I'm a drinker. I like drinking alcohol. I really like drinking alcohol, and I think it's fine to say so. Drinking alcohol makes me feel good, it makes me happier. It makes me more emotional, I feel things deeper, more immediately, more poetically. It makes me convivial, it promotes a feeling of companionship, of love for my fellow man. It makes me want to sing, to hug people, to discuss life, to laugh. If I have twelve hours to live, there is going to be drinking for at least half of that. I actively enjoy drinking.

My father likes drinking, his father before him and probably back along that line to the dawn of civilization. There is a theory, to which I subscribe, that civilization was born because of alcohol. The nomadic lifestyle in which humanity has spent most of its time on this earth takes less work than farming. Hunter-gatherers in the Serengeti work about twenty hours a week in order to stay alive. One of the things that we forget about hunter-gatherers is that the ones who are left live in the crappiest plces to live in the world for farming. The Serengeti is a desert. Imagine how hard it was to be a hunter-gatherer on the italian coastline. Why did humanity change to an agrarian lifestyle? I mean right at the beginning, the first little step. It was beer. Beer is simple, you toss grain into a receptacle and wait. But you have to wait. You have to wait too long to stay in one place as a hunter-gatherer, you will exhaust the food supply. You can't leave the beer, it will get stolen as every mammal loves alcohol http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNka9369t6Y so you have to guard it. You spread seeds around while going through this process, weeding out the non-food plants. You send out groups to get food from elsewhere and bring it back to a settement. Beer is the raison d'etre of civilization.

The drinking of alcohol is nearly as universal in cultures as marriage. Until the last couple of hundred years the primary method of purifying water was with alcohol, a simple evolutionary contest between the dangers of intoxication and dysentery. For thousands of years nearly everyone has drunk alcohol on a pretty regular basis, we have evolved to be able to deal with alcohol. In moderation it is actually good for you health.

The cultural effects of alcohol cannot be over-stated. Without alcohol large portions of humanity (particlarly in my homeland of England, where shyness is endemic) would simply be incapable of meeting and talking to new people. Alcohol makes you friendly (at first), is there a place in each culture where a stranger is more likely to be welcomed than in a bar? Is there a firmer assurance of friendship than being bought a drink?

Clearly there are negative effects to alcohol. Some people like it so much they do it all day long, every day. Some people make stupid decisions and drive while drunk. Some people get angry and violent when drunk. My biggest problem has been an increase in honesty while drinking, and if being honest is my biggest problem, that's not so bad. But if you don't do those things, if you walk to the pub of an evening, have a few pints with some friends and then walk home then I see nothing but good as a result. The usual response from non-drinkers is that they "Don't need alcohol to have a good time." I don't need music to have a good time, but I still to listen to music because I enjoy it. I believe that non-drinkers simply aren't chemically organized in such a way that drinking is enjoyable. That's OK, but please stop thinking that wanting a drink is a sign of lacking something, the argument can be made in both directions.

In summary, drink is the cause of civilization, one of the pillars of culture and a great, great thing. There is nothing better in humanity than a local pub or bar, populated by the local community from young to old, drinking in a spirit of jovial conviviality, listening to music made by the community for the community and having a right, old natter.

Beginnings

"In the beginning was the word." How many blogs begin their incarnations with that quotation, I wonder? Probably more than should. It's an easy escape from the trials of the biggest question when starting one of these things, "How do I start?" In contemplating that very question I realized that what I wanted to write about in this first post was the issue of slogans, mottos, sayings, and rules of thumb.

We love slogans. E pluribus unum. Equal rights and justice. With us or against us. It's about giving 110%. Defense is all about effort. In God we trust. They hate our freedom. Better a bird in the hand than two in the bush. My school in England (http://www.bws.wilts.sch.uk/) growing up had the motto, "Veritas in Caritate", truth through caring. It sounds fabulous, doesn't it? It's got all the bits; it's in latin for authority and pomposity, it has buzzwords that people universally love in "Truth" and "Caring", it has a rhthym of two matched four beat segments. It's a smashing motto getting people focused on excellent values for children in a motivational and authoritative manner. But what does it mean? What is truth through caring? Feel free to take a minute on that one.



If you are like me and have had a liberal arts education you can probably come up with some sort of fudged answer. "Through the action of caring for our fellow man we realize the truth about ourselves," or some such statement. But it doesn't say that, does it? In fact, it doesn't mean anything at all, it suggests a direction for people to place upon it their own meaning. And it is far from alone in this.

Take a look at e pluribus unum, "Out of many, one." It sounds great, conjuring up all sorts of images of a united people, working together for a common goal. But think of it directly. Imagine a country in which out of many thoughts, views, perspectives, experiences, a single philosophy, thought, aesthetic was the result. That's pure fascism, the State above the People. The motto also does nothing whatsoever to describe the state it is supposed to represent. The USA is the most diverse country on earth, with a constitution guaranteeing the rights of people to be different. The USA is a republic, it's not even one state but a conglomeration of states. The population is divided in many, many ways, with debate, argument, and vitriol about how things should be endemic within the country. E pluribus unum is an erroneous piece of propaganda for something that most of us don't want in the first place. Still, it's better than the Official Motto, "in God We Trust." The real motto should be "Cooperation and compromise" but who's going to pronounce that in a stentorian bellow while pounding the lectern?

If you go through the rest of the slogans and read the actual words rather than enjoy the warm, fuzzy feelings you get from it, you realize that pretty much all mottos and slogans simply don't make sense. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal" is self-evidently nonsense. Men have different aptitudes, motivations, capabilities and so forth. What it means is that a sensible political assumption is to have as a starting point that everyone gets treated equally by the law.

And it's not just slogans that are easy, sound nice, and are used in place of clear thinking. Labels are horribly abused. The gutting of the meaning of language that has made possible the everyday use of such absurdities as neo-conservative and nanny state liberalism is cause for a spittle-projecting rant for another day. You can be politically right or left, but try being parts of both, people just won't let you.


So, for the beginnings of this blog, this humble little blog, I want to say that I have picked my label, The Hopeful Muser (which was still available, which I find depressing) because I wish to use this place to think, to express thoughts, to learn and I am hopeful about humans and the future. The way I want to muse is by thinking clearly, trying to avoid the pitfalls of mottos, slogans and labels, to attempt to glean real meaning from words and thoughts. Hopefully someone will be interested.