Was debating whether or not to do a Lindsay Lohan blog. It was either that or I Love Obama/I Hate Obama and I sure as hell ain't gonna do a LeBron James blog (egotist!) so we're gonna go with the Lohan.
Look I don't wish ill on anyone. I'm not from the Andrea Peyser School of Writing which even when I agree with her I think she's way over the top. Call her P-Block as she just wants to DESTROY whoever's on her shitlist for that day. So Lindsay Lohan has gotten 90 days in jail from a Beverly Hills judge for violating her probation over her two DUIs. Now these court-ordered shrink sessions, in her case rehab which she hasn't been faithfully attending, there's something vaguely police statish about forcing someone to talk to some bald-pated bespectacled pc creep (can we throw in "w/orange goatee"?) with advanced degress in what is basically a very inexact science. I say punish the person for whatever they've done and basically be done with it, save moral education for another day. The other thing that bothers me is this enforced puritanism. Puritanism has never really died in this country, it has just taken on new forms. Ms. Lohan is only 24, to expect her to never have an adult beverage for the rest of her life, well that's putting the demon back into the bottle when we need to demystify it. WHY do people drink to excess? THAT is the issue not the alcohol per se which in moderation has far more pleasant effects imo than getting stone-cold drunk (never understood this). It's a psychological issue but since we don't put it in its proper perspective we're left with rackets like Alcoholics Anonymous, a saccharine confession/sacrament of your sins in front of the class as your initiation ritual. It's time we grow up and eschew this creeping puritanism as the road to recovery when it only becomes more of a tempation since even one drop is forbidden. It's fashionable to be against the spirits, everyone at work acts like they're Mother Cabrini and never touch the stuff but I thought we were Adults. Can we talk?
Lindsay Lohan has done wrong and needs to be punished but not for skipping class. Punish her for the original misdeed and btw WTF's up with Mel Gibson???
Be thankful you don't live in Cleveland where we are bombarded with LeBron James, no wonder his ego is bigger than the city! Cleveland ain't too proud to beg!
ReplyDeleteI was watching the news last night and even some of his fans say they like the talent but not the ego.
ReplyDeletePlus it's not like the Cavs actually won the championship with him!
ReplyDeleteAs for Lohan, I don't know enough details but sometimes I think celebs need to be in the spotlight, even if it is something negative. I just typically feel sorry for them but don't think any punishment or therapy is going to solve it.
ReplyDeleteI've blogged about therapy or moral education before some time back. In that case it had to do with those pre-Cana classes the Church makes you take when you want to get married if you're a Catholic. Basically what I said is you're either monogamous or you're not, you'll either make a good spouse or you won't. It's in your nature to be one way or the other and yet you still got Catholics who split up just like the rest of the population even after all this stuff. The thing about alcohol is I think you make it more of a temptation if you say somebody absolutely cannot have it, there's something wrong with the whole framing of the issue. With Mel he's just NUTZ.
ReplyDeleteAre people trending Mel? I didn't know something was up with him, lol.
ReplyDeleteDunno if he's trending but he only (allegedly of course) punched some of his new wife's teeth out. I don't get this guy. He made this super-religious movie, the social-cons came to his defense when Abe Foxman and co. attacked him but since that's all over he's behaving like an asshole again.
ReplyDeletekeeping it psycho:)
Z Man asked:
ReplyDeletebtw WTF's up with Mel Gibson???
Who the hell cares about that A-Hole!
Well as one who saw The Passion...getting back to LL, she's 24 and can't have a drink for the rest of her life. Is this realistic?
ReplyDeleteSure it's realistic. And it's doable.
ReplyDeleteComing from someone who quit February 19, 1990.
I don't go to meetings or any of that shit; I respect AA and it's a great program for those willing to work it but it wasn't a place for me.
LL needs to get her shit in order and put her priorities in the right place, and obviously alcohol and drugs don't need to be a part of that.
I quit drinking when I was 21; I started so early I never got to drink legally in a bar.
It can be done, and it's neither unrealistic nor cruel-and-unusual to think so.
And your experience with AA is what exactly?
ReplyDeleteNo matter.
Operating a motor vehicle while impaired by drugs and/or alcohol is a crime. As it should be.
Sadly the crime in these United States isn't treated with the seriousness it deserves. And it has nothing to do with 'puritanism'. Drinking to excess has indeed a 'psychological' component. That's why offenders are directed to counseling and treatment. Joking about 'bespectacled pc creeps' displays a profound misunderstanding about what alcohol counseling is about.
Bear in mind that the 'puritans' of countries like France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands enforce laws with lower BAC limits and far higher penalties than the US of A.
Drink all you want. Who cares?
Just don't drive. It's quite simple.
My experience with AA?
ReplyDeleteAs a 21 year old alcoholic who worked in the admissions department of an alcohol rehab?
I've been to my share of meetings. I think it's a great program. It works for a lot of people and the bottom line is whatever keeps you sober is good in my opinion.
It wasn't for me. I was too young and not in the right mental place to be working it. I've recommended it to many people because I think it's a really good way to go. For me, though, it wasn't the way.
No disrespect intended.
Oops.
ReplyDeleteActually Zmans experience with AA. He described it as a 'racket'. Sorry I didn't make that clear.
Personally I wouldn't say it's a racket but it certainly can be a cult. Like any organization/program/religion/sportsteam it can be virtually anything one wishes depending on how far one wants to take it. And like anything else.
It isn't for everyone.
But it works for lots and lots of people.
Arthur it's the modern version of a Quaker meeting. What do the boys do afterwards? hang out in the back of the school or church and have milk and Pepsi? AA has a monopoly on how we think about alcohol abuse and THAT I am against. What about other schools of thought on the issue? I think the psychological approach is better and has gained some traction. Alcohol is not the crime, it's drinking and driving and for that Miss Lohan should be punished. I don't hold the shrink class in high esteem as you may have guessed, they treat what is a very inexact science as some type of gospel and half of all shrinks need shrinks themselves. Just punish the gal, don't force her to unload on some egghead.
ReplyDeleteThat's fine for you Saty but there is an emerging school of thought on the issue, albeit still a minority one, that alcoholics can be taught to drink in moderation and I think that is the better, more rational and more realistic way to go. This monopoly of thought on the issue started early on and led to things like AA and that's why I refer to it as a racket. A monopoly of thought early on on an issue to me shows lack of discussion and proper debate of the issues, no objective analysis but more of an agenda. It's like with cancer, we're stuck in this chemo/radiation mode when we should be pursuing other more humane avenues imo. I'm against one way of looking at the issue, in fact I find it intellectually offensive. I think there are more mature approaches and if that's controversial so be it. It's known as thinking outside the box.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of cancer, a friend's Mom used an alternative method to radiation/chemo and has been cancer free for several years now, she says if anyone she knows ever gets cancer she would recommend it to them. Thinking outside the box is a good thing!
ReplyDeleteIn Vino Veritas!
ReplyDeleteIn wine, there is truth. Yes, I believe that when people drink, they are more honest about what they believe.
Just because Mel Gibson made a picture or 2 or 3 that you liked, that does not excuse the filthy PIG he is and what he says and does.
MEL GIBSON is a pure RACIST and ANTI-SEMITE who thinks that with money he could buy his way out of everything. Well it may work sometimes but with a PIG like him, it’s bound to catch up with him sooner or later.
He claims he’s not an anti-Semitic, but with comments like he made to a police officer and calling her “Sugar Tits” I will beg to differ. If he thinks making a picture makes him a good guy, he’s as wrong as can be.
Any of you excusing his racism, sexism, misogyny, and bullish behavior because he made a religious picture you are dead wrong! ... what's it going to take for you to look at this guy for the creep, and bully, and women hater, monster that he is? His multi million dollar movies making him look like a lovable character will not change that.
Beth that's EXACTLY what I'm talking about and thank you. Mal I'm not making excuses for the guy just wondering why if he is the way he is he made that religious picture. Does Larry Flynt make movies about Christ? I don't even care to defend him just pointing out that he's an enigma.
ReplyDeleteAnd a Quaker meeting is somehow a bad thing? Actually people do all sorts of things after a meeting. Usually none of them involve drinking alcohol.
ReplyDeleteAs far as AA's alleged 'monopoly' on how we view alcohol abuse the medical profession, through years and years of studies has come to the conclusion that alcoholics wishing to maintain sobriety should abstain from drinking alcohol. AA helps to meet that goal. There are other ways and people are welcome to do what they wish. But at the end of the day abstinence is key.
There's a guy here in town at the University of Washington doing research you describe as regards teaching alcoholics how to drink 'responsibly'. The results aren't particularly promising. There is some success with alcohol abusers and binge drinkers.
I certainly get that you don't have much use for 'psychiatrists' & 'eggheads'. One way of 'thinking outside the box' is avoiding painting with an unnecessarily broad brush. As in any other field there are excellent mental health providers, mediocre ones and out and out frauds.
I agree with Z man's comments!
ReplyDeleteBut as for what Arthurstone said what does that relate to???
Or is he in need for AAA treatment also? I've read his nonsense before and I really think he is!
I would guess it depends on whether you view addiction (any addiction) as a disease process or not.
ReplyDeleteWhat I do know is that no one wakes up in the morning and thinks 'wouldn't it be nice to be an alcoholic? Think I'll do that today.'
If people who have destroyed their lives, their careers, their marriages and their families would like to learn to 'drink responsibly' then I will applaud them for their ambition and ego, and sit on the sidelines to watch the inevitable.
If you've ever been to an AA meeting you will know that there's enough donuts to put you into sugar shock, enough coffee to send you into atrial fibrillation and so much smoke you can't see a foot in front of you.
Know why? It's called 'transfer of addiction'. Give up one addiction, pick up another. This is a known psychological phenomena.
Granted, Krispy Kreme and Maxwell House aren't necessarily lethal, but that's not the point. The point is that an addictive personality will find something to become addicted to. And for many people, AA becomes a refuge away from the dysfunctional relationships and situations that drinking brings them into.
In the end, whatever keeps you sober, whatever method you use, if it works, I'm all for it. Not every method is for everyone. I wouldn't recommend doing detox under a friend's bed eating peanut butter sandwiches whenever anyone remembered to bring you one. It got me dry, but it's not for everyone.
So far as I'm concerned, the proof is in the pudding. Folks who sincerely want to work the program work it and it works for them. And there's folks like me who did it exactly the way everyone said you shouldn't. There's no difference in the end. I've not had a drink in 20 years.
It's all about the result, in the end.
You liberals just celebrated the life of that segregationist Sen. Byrd who was in KKK and using N-word on national TV as recently as few years ago...he was your hero...and everybody knows that Dem. politicians own the patent on infidelity and bad conduct. If Gibson was outspoken supporter of global warming @#$% and openly hated Bush this "news" would either never see the light of day or would be reported in a completely different way. Real news is happening every day of the week however the liberal media is all to happy to ignore it, unless it makes conservatives look bad, or is promoting liberal lies. But you already know that!
ReplyDeleteAnd some of these liberal bloggers are comparing the Tea Party movement with the "Black Panthers" because the Attorney General let this SOB off the hook.
Arthur: "The medical profession through years and years of studies has come to the conclusion that alcoholics wishing to maintain sobriety should abstain from drinking alcohol."
ReplyDeleteMy view of the medical profession is they have an anti-alcohol agenda. It's like when you first go to see the doctor and one of the obligatory questions is do you drink or smoke and even when you give an honest answer and tell him that you drink moderately they still look at you disapprovingly. The medical profession is tied in with the Health Movement of course and imo the Health Movement is anti-alcohol. If you're anti-alcohol from the start that's known as a bias. Also the medical profession has alot of consensuses down through the years like chemo and radiation is the way to go in treating cancer and as I've blogged about before I disagree with that.
Saty: "I would guess it depends on whether you view addiction (any addiction) as a disease process or not."
ReplyDeleteI guess I don't then and calling it a disease takes away free will in the matter and sets up a kind of disease-business/industry if you will (AA). That Lindsay Lohan drinks too much is in my view mainly a psychological problem. Anybody who drinks too much has a psychological problem and calling it a disease, I was never a fan of that. Some people maintain shopping too much is a disease too. I say it's a psychological issue.
There is however no doubt that alcohol can be addicting and that the body, once habituated to it, goes into potentially deadly withdrawal when the alcohol is taken away.
ReplyDeleteThere are any number of diseases directly attributable to alcohol consumption, such as alcoholic hepatitis, alcoholic cirrhosis, and alcoholic encephalopathy. And I am sure you have heard of alcohol poisoning.
There is likewise no doubt that frequent overconsumption of alcohol has negative effects on tissues and systems. These are physiological facts, not someone's opinion; bloodwork and microscopy doesn't lie.
If you've ever known anyone who was a long-term alcoholic, you will be familiar with the way they look.
If you like, you can try to call all these facts some kind of a huge anti-alcohol conspiracy designed to skew the system against alcohol consumption, but the end result is this: people who don't drink alcohol don't get alcoholic encephalopathy. Know what I mean?
And quite honestly I don't know how much stock I'd put into anyone's opinion of addiction unless they had some personal experience of/with it.
until Monday:)
ReplyDeleteMy point is do not underestimate the importance of bias and believe me we all have our biases. To paraphrase Rene Descartes I am biased therefore I am. Do you honestly think most doctors want us to drink at all even in moderation? That is a bias if only a subtle one and they say with studies if you have a strong enough bias you can make the pieces fit. Happy Monday everyone!
ReplyDelete