Aka: The horror. The horror
*Originally posted on Linked in May 2026*
I’ve been thinking a lot about the dominant narratives coming out of alcohol research that uses population-level data and the advocates who amplify it.
A subtle but dominant undercurrent reiterates a link between pleasure and risk. This has deep cultural manifestations:
-Hansel and Gretel were tempted by the tasty looking gingerbread house,
-Sailors were lured to destruction by the beautiful siren song.
-King Midas’s desire for gold left him unable to eat.
Debates about alcohol today are imbued with this same suspicion of pleasure: it should be scrutinized, disciplined, and if not eliminated, at least severely reduced.
Self-restraint meanwhile is a moral good.
It reminds me of classical asceticism, where the denial of bodily pleasure was tied to the hope for salvation.
Today the concern is no longer about preparing for “the next life” but ironically, about extending this one as long as possible.
That in itself would not be worth commenting upon, except that asceticism, then as now, was founded on an evaluation of the body’s moral weakness.
In short: health has become a new morality. And as with any moral cosmology, it is a basis for judgement.
Since many things that bring bodily pleasure are risky, a good (aka responsible) person is expected to avoid them.
Consequently, the amount one drinks (or whether one drinks at all) can be a way to assess an individual’s character.
Research exploring alcohol’s harm appears to provide helpful guidance through this wilderness of temptation.
While those who criticize the new morality are apostates, to be shunned or ignored.
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