The war on alcohol continues to intensify

As yet another study shows that no alcohol is safe, now where dementia is concerned.  This being among an apparent growing number of ailments driven by booze.  Pretty soon alcohol will be why Adam and Eve really rebelled and Napoleon lost at Waterloo.  

Now, something is definitely wrong in the dementia world, that I admit.  More and more people are being diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer's than ever before.  And these diagnoses are happening at ever younger ages.  My grandma - born in the late 1800s - had a stroke and became confused and, based on what we know, stricken by some form of what we now call dementia.  Of her siblings, however, she was the only one.  The rest of her generation passed, many at very old ages, as sharp as tacks.  Her brother Earl was well known for being completely together mentally until he passed (he was a consummate story teller).

The next generation, my parents' generation, have had only a couple who didn't end up with some form of dementia or Alzheimer's.  Including both my parents.  And while my dad drank like a fish when he was young, he gave it up after an accident involving my sister.  Though it had nothing to do with him drinking, he was playing cards and drinking with his brothers when it happened.  He felt his reaction time to her injury was compromised, so he never drank again. And that was when he was still young.  Except for a few parties and wedding receptions when they were young, I don't believe my mom drank at all.  Yet they, like their siblings, were struck with dementia, albeit at very old ages. 

Now we have an increasing number of people having these elderly ailments at younger and younger ages.  And unlike some things, perhaps cancer or some diseases which we could argue are simply easier to detect now, you can't miss dementia.  Long before the diagnoses, you begin seeing the signs.  As we did in both my parents' cases.  Yet suddenly, it's alcohol!  You know, that thing people have been doing for thousands of years before dementia began spreading like wild fire among younger and younger people.  The thing that, per the same stories going after alcohol, fewer and fewer people are indulging in today.

Yet the assault continues.  So as I said last time, my cynical historian's mind asks - why?  Why out of the blue, over the last year or so, has the medical community (and the media) suddenly come out and said burn beer burn! Do not drink wine nor strong drink thou, whether ye go into the corner tabernacle or not! What's up? 

First up?  The conspiracy explanation.  Why do people drink?  Apart from alcoholism, to enjoy, to relax, to unwind.  To indulge in the giddy side effects of the product in a troubled and difficult world.  Also, just because they like a cold beer on a summer day or a nice wine with a fine meal.  Sometimes they take Paul's advice when perhaps having stomach problems or other difficulties like sleeping.  

But if we don't have alcohol, then what to do about all of those reason?  Well, apart from the enjoyment around meals and for culinary peasures, we have - drugs.  The media push for legalized recreational drugs continues apace with some pretty impressive wins.  And in terms of other problems, such as difficulty sleeping or stomach issues or any such things, we have - drugs.  Prescription drugs.  The cynic in me has a hard time thinking there isn't some connection there.  

Others have suggested it's a way to deflect from the increasing health problems plaguing more and more people.  I mean, it's almost normal now to see at least one or two celebrities or well known persons die of cancer, heart disease, suicide or unknown reasons in a given week.  Things that decades ago would have made the news for weeks because it was so rare.  The deaths of celebrities were typically reserved back then for the elderly celebrities whose days had passed.  Exceptions to that rule being exceptions to that rule.  But today?  I can't think of a week where I haven't seen someone, often well under 50 or even 40, dying in such a way.  It seems connected to the observation that we are becoming less and less healthy overall.  Why? Nobody seems to know, or dwell on the details much, but blaming alcohol could certainly work.

Some have suggested it deflects from the catastrophic results of our Covid measures, including questions about vaccines and the overall response from our medical communities.  It isn't hard to see that things have definitely spiraled in some areas of life in recent years, and over a host of issues. If already we've seen alcohol linked to cancer, dementia, anything you want - why not anything else? 

But one thing I'm sure of, it isn't an accident.  It's not some bizarre coincidence out of the blue.  There is a reason that alcohol is being targeted and fast becoming the latest cause du jour of all problems in the world.  And whatever the reason - and it can obviously be more than one - it's those reasons being deflected from that we should likely be focused on. 

Also, I'll add that this is not an advertisement to drink.  If you don't, great.  I'm not being paid by Paul Masson or Budweiser.  I just see things like this in our day and age and have a very difficult time believing it's just good old medical science discovering the truths of the world that we need to know in order to thrive.  As I've said before, sometimes it takes far more naivete and credulity to disbelieve a conspiracy theory than to believe in one.