Posted on 02/14/2014 9:09:39 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
Picture the Russian alcoholic: nose rosy, face unshaven, a bottle of vodka firmly grasped in his hands. By his side he has a half-empty jar of pickles and a loaf of rye bread to help the devilish substance go down. The man is singing happily from alcohol-induced jubilation. His world may not be perfect, but the inebriation makes it seem that way.
Today, according to the World Health Organization, one-in-five men in the Russian Federation die due to alcohol-related causes, compared with 6.2 percent of all men globally. In her 2000 article “First Steps: AA and Alcoholism in Russia,” Patricia Critchlow estimated that some 20 million Russians are alcoholics in a nation of just 144 million.
The Russian alcoholic was an enduring fixture during the Tsarist times, during the times of the Russian Revolution, the times of the Soviet Union, during the transition from socialist autocracy to capitalist democracy, and he continues to be in Russian society today. As Heidi Brown described in her 2011 article for World Policy Journal, the prototypical Russian alcoholic sits on broken park benches or train station steps, smoking a cigarette and thinking about where his next drink will come from and whether he can afford it.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
This should be the focus of the Russian family council in the DUMA. They have made very effective reforms in the area of marriage and childbirth, but until the alcoholism is remedied, Russia will not see a peak productive population.
Largely unreported, China suffers from the same thing ... massive alcoholism.
I have made several trips to China over the past few years and alcoholism is a very real and unreported event.
Old news. There is a crackdown on alcohol for a few years and counting. Alcohol taxes a growing each year, there is a zero-tolerance to DUI offence and many other harassing things making massive drinking difficult. Just ten years ago you could insult a Russian refusing to share a bottle during a lunch break, today drinking early is a kind of deviant behavior and many people aren’t drinking at all.
To be honest, Russia was falsely advertised as the most drinking nation earlier, let alone today.
Democrats need China. Therefore there is no alcohol problem in China for the MSM to report.
Geez, would you please read the memos?!
I know its exaggerated. They are far from the worst when it comes to alcoholism. South Koreans are particularly bad.
Sorry. My bad. LOL!
It’s called communism. Maybe not communism but definitely lack of personal liberty. Why bother functioning in life when there are evil men like Obama and Stalin who control every aspect of your life. Vodka provided the only escape from the mindless misery of life in Russia.
If Russians stop drinking or switch to drinking in normal amounts at normal hours or occasions, and then the world is quickly a more dangerous place.
A sober Russian surrounded by sober Russians can produce anything including the most dangerous engines of war. Their language is rich, their literature is richer still, their philosophies are richer yet, their Orthodox Christian faith is richer beyond imagining.
“The best in Russia is very good, and sometimes it is the best in the world.” - Thomas T. Hammond, 1958
Give a Russian a quarter acre garden and he will survive. Give a Russian heavy industry and we already know the result. Ignore the Russian at your peril.
>>>It’s called communism. Maybe not communism but definitely lack of personal liberty. Why bother functioning in life when there are evil men like Obama and Stalin who control every aspect of your life. Vodka provided the only escape from the mindless misery of life in Russia.<<<
What about Britain which is by far more drinking than Russia? Same about Ukraine and Baltic states - by far the least communist post-Soviet states.
Not everybody who drinks every day is an alcoholic, but the assumption is that they are. Some cultures just drink. The people who founded this country drank ale or hard cider with every meal, and a lot of rum in between. Today’s medical establishment would call them all alcoholics.
Also the term “xxxx related illness” is meaningless. Anyone who dies of a heart attack dies of a “smoking related illness”, even if they don’t smoke.
Add in some of the most brilliant mathematicians and physicists the world has known.
Maybe it is good the Russians like to party. Then, again, it has been said they are too much like us: loud, boisterous, friendly.
Without barriers, where does the political animosity come from................
In the 1700s...Russia was known for it’s alcohol usage.
I think typical US alcohol consumption prior to the 1920s...was awful high, and it’s only been in the last fifty years that consumption in the US has gone down to some degree.
I remember this topic coming up about the construction of the Pentagon, and how the vast number of workers in the building were drunk or near-drunk as they were building it.
Heavy drinking was widespread in Europe and US on the eve of 20th century.
A VERY large proportion of US males in the 1800s drank all the time. It was considered customary for kids to have beer as well, even at breakfast.
Lots of reasons, one being that often they didn't have access to clean water, and alcohol was considered "healthier". Good series that had a lot of info I didn't know before.
And yes Americans drink WAY less nowadays.
Many Russian videos that involve alcohol, you can’t even post for a laugh.
I still stick to my theory that the lack of personal liberty drives a lot of tgis drinking.
“South Koreans are particularly bad.”
As are Indians. Asia may be the drunkest continent on Earth.
The Bolsheviks promoted alcohol as a way to keep the people in line
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.