hink of it all - of the life that is! Study your friends and foes!
Study the past! And answer this: "Are these times better than those?" The life-long quarrel, the paltry spite, the sting of your poisoned pride! No matter who fell it were better to fight as they did when the world was wide.
Alcohol and violence a matter of values
The orthodox explanation for this alcohol-linked violence is that there is an underlying problem with Australia's drinking culture. In the face of liberal licensing conditions, we seem unable to control ourselves. In Finland, a country renowned for heavy drinking, a change in alcohol taxation in 2004 reduced prices and increased alcohol consumption. Evaluations found that the increase in consumption did not result in increased violence. In other cultures, it is not a fait accompli that more drinking results in increased violence.
In Victoria, the main response to alcohol-related violence has been to restrict alcohol supply. Alone, this strategy will miss the point. Violence is a problem with Australian men and their relationship with alcohol. We can rewrite the unwritten rules for drunken comportment and a good place to start is with the figure of the larrikin.
Changing some of these rules will be the most profound thing we can do to change the levels of alcohol-related violence in Victoria, perhaps far more profound than Hummers for the police or changing the closing hours of Melbourne bars and clubs.
::View Article::
Australian's have enjoyed a drink since long before Ned Kelly donned a helmet and Burke and Wills led an expedition. Aggressive alcohol related violence is relatively high at the moment in places around the country, not because of access to drink. It's because of certain values which too many drinkers hold.
The above article is good because it suggests that the violence becoming all-too characteristic of Melbourne's night life, for example, is caused by intangible 'things' like opinions and mental associations rather than the volume of alcohol being consumed or the degree of police presence on the streets.
According to the article, alcohol companies are employing marketing campaigns whereby the brand names of popular drinks are directly associated with contemporary 'examples' of the Australian cultural archetype of the larrikin - people who do, or who are perceived as doing, what they want when they want. If we want to curb the violence then we have to address these values which operate on a societal/collective level.
No comments