So now we get to the last and most difficult installment (because I promised solutions) of my series on alcohol and violence. If you haven’t done so I suggest going back and reading part one and two. Laying a little groundwork first, have you ever noticed how there are particular subjects our media will almost fall over itself to mention in a negative light? Here’s a good example that doesn’t just border absurdity, as you can see it actually crashes across the border.
EL PASO, Texas — Two young Mexican children were killed, and their mother and two sisters were hospitalized Friday after a sport utility vehicle ran over a family while speeding toward a border crossing, authorities said. The SUV had a bloodied windshield and was dragging a baby stroller underneath when it stopped at a border checkpoint in the border town of El Paso, said Roger Maier, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Patrol ~ Fox News
Not until the fourth paragraph of this story are we informed that this bloodthirsty SUV even has a driver, much less that he was probably DRUNK!
Just do a Google search on “SUV Kills” and it’s hard not to notice that the media has decided that SUV=Bad. I wish the same thing could be said for the way they report the violence in which alcohol plays a factor. According to a University of Ohio study, even though alcohol is a contributing factor in at least a third of most accidents and crimes its complicity is vastly under-reported.
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Now to make my point. For a generation our cars continued to get bigger and more powerful, what soccer mom didn’t need a vehicle that would seat fourteen to drive around her 1.5 kids. But a few years back, almost overnight a new must-have vehicle began to show up in driveways: Hybrids. Small, underpowered, expensive, and at least in my opinion one of the biggest sellers looks like a cockroach- so why did they become suddenly popular? It wasn’t really gas prices yet, the reason they first became popular is because they were considered the antithesis of the SUV culture. Most people began driving around in these expensive, over-engineered ugly cars haughtily staring up their noses at the land yachts directly because of the media’s hatred for all things SUV.
It became cool and hip to have a hybrid, our culture had changed. Same thing happened with smoking, even for the large segment that still does smoke over 70% want to quit.
It’s a proven solution and certainly better than prohibition and dry laws that have been miserable failures. My first suggestion is to campaign the media to do what they are obviously good at, a hatchet job on alcohol. Actually a hatchet job isn’t necessary, just truthfully report the news. Not only dutifully reporting alcohol related violence, better yet alcohol and/or drugs, but also how it plays a negative factor in almost every aspect of our lives. Infidelity, bankruptcy, neglect, verbal abuse, truancy, lost time, misspent funds, dropouts, sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancies just to name a few. Secondly, we need to get everyone involved, not just the media- schools, parents, and employers could get on this ride all to their own benefit.
Maybe in another generation it would be hip and cool to abstain from alcohol, we could change our culture again.
Read part one of this series here.
Read part two of this series here.
