Discussion about this post

User's avatar
PB's avatar

One thing I am curious about is why tobacco use has been treated like a public health concern with governments and other respected institutions actively and loudly discouraging its use, and alcohol has not been treated that way. As the campaign to reduce smoking has been very effective in the US, so it is easy to imagine that a similar campaign against alcohol use succeeding in dramatically reducing alcohol consumption and problematic alcohol use. My best guess is that alcohol is tied to social rituals in a way that cigarettes were not, and also that cigarettes were not viewed as fun either. So being against cigarettes wasn’t viewed as being a killjoy, nor did it interfere with rituals like toasts at weddings or other celebrations, or other social activities. But that is just a guess. Also, the campaign against cigarettes was never associated with religion so far as I know, nor so far as I know with gender, whereas the temperance movement in the US was associated with Protestants, rural areas, and with feminism. I also wonder about social class, as I have read that wealthier and more educated people drink more than others in the US. So desiring to see less drinking in the US would look like something low status.

Expand full comment
Md Nadim Ahmed's avatar

Within our lifetime semaglutide may become as consequencal as condoms and birth control pills were in the 20th century. Techno-optimism for the win.

We might be a revival of the temperance movement of the early 20th century.

Expand full comment
4 more comments...

No posts