By Alycia Smith
Everywhere you look, be it the news, the internet, or the mass of fliers in the public bathroom stalls, someone is being abused.
Women are abused by their spouses, girls are abused by their boyfriends, or children are abused by their parents. And while these are all very important and pertinent issues, I’d like to bring a new sort of abuse to the attention of our readers. The abuse of alcohol.
Now I’m sure that everyone has seen the issue addressed before, in this very newspaper, even. But isn’t it unfair to look at this subject from only one point of view, from that of the abuser? Doesn’t alcohol itself have a say in its own mistreatment?
It seems that news reporters have forgotten that there are two sides to every story. To those guilty, I say: Shame on you.
In the matter of alcohol abuse, alcohol has always been portrayed as the bad guy, luring unsuspecting, innocent, under-aged victims down its evil and addicting path of destruction. It tempts young people with its tasty goodness, agreeable child-like packaging, and “cool crowd” appeal. How could anyone possibly resist such an alluring yet fundamentally evil recreation?
But that is a one-sided view from the side of the abusers. Do we only hear the rapists’ side of the story? Do we only talk about the spousal abusers’ points of view? Doesn’t alcohol have a voice in this as well?
Well this writer believes that it does. And even if I’m the only one who will give this voice a chance, I will do it to the best of my ability.
Alcohol, my friends, is as innocent as any person suffering from abuse.
Think about alcohol’s life. As soon as it’s created, alcohol is shoved into its confining bottle, forced into colorful attractive labels, and sold to anyone who comes to the bar with money in their hand. If this were to happen to a woman, it would be called tragic or inhumane. But do it to wine or beer, and it’s considered normal. What are we, barbarians? Have we no shame?
Now think about alcohol’s abuse in relation to other abusive situations. If you were a woman trapped in a relationship where your boyfriend or husband beat you, you could find a support group (one of many) to go to, and counselors would help you get out of that situation. If you were a child who was being abused by his or her parents, you could talk to a teacher or school counselor and get help to solve the problem or be removed from that household. But alcohol? Where can it turn?Out of all people or things on the receiving end of an abusive relationship, alcohol is the only one that has a support group for its ABUSER. Alcoholics Anonymous and other such groups gather together every week to place the blame on innocent alcohol, on the abused. But does alcohol have a support group? Does alcohol have a place to go after it’s been bought and sold for a cheap thrill?
Tell me this doesn’t seem unfair.
Now I know that these inhumane acts against alcohol are tenaciously stolid and that nothing I write will ever change that. Alcohol will never have its own support group, will always be abused, and will always be publicly blamed for its own mistreatment. Just keep in mind, however, the truth behind the untold side of this story the next time you watch the news or read a newspaper (even this one). And once you know the whole story, then you can more accurately decide who is the real victim of alcohol abuse.
Alycia Smith is a freshman English major and a columnist for The Louisville Cardinal.
