Kagehitokiri

violence does not require alcohol

behavior is separate from everything else
its a very simple concept/logic

the problem is, its much easier and legally acceptable to focus on things that are not behavior
and businesses/consultants and politicians 'sell' solutions based on providing/banning things

Tchiowa

No but alcohol can make a non-violent person become violent.

invisible

Alcohol is trigger. I have personal experience witnessing it number of times. Moreover, I've seen situations when the person who becomes violent while drunk had no personal recollection of events and had be confronted with material evidence afterwards.

Tchiowa

So while we're asking why there is an obsession with alcohol, why don't we look at it from the other side, too.

Rather than just asking why people are so obsessed with stopping other people from drinking how about asking:

Why are some people so obsessed with alcohol that they can't enjoy a plane flight without tossing a few back? Or can't enjoy a meal without a drink? Or seemingly (in some cases) simply can't enjoy life without alcohol?

Calchas

Why is it anyone else's business how someone chooses to spend his time?

weero

There is no way you have "seen" this. You have witnessed a person asserting that alcohol / Jesus / pornography / Rohypnol / a demon made them do things they have no recollection of but you won't have evidence of the assertion itself.
Yes.

Why can't people just enjoy life without making those pesky kids, watching sports, having sex, partying, and indulging in other pastimes not specifically approved by everyone's Victorian, puritan, dystopian world view they call the 'ideal' one.

Fleck

Let's look at some more sides.

Why are some people so obsessed with playing maternal sky marshal? How do people become such nosey yentas? Is believing your opinions have any affect at all on other's behavior nature, nurture or delusion? Should men wearing open-toe sandals be allowed in airports. Clearly we can all agree they should not, and I think that's the greater take home lesson in all of this.

MaxBuck

The obsession isn't by those of us who enjoy a drink in moderation (or something approximating it). The alcohol obsession is always evidenced by those who wish to prevent us from doing so. But then, the current mommy-statism prevalent in the USA is pretty much making it the no-fun place to be. I suppose a return to Prohibitionism is just one more step along the way to Making Us Do What We're Supposed To.

emma69

I enjoy some alcohol, nice wines, some spirits, not a beer drinker tho. On planes I will normally have a drink - a wine with a sandwich if it is a short hop, or a full myriad from aperitifs, through to digestives, and repeat if it is a multi-meal flight (say US to Oz). I have never been disruptive or violent. I have, IMO, been over served by flight crew - with the best of intentions of making me a happy customer, but they had no way of knowing if I would be me, watching my movie with a slight buzz, or if I would mutate into a violent disruptive passenger.

I think the main onus falls on the flight crew - firstly, those who are drunk should not be allowed on board to begin with. Once on board, the FAs have a duty of care to their passengers, and should not serve anyone who appears intoxicated. I have seen both numerous times. Unless the passenger is swigging from their own source of alcohol (duty free bag, etc.) [as an aside, I saw a lot of that on a France-Russia flight some years ago!] then the main reason passengers get drunk on board is the FAs over serving them. It was against the law when I tended bar to serve someone who appeared intoxicated, even mildly, same should apply on board.

As to why people drink on planes, some have nerves that are calmed (genuinely or placebo effect) by a stiff drink. Alcohol is a muscle relaxant and a form of pain killer, so it actually makes sitting in the cramped economy seats far more bearable. Provided you a) aren't disturbing others and b) are not driving at your destination, I see nothing wrong with enjoying a drink on the plane.

Kagehitokiri

the obsession with banning things...

onobond

Haven't looked at it from the OCD aspect, which seems interesting.

Or maybe it's the old Central Committee stand: Us, who decide, just do that. Feel free to advocate another view, but prepare to do it from jail.

Go to jail...

Rebelyell

Why do you need to ask why other people wish to drink? Perhaps they like it!

Why not let those who wish to take a drink do so, and talk about it? Those who don't like to drink can not take a drink and talk about how good that tasted, too.

WRCSolberg

Precisely.

Who are you to judge someone else and dictate to them what they can and can't do?

I think it has more to do with getting a rise out of controlling other people.

weero

IMHO it is fundamentally wrong to apologise in advance for something which is your right to do when it has the purported rare side effect of being dangerous or disruptive.

The Easily Outraged have somehow conquered the moral high ground and can now make everyone partially bend to their wanton standards.
The inversion of the liberation principle doesn't work. Stopping someone exercising their rights is bit equivalent to stopping someone from interfering with someone else's rights.

What you ask is much like the intolerant asking for tolerance for their intolerance.

Kagehitokiri

there is no thought involved

not in my backyard

until its something i care about, then should never be restricted