The recent series of anti-alcohol articles in the national newspaper SVD provide two insightful messages about Sweden:
1. News in the recently relaunched SVD has been relegated to pages 30 and beyond while special interest articles and analysis pieces occupy the first sections of the paper. Is this the future of newspapers: We get our news online in real time and the next morning we sip our coffee reading the news explained to us by the learned scribes?
2. The cow boy and indian model is too easily used to explain complex subjects: cow boys – white hats = good. Indians – dark = bad, bank robber cow boys – black hats = bad too.
Alcohol when abused can be extremely harmful and almost every Swedish family has a story of a relative doomed by alcohol abuse. The depressing, scary series of articles in SVD have made a strong case for prohibition and educating our children to avoid alcohol or face an uncertain future of substance addiction.
Demonisation of legally available products has never in our western history proven to be a successful public education program. I read in The Economist recently about the incidence of teenage pregnancy in the USA. It it significantly higher in conservative Republican states amongst Evangelist Christian communities. The message of sex is bad, abstinence until you are married or you will be damned had the totally opposite affect. Tell a child not to touch the flame and you can guarantee they will put their hand in it!
Many things can be abused and can kill but we don’t ban them or demonise them: cars kills, motorbikes even more. At least there is no government monopoly on the sale (restriction of sale) on cars and petrol! But why?
Children are educated through example. See their parents swear off alcohol during the week but down a 3L bag in box wine on Friday night and the message to the children is conflicting, confusing and wrong. Set an example and de-mystify wine through moderate consumption (never abuse or over-consumption) and as part of a lifestyle of food and appreciation, the alcohol ceases to be the forbidden fruit consumed when the parents go out.
Why didn’t SVD follow the recent article on one man’s horrible life growing up with a weekend alcoholic mother with another on a family whose parents appreciated wine and passed it on to their children who most likely rebelled when they got older but less likely through alcohol abuse. I dare say they would argue that any positive articles on alcohol would only lead to criticism that they encourage alcohol consumption. Not that their pages are not brimming over with wine advertisements.
Moderation, appreciation, education by example and making us take responsibility for our actions. Simple lesson to be learned.
To encourage more Swedes to appreciate quality wine we are running a weekend long offer to deliver home free of charge to anyone in Sweden their wine ordered from www.australianwineclub.se so they can take the first steps away from bag-in-box over consumption to appreciation of quality wine in moderation.
Cheers
Mark
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