Blog #4 Addiction - Syeda

When thinking of particular addictions on which to focus this entry, I can’t help but wander towards alcohol--but not to drink it, mind you. Rather, what interests me most about alcohol is not the addiction itself nor the particular representations of this addiction in general, but instead, the vast and often muddy ways that alcoholism is understood, of course changing on the basis of our unique lived experiences. With regards to my perspective, I was raised as an American Muslim with both halves of my identity telling me different things. As a young Muslim, I was taught that drinking alcohol is forbidden, first because that’s what my religion tells me and then because it’s harmful and causes us to lose our faculties. As an American, I learned early on that alcohol is just how adults socialize, that once you’re 21 years old, then drinking is just something adults do. This contrast doesn’t end there--In elementary school, we went through the D.A.R.E. program that told us again to stay away from drugs and to say no. But, the rebellious kids, on the other hand, were badass because they knew how to disobey. And they’d later drink in high school, so if they did it, it had to have been at least somewhat cool, right? In college, parties and alcohol are rampant as much as the Freshman 15 is inevitable. People drink copiously to have fun, loosen up, and be accepted, despite the knowledge that that looming hangover that will always come. We’ve learned about the prohibition and moonshiners. We’ve seen drunken bar fights, but we’ve also seen Dos Equis’ “Most Interesting Man Alive” advertisements--We’re constantly bombarded with conflicting associations that can be difficult to navigate.

In the academic and professional settings, the pattern continues. There are the studies that say 1-2 glasses of wine can be good for heart health, as well as studies that link excessive alcohol consumption with certain cancers and neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s. In the ER, the pattern repeats itself time and time again: you see a doctor treat a patient for severe liver failure due to alcoholism, but after a stressful night, hear him remark about all the alcohol he’ll be drinking tonight. So, there’s evidence to justify alcohol use, but also evidence for the contrary as well. So what do you follow? Is there ever really one representation of alcoholism? Perhaps what interests me most is that there never seems to be one cohesive message. Unlike heroin, which was once regarded as a hero drug and is now, even by heroin users themselves, known to be harmful and addictive, alcoholism’s representation in popular culture today remains quite tempered and benign.