tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post6493893755201756041..comments2024-03-28T18:32:05.933-04:00Comments on bensozia: Thinking about ProhibitionJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-74989373378503447732020-01-19T17:23:39.623-05:002020-01-19T17:23:39.623-05:00@John
What major socio-political movement of that...@John<br /><br />What major socio-political movement of that era -didn't- include such an element?G. Verlorennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-42783055324661727412020-01-19T10:57:05.356-05:002020-01-19T10:57:05.356-05:00@David - it is often said that Temperance included...@David - it is often said that Temperance included a large element of anti-immigrant sentiment.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-34551057931148373162020-01-19T09:14:28.045-05:002020-01-19T09:14:28.045-05:00I wonder if an examination of the forces motivatin...I wonder if an examination of the forces motivating Prohibition would reveal a desire to reform the working class, with plenty of class and ethnic prejudice thrown in ("How do we make inner city Irish behave more like small town New England Congregationalists?"), while avoiding regulation of business (except the liquor business) and building a welfare state.<br /><br />And I wonder if the process of Prohibition's failure split the reforming coalition in a way that reflects more our current divide, into a group devoted to keeping business unregulated and reforming behavior via moralistic condemnation of personal vices (the twenties consensus) on the one hand, and on the other a group that has decided that regulating business, building a welfare state, and moralistically condemning what it sees as structural vices (corporate greed, ethnic prejudice) are the ways to reform society--the latter group having concluded, indeed, that reforming society rather than individuals must be the way.<br /><br />It would be interesting to follow the careers of some of Prohibition's big backers to find out where they were politically in, say, 1930 or 31.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14456987412710878404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-56470692544613438222020-01-19T04:34:19.026-05:002020-01-19T04:34:19.026-05:00It just didn't work.
I contend this isn't...<i>It just didn't work.</i><br /><br />I contend this isn't wholly true. Consider the effects that Phobition evidently had on things like popular culture.<br /><br />There used to be the trope and stereotype of the casual heavy day drinker - a man stone cold drunk in the middle of the day, stumbling around to the point of not being able to keep his feet, utterly intoxicated to the point of hallucinating pink elephants. This stock character wasn't treated as a villain or a figure to be derided - he was seen as comedic relief, a source of wholesome good fun for the entire family.<br /><br />In the stories he inhabited, he was a loveable oaf, not a shameful or infuriating disgrace as we would feel about him today. In his heyday, he was considered an ordinary and normal piece of the day to day world, notable only for being amusingly buffoonish. But these days, he virtually no longer exists in popular culture, and on the extremely rare occassion he is depicted it typically as a source of major drama.<br /><br />Raging alcoholism used to be depicted as a more or less acceptable behavior, worthy only of mild ridicule. Today, it is viewed as a terrible disease at best and a sign of total moral bankruptcy at worst. And it's only after Prohibition was enacted that our view of this trope began to change, even if it tooks decades to do so fully.G. Verlorennoreply@blogger.com