The
Safety Nazis seize on report findings!
Sorry
about the tabloid inspired heading but a recent news item got the goat
of everyone here at Winepunters HQ. It seems everyday we hear about
something else that increases your risk of cancer.
This time the
blah blah merchants went 'all serious' and proclaimed that 'even low
level' drinking in women increases their risk of breast cancer (ABC
News Wed 25/02/2009).
These types of stories follow a
predictable
line and usually favour the 'drama' over the 'facts'. True to
form the
news item began with the delivery of the scaremonger headline
'even one drink a day puts you at risk', swiftly followed by an
incomplete reporting of the study findings and then finish with the
sound
bite from the safety nazi/ fun police spokesman.
Frankly
these stories give us the .... (well
anyway we get cross - Ed).
Firstly
lets do what the media is supposed to do and put some facts on the
table. A recent study from Oxford University argued that
there was a link
between drinking alcohol (all types of alcohol) and cancer in
women. The study found
that alcohol appeared to play a part in 13% of cancers of the
breast, liver,
rectum and areo-digestive tract combined. Additionally an
increase of one drink per day appeared to result in an extra 11 breast
cancers per 1000 women (1.1%). Women most at risk were those
who indulged in excessive
alcohol consumption.
We have many problems
with this type of disease mongering but before we get to them
don't think we are cavalier about cancer. We're not,
we take breast and any other cancers very seriously. So
seriously in fact
we have raised thousands of dollars for the
Tasmanian Cancer Council so far and will continue to do so in the future. We have done this because we have lost
friends and a family member to
cancer. Interestingly that family member was a non-drinker.
What sends our blood pressure sky high is
the sensational
reporting and the support such reporting gives to those people who want
to 'improve' our lives without our consent. Use of phrases
like "an alarming increase in the level of risk" and "there is no such
thing
as a safe level of alcohol" are not designed to inform, they
are designed to scare.
To start
with, an increase in risk does not mean an increase in
certainty. Risk is the chance
that something will happen not that the event will happen.
This almost pathological fear of risk has come from the
'safety at all costs' brigade whose ideas have infested this fine
country which was once
the home of the ANZAC spirit. We think this pursuit
of excessive safety has caused more problems that it
has solved. As an example the sun smart message has been
taken so far that many children and the elderly suffer from
a lack
of
vitamin D because they get too little sunlight. So too much
safety has resulted in health problems
for
Nana and the kids - well done you safety nazis!
The whole
thing is also a bit pointless. Being scared of risk
means being scared of life. Sorry to burst your bubble folks
but there is no safe level of
living. Think about all
the most intense, fun and satisfying events in your life. All
of
them involved risk. You didn't end up with the love of your
life
without facing the risk of rejection. You didn't succeed at
your career, favourite sport or education without the risk of failure.
Trying things that involve the risk of spectacular failure is the
reason we get out of bed every morning.
We
also hate
the fact that the 'social improvers' and those suffering from activism use the issue of safety to
push
their 'since I am soooo much more intelligent/ evolved than
you I will
tell you what to think/ do/ say" agendas. Is it just
us or
do these types of people always seem so damn obnoxious, patronising and
miserable. Does being safe mean you actually live longer or
does it just feel that way?
All
right, we know that you know everything we have said so far is
just a
smokescreen. The reason we are so upset is that this type of
reporting might actually make women drink less alcohol.
Frankly all the men here
at Winepunters HQ owe what little 'social' success they have had to the
over indulgence of alcohol by women. So ladies think before
you
drastically cut back on your
wine. Sure there is a risk from alcohol but don't be selfish
about this,
think about all the joy you have given others when you drank -
even if you didn't
mean to and regret it the next day. Think how those people
will
suffer if you stay sober.
Anyway,
to
paraphrase Budda 'life is pain' and since life is pain you might as
well have some fun along the way.
What
do you think? Send us a comment
Activism - actions perpetrated by
the worst example of humankind the Activist
Is
there anything more annoying than an activist? Some people wear the tag
as a badge of honour but what the term tells most people is that you
are an arrogant, narrow minded, ego driven bigot. This is true no
matter how worthwhile the cause. A typical conversation with an
Activist goes something like ...."yes yes I know whales are
beautiful... oh yes the Japanese shouldn't hunt them... I agree saving
them is important ... no I promise I won't buy sushi ... yes I will
sign the petition ... yes please give me 8 copies of your whale music
cd I'm sure they will make fabulous presents ...yes I promise to call
my first born Orca - ANYTHING! JUST GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!".
Activists
by and large have no sense of humour, no sense of perspective and
nothing to say outside the confines of their pet issue. Their cynical,
negative and narrow world view very quickly becomes painful and
annoying to everyone except other activists who happen to agree with
them. If one of your friends becomes an activist immediately isolate
them - trust me, activism has a nasty way of spreading to other
formally normal people. Tough love is the only answer to this insidious
and ultimately debilitating disease. Do not encourage or support them
in their activism in any way. Continually point out that there is more
to the world than their pet issue. Extol the virtues of common sense,
objectivity and a sense of perspective. If all else fails consider
mechanical restraints until the madness passes.
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