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It's not only great composers that are fond of the bottle et al. Many great modern musicians have struggled with alcohol and drug abuse.
by marsrover 10y ago
It's not only great composers that are fond of the bottle et al. Many great modern musicians have struggled with alcohol and drug abuse.
- wjnc 10y agoIt's a detour but isn't "many people have struggled with alcohol and drug abuse" the generalization? Not much greatness to be found there. The ones like Erdos are the outliers by much greater margin than among the non-abusers imho
- hood_syntax 10y agoI'd be curious to see the rates of abuse amongst the general population versus the music industry.
- Fnoord 10y agoWould be interesting to see some kind of statistical analysis on this one. There's also the conundrum of writers using amphetamine, like Hunter S. Thompson did. Tho he (ab)used more than just that.
- pmoriarty 10y agoThere are a lot of factors (including luck, temperament, motivation, perseverance, creativity, education, etc) that go in to making someone being perceived as "great" by others. Whether one uses a particular drug is clearly not the only thing that determines "greatness". But some drugs could help increase one's creativity, or to "loosen up", shed inhibitions, see the world in a different light, or appreciate things you otherwise wouldn't. There's often a cost to this, sometimes it is a great cost, but it's a mistake to believe drugs are an unmitigated evil without any benefits. The real problem is that most people aren't taking drugs for constructive reasons, like to enhance their creativity, but either for frivolous or self-destructive reasons. Of course, even constructive uses can get out of hand. That's where education, discipline, and support come in. Unfortunately, modern societies do a pretty poor job of helping with any of these things, and focus primarily on stigmatizing and criminalizing drugs and drug users.
- pavel_lishin 10y ago> But some drugs could help increase one's creativity, or to "loosen up", shed inhibitions, see the world in a different light, or appreciate things you otherwise wouldn't. They can also act as temporary solutions to permanent problems - many people self-medicate with alcohol or other drugs.
- user837387 10y agoAwesome. Survival bias rears its head again.
- wjnc 10y agoPlease explain!
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- user837387 10y agoHe, I misread your statement. I actually understood the opposite of what you actually said. Never mind.