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Typical Gladwell article. In fact, the truth is simple: The farther from the cradle of civilization [1] you get, the worse the alcoholism. Thus, Arabs and Jew
by mynameishere 15y ago
Typical Gladwell article. In fact, the truth is simple: The farther from the cradle of civilization [1] you get, the worse the alcoholism. Thus, Arabs and Jews are rarely alcoholics, whereas Irish and Russians commonly are. When you get to Indigenous Americans and Australians, alcoholism is a serious problem. It's simple adaptation, no different than adaptation to smallpox.
[1] Where ethanol was first manufactured.
- eurleif 15y agoIf that's true, do you think alcohol should be regulated differently for members of different racial/ethnic groups? That's a pretty controversial thing to suggest, but it seems to follow if we assume that the government should regulate alcohol at all, and that the regulation should be based on its potential to do harm.
- evincarofautumn 15y agoNot race (since that is a uselessly vague concept), but there are specific genes that correlate with elevated or decreased risk of alcoholism. Perhaps identifying at-risk individuals could be used for some social good, but I’d wager any such efforts will ultimately be flawed and harmful.
- larrys 15y ago"Russians commonly are" Plenty of jews in this country that come from both Germany, Poland and Russia. They are not by any stretch of the imagination big drinkers and hardly drink at all.
- kstenerud 15y agoIf that were true, then the Camba should have been roaring drunks and alcoholics. And yet a major point of the article was demonstrating this NOT to be the case. In fact, the article makes the case that it's a group's drinking CULTURE that has the biggest effect on alcoholism.
- sliverstorm 15y agoFrom what I've heard, that has absolutely nothing to do with anything besides the utter lack of interesting things to do in Russia and Ireland.
- jmmcd 15y ago> In fact, the truth is simple: The farther from the cradle of civilization [1] you get, the worse the alcoholism. Although it's easy to find some correlation here, it's also easy to give counter-examples. Is this a mainstream theory? Any citations?