Personal anecdotes are a person's local data set. Its why statistics are needed, by putting lots of personal data sets together we get around this he-said/she-s

Personal anecdotes are a person's local data set. Its why statistics are needed, by putting lots of personal data sets together we get around this he-said/she-said bs. Essentially what I mean is that the term "personal anecdotes" is often used as a way to summarily dismiss someone's accounts. Personal anecdotes are very much at the core of this matter. Dismissing someone's extensive personal experiences about the effects of alcoholism on their friends and families is not irrelevant. My brother: recovering alcoholic, dry for 10 years. His father: lifelong alcoholic, died too young from an accident caused by being drunk at the time. Had lost his leg years ago in an accident. Uncle and his wife: alcoholics, not recovering. NOT the life of the party at family reunions. Good friend: known over 10 years, he drinks like a fish. Gets extremely sad at times and I worry about him, a lot. Another friend that I was seeing/dating for a while: sweet girl when she doesn't drink. However, 90% of the time she's a violent, unpredictable raging tornado of whiskey. So while I'm glad that you know four quote "serious musicians" for whom drinking helps, I'll stick with my personal anecdotes of drinking ruining people's lives and causing them to die earlier than they should have. I'm just glad I have my brother around now.