We live in an age of bumper-sticker philosophies

ONE OF the biggest failures in human lawmaking history was the introduction of “prohibition” in America in the 1920s. It was the result of years of campaigning by anti-alcohol groups like the Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League. In an age of economic depression it was easy to blame alcohol on the poverty that swept the country.

The prohibitionists pounced on booze as the cause of everything evil.

One of their posters shows a grossly fat, smirking millionaire alongside a slim, attractive mother surrounded by children and captions like: “Drink to make me rich”, under the fat man and: “Stay dry for my family’s sake” under the picture of the mother.

The implication was that booze made evil men rich and good people poor.

In South Africa it is trendy to blame our economic and social ills on “capitalism” in much the same way.

We live in the age of the bumper-sticker philosophies, because nobody has the time to study anything deeply. Our communications are largely limited to SMSes. If we can’t say it in 140 characters, nobody has the time to hear it. We are easily fooled by a small twist in the facts. Many people believe, for example, that the saying is: “Money is the root of all evil”. The correct biblical quotation is: “For the love of money is the root of all evil”.

There is a big difference. Money on its own is neither good nor evil. It depends how we use it.

Alcohol is no more “evil” than a piece of stone or a stick. But both of them can be used well or evilly. They can be used to build or to destroy.

But the prohibitionists won and an era of unprecedented crime was launched in the US.

The moment anything is made scarce, it becomes valuable. When the sale of alcoholic drinks was banned, a new industry was launched. In remote mountains, illegal stills produced alcohol of varying degrees of toxicity. A huge smuggling trade opened up, alcoholic drinks could be obtained on a doctor’s prescription, and many medical men made their fortunes selling whisky prescriptions.

Gangster empires like that of the notorious Al Capone were involved in vicious wars to protect their territories (sound familiar?).

In an effort to stop the tide of crime, “prohibition agents” were quickly trained and given the task of locating illicit stills and arresting the rum-runners. But they were underpaid, badly trained and easily bribed (sound familiar?).

Eventually, when it was clear the lawmen were losing, the US government handed over the fight to the revenue department and the only way they could catch Al Capone was on a charge of tax evasion.

President Franklin D Roosevelt, when he was elected to power in 1933, quickly repealed the 18th Amendment and celebrated the end of prohibition by drinking a dirty martini – his favourite drink.

It wasn’t the alcohol that was the root of all evil; it was the misuse of alcohol. There must be a lesson in there somewhere.

Last Laugh

A French tourist was staying in a Scottish B&B and came down to breakfast to see his host eating a bowl of steaming oatmeal porridge.

He pointed at it in horror and said: “Sacre bleu! You are not going to eat that are you?” Then he added: “Or have you already done so?”