The South African government banned the sale of alcohol during the early phases of the lockdown imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic. This created a lot of debate and even some anger. It is my opinion that alcohol should be banned forever and a day!

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In our house, we do not use the word ‘hate’. You can dislike someone or even strongly dislike something, but hatred is just something that we do not easily do. It is a draining emotion and leads to unhealthy thoughts and unwise actions. At the very least it is a waste of time.

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However, hatred is not completely taboo. There are things worthy of the effort that hatred requires. For me, alcohol is one of those things. I hate alcohol!! It is not a dislike or even a strong dislike. I hate alcohol. Passionately! Intensely!

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Let me just qualify this by saying that I do not want to condemn you for drinking or for the fact that you do not agree with me. My opinion is also not a theology since the Bible provides very little help for my hatred. It condemns drunkenness but not the mere consumption of alcoholic drinks. I have searched often and attempted several dubious interpretations of scriptures to find support. But, alas, to no avail…

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My hatred is personal, and I have no need to convince you of my reasons so that you will emulate me. My hatred is hypocritical as I have never consumed alcohol beyond taking a sip to taste this or that kind. Yet I have damaged my health for the greatest part of my life by consuming sugary drinks by the litre. Despite the price I am paying for this abuse, I hate alcohol, not sugar.

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My hatred has only grown stronger over the years. Every person who made a bad decision while enjoying that buzz. Every word spoken in jest or in anger that would never have been uttered while sober. Every family destroyed in a drunken haze. Every death or injury caused by vehicular manslaughter while under the influence. Every trauma victim with no coping mechanism except to retreat further into a drunken state. Every drug addict who would not have fallen into addiction was it not for the softening of inhibitions alcohol induces. Every… I can carry on like this for a long time and as I’m typing this, names and faces scroll past in my memory and I get angry all over again. Did I mention this already? I hate alcohol!!!

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I know sober people mess up too. It is merely a matter of looking into the mirror for me. Alcohol is not responsible for all the woes of mankind. However, it must be said that no one ever got up to receive an award for significant achievement and thanked alcohol for it. No athlete ever won a match or a race because of alcohol, except if the other team were even drunker.

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And conversely, you will find that alcohol played a destructive role in every (every one I have spoken to) homeless person’s story of loss and failure. Somebody commits suicide. Somebody has an illicit affair and is divorced by the love of his life to see his children only every second weekend. Somebody is fired for gross negligence. How often do you think alcohol plays a role?

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I think it may be time to make my real point since it is quite possible that you now know that I hate alcohol. My hope is that what I am about to confess to you will help you going forward. If you love your beer or wine and have read this far, you have my admiration.

You see, my personal feelings towards alcohol influences what I see and what I read when I page through a newspaper or scroll through social media. I never see positive stories about alcohol but stories of the destructive results of its abuse find me. I know this and confess to you that I have no plans to change this. Sometimes I scroll past a headline and accept what it says as fact without reading the article or checking who wrote it. If it says what I know to be true about alcohol, I quote it and pass it on without a second thought.

When the government announced a ban on the sale of alcohol, I did not spend one second evaluating their reasoning. I just knew that it was a good thing because it agreed with what I would do with alcohol. When this ban was prolonged into level 4 and improved crime and accident statistics were quoted as in-part-motivation, I did not, even for one moment, consider that there could be other contributing factors.

Conversely, if someone were to write an article now, claiming that a high blood-alcohol level will make you immune to the virus, I would immediately research the author and find opposing views. Or reject it out of hand. Or scroll past without reading it or discussing it with anyone.

I am not making this up. My hatred of alcohol is real and my subjective and slanted response to what I see and read is just as real. I assume that just about everybody will at least somewhat disagree with me and this will help me make my point.

Whatever you are convinced of will influence what you see and what you read. Your actions will then influence the algorithms of the artificial intelligence populating your newsfeed or timeline and this will further influence what you see. In this time where you are bombarded with unprecedented volumes of information, it is incredibly challenging to discover the truth. Please consider the following:

1. Someone is not trustworthy or correct just because you agree with him or her.
2. Seek out opposing views, do not fear them. They cannot change your mind while you are not looking…
3. Never accept something if you have not considered opposing views.
4. Beware of sites mindlessly regurgitating popular opinions as clickbait. Ignore them.
5. Get to know sites who are known for fake news. Ignore them.
6. Being correct about one thing does not guarantee that someone will be correct about all things.
7. And please read the whole article before accepting or rejecting the message. (See responses on Facebook to this post.)

Don’t be like me. Your mind is a beautiful thing. Open it a little.

Don’t just hop onto a bandwagon. Ask where it is going and think before you hop.

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Reon Louw