Taking Umbrage at Matt & Trey

Let me be clear: I don't watch all the time, but I generally enjoy South Park. One of my favorite movies is The South Park Movie. Yes, I get uncomfortable at times -- one of their trademarks is making their audience squirm now & then as a means of making their point. Yet if you look past the shock humor & gross gags, the very best part of South Park is that there is always a quiet message -- a sermon, if you will -- a moral of the story quietly & rationally issued by one of the boys. Kudos to that, I say.

Until this time. This week's episode had Stan's dad attending an AA meeting. I'll save the show's details (plenty of squirming for both Catholics & ACOAs alike) for your own viewing pleasure. But the sermon -- the quiet message of clarity, rationality, & common sense -- was complete and utter bullshit. Stan told his dad -- TWICE -- that alcoholism was not a disease, AA was nonsense, it was only a matter of DISCIPLINE, and he could drink in reasonable amounts if he wanted to. If he wanted to.

O.M.G.

It has taken me 3 days to blog this because I don't even know where to begin.

People abuse alcohol (and/or drugs, food, even sex) for one reason: it works. For even just a little while, it allows you to numb that black, dank, bone-crushing, soul-numbing, hideous pain that consumes your soul. Think that's an exaggeration? Then stop right now and thank God that you have never been there.

Assuming we ignore genetics, neurotransmitters, brain scans, biochemistry, & all the other bodies of physical evidence, if alcoholism, any of the other "-isms", or even clinical depression (a logical extension of the boys' assertions) is not a disease, then of course it would just be a matter of discipline. Get over it. Stop cramming food in your face. Pick yourself up by your bootstraps. Don't be so damn lazy.

Heaven forbid we allow advances in medical science to interfere with our pre-conceived notions.

So does the recovery from such diseases have nothing to do with choice or discipline? Of course not! If you have a cavity you elect to go to the dentist & then squirm in the chair long enough to have it fixed. If you have cancer you choose your therapy option & then work on getting through it. The same with any "-isms" or depression: you have no chance of getting better unless you choose to do so. (The snag is that first you have to realize that there even is a problem, a painful process in and of itself. It's not the equivalent of noticing you have a lump the size of a baseball on your butt.)

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to pull on my bootstraps some more.