mercalia wrote:Bonefishblues wrote:Tangled Metal wrote:Addiction is an illness. You can't attribute idiot or buffoon status to someone affected deeply by addiction IMHO. Rational thought isn't possible in the same way a sober individual capable of.
Indeed. I thought society had moved on generally in its understanding, but there may be individuals who have rather been left behind.
confused thinking
it is a self inflicted illness at best, the idiocy pertains to driving a car when you know you are that way? its not as if he is poor as some one has already said, he could afford a taxi or a driver ( probably tax deductable?) A responsible person knowing his/her weakness would have arranged a taxi before going out. He is like that lorry driver in Scotland who drove his lorry when he knew he had blackouts and killed some pedestrians. no sympathy at all for him. As for being so drunk that he wasnt capable of rational thought - well he managed to earn a nice living doing his tv job so couldnt be that far gone? Just a selfish irresponsible celeb who thinks he is above it all; I remember the case a little while ago, when Reese Witherspoon the actress was pulled over for speeding (in the USA), I think it was - her first words to the cop were angrilly "dont you know who I am?" as if that meant she was better than the rest of humanity and special rules applied to her.
From the outside looking in,addiction is a hard situation to assess,because unless you've been an addict you can't see it from the inside looking out possibly because there is no 'out' for the addict.
Take the case of Anorexia,the simple solution to the problem is to eat,but if food is seen by the addict as the enemy of a desire to be a perfect(though impossible to attain)body shape,how do you break that negative psychological belief?
Alcohol can be similar,the vast majority of people can walk into or drive to a pub have one drink or are able to say "not for me I'm driving" and drink coke but the addict can't,due to a psychological problem and with all the best intentions in the world not to,will end up drunk and then drive.
I knew a woman who lived in the same avenue as my eldest daughter,I knew her parents too,she was a very good horserider destined for high things in showjumping until in her mid twenties she hit the bottle.
Nothing would stop her getting legless and nothing short of physical restraint stopped her from getting behind the wheel until she lost her licence and her husband sold her car.
She would then cycle,completely intoxicated to the Coop 3/4 of a mile away for more drink and has on more than one occassion needed my daughter or other neighbours to pick her up of the floor in the street,her habit was out of control.
She was 37 when she died.
It's not a fame thing it's an illness.
