The Blame Game
I don't have a lot of time for this today, but I feel inspired, and a little compelled, so I'll write it as quickly as I can. I hope you can read fast.
Leonard Pitts is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Miami Herald. I read his column twice a week and always appreciate it, and particularly today. Food for thought and all that.
You can read it yourself here, but be warned -- I'm sure you'll have to register first. It's painless and only takes a moment or two, but we all have better things to do. I'll abstract it for you anyway.
Seems this Florida politician had to resign because he used bad language. The kind of inflammatory racial language that has passed beyond political incorrectness and become fightin' words.
And, in his defense, if you can call it that, this lowlife brought up the fact that his alcohol use seemed to bring out the worst in him. YOU THINK?
So Mr. Pitts brought up Mark Foley and Mel Gibson, and tossed around a few paragraphs on personal responsibility and excuses, ending up with the statement, "If I were an alcoholic, I'd be insulted. These clowns give drunks a bad name."
It's an excellent column, doing what it's supposed to do: give an opinion, make it concise, stimulate thought, leave you wanting more. And I'm a big fan of Pitts, and I take no issue with his commentary on this.
But I'm an alcoholic, and I'm not insulted, and I'll tell you why.
Mostly it's the implication in his last sentence, even given that's it's a rhetorical flourish, that most alcoholics suffer in silence, take responsibility for their actions, refuse to blame, and are generally good citizens who are just under the thumb of a powerful disease and need help. Sort of sober, in other words.
Well, no.
I have no idea if Mr. Foley was simply trying to cover his butt, or if the scandal actually opened his eyes to the fact that he had some serious issues with the bottle. What I do know is that the idea of a closeted gay man who felt forced to keep his sexuality hidden and found himself attracted to these young, ambitious, intelligent boys who needed mentors, and the addition of alcohol and the perceived privacy of the Internet (ha), is a no-brainer for me.
As is the idea of a famous filmmaker who's been under a lot of scrutiny for his supposed beliefs spouting anti-Semitism under the influence. Yawn.
My issue with Foley is that he used his position of power to intimidate and harass young men who deserved better. My issue with Gibson is that he got behind the wheel of a car. This is where personal responsibility comes in. If they both happen(ed) to be untreated alcoholics, I wish them recovery and help.
But the idea that the rest of us who struggle with chemical dependency never see a solid trail leading from a corkscrew to bad behavior, and don't accept the cause and effect, made me smile a little. Oh if it were so, but it's not. I could tell you stories.
Yeah, it irks me a little. It would have been nice if Foley and Gibson had said, "We did and said some really inappropriate, anti-social, bad stuff. We shouldn't have done it, we are sorry, we resolve not to do it again. Also, alcohol didn't help matters, so we're dealing with that, too, but we're still responsible for our actions."
Actually, Mel sorta did that.
This is why I've been writing on the subject of alcoholism lately. I can't say much about sobriety; ask me in a few years. I can just try to explain what it's like, some of the biology in case that interests you, and what some of us made a decision to do about it.
But few of us live in a vacuum, and our actions have consequences. From my experience, some of the most responsible people I know are recovering alcoholics, and sometimes they have a lot to be responsible for. They know what they did, they accept it, they try to fix it if they can, and they move on. They don't make excuses, though, because that's what they used to do and look how well that worked out.
Now I just have to wait to see if Rev. Haggard in Colorado winds up in rehab, blaming his current problems on booze or meth. The Devil Made Me Do It. Sigh.
If I were the Devil, I'd be insulted.
10:11:23 AM 
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