by Colin Hyde
No sober person would dispute the charge that rum, drinking alcohol, is at the bottom of many horrific failures. Encounters with friends erupting into murderous fights, women getting beaten up by their spouses, and fatal accidents involving drunken men at the wheel, are numerous. There is another side to everything. What would guys do with themselves if they took away their drink? They probably would die of boredom. If we shut down drinking holes, the only places that would remain open are the churches and the children bazaars.
The answer in the US to rum trouble was the age of Prohibition, 1920-1933, years when alcohol drinking and its production were strictly illegal in many states in that country. We know what forced the end of Prohibition. Adults wanted their drinks, unscrupulous and/or daring people ensured the supply, and chaos and violence and corruption in high places reigned.
The anti-rum lobby here has been on high octane since the violent death of a promising youth in Caye Caulker in an incident in which it is believed that rum played a part, and also because of a discussion about upping the price of molasses, the foundation of our rum, since a dismal sugar cane crop. There is no end to craziness in this world. They would want to ban rum. But no government in Belize is crazy enough to contemplate that, since the lessons Prohibition gave to the world.
There’s a chance here to price rum beyond the pockets of many, so there’s support for a higher price for molasses to subsidize the farmers. The anti-rum lobby should be advised that pricing rum beyond the pockets of drinkers will not serve their end. Lots of people like alcoholic beverages, and just like you can’t stop marijuana smokers from getting their smoke, you won’t stop drinkers. When Belizeans can’t afford drinks from the shops, they will wash out old rum bottles and retreat to their kitchens to ferment fruits, and rice, and potato. The government has to think hard about upping the price of molasses, because there is also a rum industry to protect.
The anti-rum lobby has no quit. Respect to endurance, but what we have to question is the amount of love in their hearts, and common sense in their heads. All sober people want to stop the criminality associated with alcoholic drinks. But we must know that we can’t stop drinking. Some people chase soft drinks, some chase coffee or tea, and some chase liquids spiked with alcohol. We can find a balance here, if we are real, and if we care. Sincere people know that what we need to do is cramp what comes after the drinking starts.
Everything would work out smoothly on the night scene if people who want to get cantankerous were dealt with the moment they show signs that their drink has taken control of them. The police shouldn’t play with people who are drinking. If you are drinking and the police say shut up, and you don’t zip it, don’t let me say what you are asking for. I’ll give you a hint: it is not illegal In Singapore.
Okay, sometimes the police ARE the problem. Indeed, we have some angry people in police uniform. And there are some dishonest ones too. Hmm, billions of dollars worth of cocaine have passed through here since Richard Nixon declared war on drugs—the trade is illegal, all human beings are weak, some more than others; we can’t escape the taint. We know some in our police force come up short of the glory. We also know there are few saints in the ranks of the defense lawyers, if any. As a famous lawyer explained, that breed lives in a world where, if you can’t prove it in court, it never happened.
Talking a little SOE here, the people know they are betrayed; they don’t trust the police, and they don’t trust the lawyers. Our government leaders had a good idea how to cut the lawyers’ sway in our courts. They put them before judges from foreign places. We could easily correct bad aaplz in the Police Department. If that department got a foreign ComPol, it would be as impactful as foreign judges on the bench to control these rapscallion lawyers. Ah, we still have some aces to play. We could bring that department into line if we provided some serious civilian supervision.
Despite some officers sullying the department, we shouldn’t mouth off anyone in uniform. One peep from people who are drinking, and their friends or the police should collar them. I have this older brother who in a lucid drunk moment got full points, a gold medal for understanding drink. He was drunk and far from home, drunk and unable to get home, so he went to the police station and asked them to put him up for the night. It’s possible that he borrowed that idea from the guide book for safe drinking.
We need to put all these damned lawyers in this country, who are lined up to defend silly rights, like the right to back-chat police, in their place. These lawyers, they are large on book learning, but they either have no leadership capacity, or money is all they live for. Talking back to the police can’t be a right. An abusive drunk needs a cell.
I have some guidance here for the talk media too, so they stop disappointing us. Yes, it is fair, even necessary, to run down rum. These people who attack rum, they should be encouraged to spout off on all of the negative things rum does. But if you’re in the media, please tell the other side of the story. Oil is the fuel for vehicles, and food is the fuel for work. We know why Cleveland Berry had rum on his table. We know what it is for.
Unruliness in football is intolerable
Congratulations to the Guatemalan national team, Los Chapines, for going all the way to the semi-finals in the Gold Cup. Aha, on their way to the title, in the finals Mexico ran rings around a somewhat depleted US. In the quarterfinals, Guatemala defeated Canada, a game in which they were outplayed. But I bet everyone who isn’t Canadian wanted Guatemala to win because of the hooliganish behavior of a number of players on Team Canada.
An American commentator said that Canada’s coach is an American, and the sense I got from him is that he is a feisty guy. The only place in sports for such guys is in boxing. Too many of the Canadian players were about expressing their macho, and getting in the face of the referee. Some of these guys, they are on the defense side of the field and they want to rush to the action when one of their teammates in the forward line gets a little roughing up. Let your boots and cabeza do the talking to the ball; let your shoulders do the bullying. Kicking, biting, scratching, elbowing, crowding the referee, I vote for straight red.
I give the thumbs down to sissy play too. But that is sometimes a grey area. A player like Neymar makes a living lying down on the carpet, but it is true that many times clumsy defenders put him there.
Bah, the guys on the football field are 100% sober; they don’t even have caffeine in their system, and some of them want to act hooligan. Bah, all the pressure falls on the referee. He doesn’t want to send off anybody because that ruins the game for everybody. Everything would work out if idiot coaches weren’t on the sidelines. You have a player who thinks he is a rooster, send him to the showers.
The players on the field who are into silly, none of them are drunk. The problem out there is too much freedom. In football a coach shouldn’t tolerate guys who don’t come to play the game. People who pay to see the games know where to go if they want to watch boxing.