On Oct 2-4, 2011, the documentary film, “Prohibition” was broadcast over TV in America to some 4 million viewers. The reviews were generally favorable as to the film’s authenticity and purpose.
But one review stood out for me. It was titled: The Prohibition Movement is Still Here and Still Powerful, by Sarah Longwell. For your information, Ms. Longwell is the managing director of the American Beverage Institute in Washington, D.C.
Ms. Longwell doesn’t really speak to the nature and quality of the documentary, but rather uses the film as an opportunity to use a popular political American device these days: The Fear Card.
Almost immediately, she raises the threat that “What viewers might not realize is that prohibitionists are alive and well today. Decades after the repeal of the 18th Amendment, busybody activists are pursuing policies to make it more difficult for consumers to drink socially and urging governments to use every tool in their sheds to cut down on casual alcohol consumption.
Policies such as higher alcohol taxes, sobriety checkpoints, lower legal drunken driving thresholds, restrictions on Sunday sales, alcohol advertising bans and initiatives to put alcohol-sensing devices in all cars as original equipment are touted as the solutions to such problems as underage drinking, alcoholism and drunken driving.
But in reality these laws aren’t about curbing alcohol abuses, they’re part of a neoprohibitionist effort to restrict the consumption of alcohol no matter how moderate.”
The Fear Card that is being used here is the threat that any person, group or legislative body who tries to do anything to reduce, regulate, or raise taxes on alcoholic beverages is a neo-prohibitionist and every measure should be used to prevent their success!
This is a typical approach used by the alcohol industry all the time to stifle any change that could be seen as negative to them.
