A billion lost weekends

Caught a glimpse of Australian-born feminist superstar Germaine Greer on BBC World the other day (while the housemate was watching--our eyes aren't really optimised for TV viewing). She was being interviewed about the aboriginal question, which has been one of her preoccupations in recent times, though not something that we here have been following or have any particular views about. But one of Greer's comments did jump out at us: she said something to the effect that the Aussies' use of alcohol was consistent with that of a population in denial.

Which, of course, is true of many countries--in fact, it's probably true to some extent of all countries where the drinking of alcohol is permitted. (I mean, who among us doesn't at least dabble in denial at some time or the other? Entire nations practically live in the state. And what are the implications of this for societies where drinking is not permitted? You know who I'm talking about but that's a whole other issue). Including, of course, my own, especially during the Carnival season, which we're in the throes of as we speak.

Then this morning I'm reading Hugh Macleod's blog and come across this graphic, which kind of says it all.