Alcoholic Water?...Really?

I was listening to the radio the other day as I drove to work. Every morning the hosts do a "news" segment. Typically it's pop-culture or other quirky items they wish to draw their listeners' attention to. That morning they read an article about the creation of alcohol-infused water. No joke. This water is a malt beverage that is said to be highly carbonated. It is supposed to be tasteless, odorless, and colorless.


I found this picture of the beverage at http://foodbeast.com/content/2012/07/18/introducing-new-air-alcoholic-water-in-a-can/ if you care to look at the article yourself.

I'm not against alcohol by any means. In fact I do drink on occasion so clearly my issue is not with the creation of another beverage. My issue is the demographic it's being marketed to. Currently, according to the above article, the beverage is being tested on young adults.

College Parents of America, perhaps not the most reputable website I could have used but I used it none the less, indicates an alarming number of incidents of college students injured from the use of alcohol. The company marketing the new water-alcohol beverage, Mckenzie River Corporation (MRC) is promoting their new product at night clubs. What age frequents night clubs? 18-35 year olds.

Alcohol dependence and abuse is growing in this country. Why create a beverage that will make it easier for functioning alcoholics to continue drinking? While the beverage reportedly only contains 4% alcohol, it still seems irresponsible to sell this product.

A ban on alcohol is impracticle and ridiculous. I'm not advocating for a regression to the Temperance Movement of the 1830s. I do think, however, that with the creation of beverages such as this, this country needs to develop a better system when dealing with DUIs and underage drinking. This country has some of the laxest repercussions in the world with the one of the highest rates of alcohol-related deaths.

Do you see a problem with this?

I do.

The purpose of this blog is not to be controversial. It is to express the appalling things that continue to happen in this country and around the world.

I was born in 1991. Serious changes were happening to the world us "90s" babies were born into. Our world view and moral understanding has been shaped by the choices of our parents and grandparents. The Clinton debatury, the end of the Cold War, 9-11, and countless other events that we barely remember have played a significant role in how we grew up. Through several economic down turns, terrorist attacks, increased crime, domestic violence, rape, drug use, alcohol abuse, changes in music and religion, the children of the mid 80s and early 90s--future leaders of the world--have been forced to adapt to a world that is unlike anything our parents faced. While they accutely felt the impacts of many of these events, we are reaping the "rewards."

What has triggered the beginnings of this rant? Several things, but most recently, the unbelieably disturbing shooting in Auroa Colorado. The idea of sitting down to a movie premier and possibly not coming out alive is something that never crossed my mind. It is something we as a nation do without thinking about it. And yet 12 people are dead, several wounded, and everyone in that community will now wear the emotional scars that come from enduring such events. There were children, young children in that theater. 6 year olds, 12 year olds, even a 3 month old baby was injured. I do not want to seem heartless, no child should ever be injured. No child should have to watch their friends and family and fellow patrons be gunned down by another person. That is an unspeakable injustice to the children.

But this does cause me to ask, why were such young children at a midnight premier of a movie? This wasn't Lion King or Finding Nemo. This was a PG-13 premier of Batman. It is violent. And we as Americans, we who brag about our superior country, financial independence, attempt to push under the rug the violence we continually subject ourselves and our children to for pleasure.

Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with Batman, PG-13 movies, rated R films, war video games, or any of that stuff. I do, however, have a problem with exposing our children to such violent forms of media at such a young age. Not only are we desensitizing them to violence, we are depriving them of the simplicity of childhood. Their bodies were designed to be asleep well before midnight.

Whatever happened to playing outside, fresh air, basketball games with the neighborhood kids, and having fun without video games, game boys, or cell phones?

We wonder why our world is such a scary place. We wonder why our nation is slowly falling apart. We wonder why we feel unsafe, insecure, and suffer from anxiety.

The answers to our problems are not as hard and far-fetched as many believe. Can we fix our society? I don't know.

I plan to bring awareness to the injustices and ridiculousness of our great country and throughout the world.

These are the Rantings of a frustrated 90's kid.