The Role of Alc0holism in Fomenting Racism
The World Cup, Alcoholism, Violence and Racism
Those whose biological processing of alcohol causes a self-favoring view of self think they are better than others. This distorted perception, dubbed euphoric recall, teams up with acetaldehyde (or is perhaps part of the same process) and damages the neo-cortex, the seat of reason and logic. The resulting behaviors take wide-ranging form, from belittling others to robbery, rape, murder and hatred.
The idea that alcoholism-driven hatred can take form in racism was briefly explored in Drunks, Drugs & Debits and How to Spot Hidden Alcoholics. Former Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver became sober and recalcitrant long after he threatened a holocaust against whites. Benjamin Smith, who went on a shooting rampage against Jews, Blacks and Asians in Illinois and Indiana over 4th of July weekend 1999, had previously spent a year in drug counseling. An alcoholic, Buford Furrow, attacked a Jewish community center in Granada Hills, California in August 1999. Richard Baumhammers, who shot six non-whites in April 2000 and frequented white supremacist web sites, was reported to have used 17 different prescribed psychotropic drugs. Reports of racism combined with heavy alcohol or other-drug use convinced me early on that racism is not only unnatural, but also rare without a psychotropic drug addiction. This culminated in myth # 65 in Alcoholism Myths and Realities: “He’s no alcoholic; he’s just a racist,”where I wrote, “I have known a number of racists and others who used racial slurs, eventually finding alcoholism in almost every case.”
This can be particularly dangerous in those with leadership aspirations. An alcoholism-damaged neo-cortex seems to increase the ability of the unconscious emotional mind, the limbic system, to tap into the needs and instinctual drives of others. One such drive is a desire to “belong”which, along with survival, is at the top of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of basic needs. Some alcoholics have an ability to convince masses of followers that they can help them fulfill these needs by belonging to what, in essence, becomes their herd. I have hypothesized that this is usually how riots begin and cults are created. And if there are problems in society, what better way to become Supreme Leader, whether of a nation-state or your neighborhood, than by blaming another class of people for the problems of your people, real or not?
World Cup fans (and, no doubt, many players) drank with wild abandon during the recent competition. According to German bar keepers, British fans in Nuremberg were reported to have “practically drank us dryâ€. One bar keeper said, “Never have I seen so many drink so much in such little time.”Many of the players’ wives and girlfriends who danced on chairs and smashed glasses at bars later appeared to have trouble walking; one barkeep reported he “had made a fortune out of the players’ girls drinking.”British party girls claiming, “We are here to help England win the World Cup”led several all-night boozathons. The revelry, the part we didn’t see on TV, has been extraordinary.
It’s tough to distinguish between young non-alcoholics and addicts when all are drinking. However, those seemingly having the most fun and partying all night are the more likely alcoholics. I’ll never forget when it dawned on me, half-way into writing my first book, that my ex-wife”who was not my inspiration to understand alcoholism”could stay up all night at our parties, while I just wanted to go to sleep, and that perhaps this heavy drinking was linked to her occasional misbehaviors. It took another year or two for me to realize that while she could control her use for weeks and even months at a time, every so often she’d go off the deep end. By my redefinition of alcoholism, which requires a loss of control over behaviors rather than use, I slowly realized she had early-stage alcoholism and that without these bouts of alcoholism-induced nastiness our marriage would have likely endured. No one else knew what went on behind closed doors. The same is true for many of these party-hardy World Cup fans.
There are some, however, who are more obvious. A Scot, who was arrested for lifting his kilt and flashing his manhood, resisted arrest, started a fight and tried to bite a police officer. Over 120 English fans were arrested and detained overnight in Stuttgart after taunting passers-by and throwing bottles, glasses and chairs. Authorities, who responded quickly, intended to show that “aggressive drinking, violence and harassment will be nipped in the bud.”Over 130 mostly German fans were briefly detained in Cologne after scuffles began. More than 400 German and Polish fans”properly described by CBS News as hooligans”were arrested in Nuremberg. Police repeatedly described being targets of “drunken fans.”
In one of its most vile forms, alcoholic madness can result in racism even in sports. FIFA, soccer’s Zurich-based world governing body, recently said there has been a surge in discriminatory behavior toward blacks by fans and other players, especially as more Africans and Latin Americans have been signed by elite European clubs. Hanging banners reflecting racist beliefs and tossing bananas and banana peels are common occurrences during matches in Spain, Italy and the former Eastern Bloc. French coach Raymond Domenech accused Spanish fans, who whistled and booed during the French national anthem, of shouting racial epithets and monkey chants at his black players. Luis Aragones, Spain’s coach, was fined in 2004 for making racial slurs against French star Thierry Henry. (While I can’t blame him, it didn’t help that Henry reacted by reportedly flipping off the Spanish team after the French beat them June 27.) Uwe-Karsten Heye, a former German government spokesman who now leads an anti-racism organization called “Show Your Color”warned non-whites to avoid certain areas of Germany, particularly small and medium-sized towns in Brandenburg, which were dubbed “no-go”areas. While not every alcoholic reacts this way, racism is a great way to blame other classes of people for one’s problems, such as failing to get picked by a top team because a person of a different color beat you out.
In late May, before the World Cup began, a 16-year-old was charged with attempted murder after he injured 28 people in a frenzied assault with a knife. Police were reportedly “unable to determine a motive for the attack”at the public gathering. He was reportedly “drunk.”The trouble is, the motive is right in front of us: an alcoholism-driven need to wield power, which can take bizarre and exceedingly destructive forms. The assault set the stage for the thousands of less tragic attacks occurring during the World Cup, from hooliganism to racism.