Vice Versa

“One minor but arresting fact of U.S. history is the huge amount of alcohol the average American consumed in 1830: 7.1 undiluted gallons a year, the equivalent of four shots of 80-proof whiskey every day. Assuming some children wimped out after the first drink, this statistic suggests that large numbers of Jacksonian-era adults were rolling eight belts deep seven days a week, with all the attendant implications for social and political life. Imagine what it was like resolving a buggy accident, let alone conducting a presidential election.” These days, we drink a lot less. And a lot more of us are choosing not to drink at all. But what effect do these drinking habits—along with dramatic changes to some of our other national vices—have on our shared (and increasing, not shared) experience? Dan Brooks in The Atlantic (Gift Article): The Lonely New Vices of American Life. “That the new vices are so uniformly solitary suggests that the national character might become more solitary, too. This trend is unsettling, but perhaps more alarming is that large numbers of people could become so oblivious to the upside of vice as to decide that it is better pursued alone.” (So do society a favor and forward this newsletter to a few friends. It actually pairs quite nicely with a few gallons of whiskey.)