Via James Poulos, it appears that the European Union, like the Hegelian Idea becoming fully self-aware, now proposes to regulate secondhand drinking, the Orwellian euphemism for all of the externalities associated with the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Rational beings have already concluded that the American experience with this sort of regulation is dispositive, but the EU instantiates a different logic. Poulos elaborates:
I’ve suggested before that the inevitable and prompt result of administrative tyranny is freedom by bribe. The particulars here seem to point in the same direction. Already we in the West are accustomed to our celebrities breakin’ all the rules. The more arbitrary and ridiculous the law becomes in trying to shape enjoyments, the more the issue will take on class contours. In the new dystopia, only the upper class will be able to afford lower class pleasures.
Prohibition by de facto luxury pricing is to be the mechanism; exceptions for the meritocracy will be carved out, whether informally, or by the combination of propaganda and increasing levies upon, and penalties for, the 'illicit' use of ordinary pleasures. After all, these externalities increase the burden upon the welfare state, decrease the profitability of private insurers and corporations, and raise the specter of higher taxation for the elites - who, after all, under the
If, however, the social regimentation of the EU is to adopt an explicit, even merely implicit, "let them eat tofu and drink pureed wheatgrass" aspect, I'd suggest that it is high time for a revival of the guillotine.
Sssswwwwiiiiisssshhhhh!
Comments (2)
Well, of course! Drinking is haram! Kafirs who drink infringe on the rights of the Muslim community!
Actually, I have a considerable degree of respect for prohibition as a decision made at the local level, but this is terrible. As you say, it essentially amounts to having different legal systems for different classes. Shame on the EU!
Posted by John Savage | April 22, 2008 3:39 PM
Too true, too true! I'm reminded of Chesterton's The Flying Inn, at the least to the extent that the social regimentation imposed by the EU for secular reasons will dovetail neatly with some Islamic expectations, from which the elites will exempt themselves by their wealth. Secularists emulating the sociology and social hypocrisies of elite Saudis - sounds like the West ending with the meek whimper to me.
Shame on the EU - this cannot be said often enough.
Posted by Maximos | April 22, 2008 4:30 PM