Introduction
Portrait of an Ideal world was written by Mencken in the 1920s, a period in which the sale of alcohol in the United States was prohibited. In this period which commenced around the 1920s and ended in the 1930s, all alcohol related business operations such as the manufacture, importation, transportation, exportation, distribution and sale of alcohol were illegal and where allowed they were strictly restricted. Laws passed to this effect were contained in the Eighteenth amendment and upon their effect; the police were mandated to enforce them.
The Laws were meant to minimize social problems associated with alcohol consumption such as corruption and crime and at the same time improve the health status of Americans. This was however not the case as people started engaging in illegal ways in a bid to carry on the prohibited activities. As a result, corruption in the police force and crime levels soared in such an alarming rate that the justice and prison systems became overwhelmed by the level of cases they had to deal with (Thornton, 1991, para. 6-8)
This era significantly altered the way Americans viewed alcohol and alcoholic beverages and there was a general realization that not even the state control mechanisms could handle alcohol consumption, meaning that the choice of whether or not to take alcohol was individual at best.
Plot Summary
The article begins by describing what alcohol is, how it is generally believed to affect the human body and why people consume it. Mencken also describes how alcohol makes people act and in effect the reaction consumers elicit from the people around them. For example he says it makes people generous, tolerant, sympathetic and humorous as opposed to portraying their real characters when they are not under the influence of alcohol. (Mencken, 1924, pp. 201) He goes on to describe those who have taken alcohol as being less competent in their work, work they would otherwise do competently when sober. He is careful not to use the word drunk to describe people under the influence of alcohol and instead describes them as “gently stewed”, pp. 201.
Mencken then goes ahead to argue out that those who consume alcohol are not responsible for the wrong that takes place in the country but such wrong doings such as wars and corruption are perpetrated by those who are sober and teetotalers. He then criticizes people who come up with statistics to show that alcohol consumption shortens peoples’ lives by arguing that it is better for people to live shorter but happier lives as opposed to living longer unhappy lives such as the one that is prevalent at the time which he describes as brutal and harsh (Mencken, 1924, pp. 203)
Mencken also points out the fact that there are those who consume alcohol and still manage to live as long as those who do not consume it. His conclusion is that people as they are at the time are suffering from the actions of oppressors and not from the effects of alcohol as no alcohol consumer would behave the way the oppressors do. Mencken’s solution to the problem is to encourage Christianity among the people and not to stop them from taking alcohol (1924, pp. 203)
Argument and Evidence
In my view, Mencken is right to a certain extent but there are aspects of his argument that I do not agree with. For example he generally portrays alcohol consumers as being sympathetic, humble and generous and completely ignores the violent negative behavior that is normally associated with alcohol consumers. He also generalizes the behavior of non consumers by saying that they are the genesis of most of the problems that the nation is facing at the time yet there are sober people who do not act in a cruel, brutal and unpleasant manner. The fact that he chooses a general approach to the whole issue does not seem to work as the behavior of alcohol consumers is better evaluated at an individual level.
There are those who take alcohol and end up behaving in a negative manner yet there are those who consume it and portray behavior to the contrary. Encouraging Christianity is also not a good way of dealing with the problems that the nation is facing. This is because not all problems have religious solutions. Different problems need different solutions depending on their causes and consequences.
However, I agree with him in so far as he says stopping people from consuming alcohol cannot help deal with the nation’s problems. As it was the case in the prohibition era, illegalizing the sale of alcohol and other related activities only led to more problems. Crime rate soared and no social problems were dealt with including corruption as it only became more rampant (Thornton, 1991, para. 53-56) There is also some truth to his argument that there are those who consume alcohol and live long lives. But these can be said to be the exceptional cases. Documented studies have continued to show that heavy alcohol consumption can lead to high death rates resulting from accidents that occur when the competence of individuals is impaired and medical related diseases that are as a direct result of alcohol consumption such as cardiovascular diseases. Alcohol consumption has also been associated with psychological dysfunction. (Sadock & Sadock, 2008, pp. 90)
Mencken’s writing Style
Mencken writes in the first person and is himself the narrator giving his opinion on the topic. He compares two positions which are the consumption of alcohol and staying sober and gives the effect of each before giving his personal opinion on the matter. In some cases he uses exaggeration in order to stress his point, for example when describing the behavior of people who do not consume alcohol and in saying that they are responsible for the unpleasant situation that is existing in the country. He is critical in his writing as he chooses to show the ineffectiveness of laws of the prohibition era though but he does not do so directly, until when he is giving his alternative solution to the problem.
Conclusion
Mencken’s proposal to adopt Christianity is not viable in my opinion. First of all not all people profess Christianity or adhere to the teachings of religion. A religious solution would not be the best way to go. There are better ways of dealing with the problem such as sensitizing people on the issue of alcohol and its effects then leaving it to them to decide on whether or not to consume alcohol. The idea of Christianity would also not be that different from the alcohol ban as it would also be imposed on the people, meaning that the reaction would also lead to rebellion and the consequences would also not be any better.
References
Mencken, H. L. (1924). American Mercury Magazine January to April 1924. New York: B. W. Huebsch Inc Publishers. Web.
Sadock, J. B. & Sadock, V. A. (2008). Kaplan & Sadock’s Concise Texbook of Clinical Psychiatry. 10th Ed. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Publishers.
Thornton, M. (1991). Policy Analysis: Alcohol Prohibition Was a Failure. Web.