Thailand Is #6 In Alcohol Consumption - Who Report

[jayjayjayjay]

thai(s) do love their whiskey!!!

White spirits from rice account for about half the spirits consumption.

[Captain Chaos]

Does this survey account the huge amount of alcohol consumed by tourists? I notice the countries on the list are either former Soviet Union, or high volume tourist destinations that attract lots of hard drinkers. If they're just getting the total amount of alcohol produced and figuring out per capita consumption from there it's going to be off.

Not many tourists go to Reunion Island (which isn't a country anyway but let's not split hairs) ... there isn't much there which perhaps explains why they score highly on the booze consumption ...

Fair point though - I suppose if the alcohol consumed by 10 million-odd tourists is included in the figures but not in the population number, then it might distort the result somewhat. Still suspect that Thailand would score highly though based on observations of the menfolk in Mrs CC's family - there is no culture of 'putting the cork back in the bottle' here, even if the whisky tends to be heavily diluted with soda as a rule...

[Captain Chaos]

thai(s) do love their whiskey!!!

White spirits from rice account for about half the spirits consumption.

Yup - some of which comes from the illegal 'sa to' still in my mother in law's farmhouse - very potent and very, very bad for you if you overdo it ... isn't there some horrifying number of up country men who die from rice moonshine consumption every year?

[Thai at Heart]

And this probably has no measurement for Lao Kao!

[BigSnake]

Sad but oh so true, main reason I think is Booze is so check here, need more taxes on it.

[Yorkie]

If the authorities repealed or refrained from enforcing the archaic drinking laws (pubs closed on woting days, birthdays, religious festivals, etc. and daily before 11 am and between 2pm and 5 pm) Thailand could even make No 1!

[Thai at Heart]

If the authorities repealed or refrained from enforcing the archaic drinking laws (pubs closed on woting days, birthdays, religious festivals, etc. and daily before 11 am and between 2pm and 5 pm) Thailand could even make No 1!

If they taxed it by bloody alcohol content we could all enjoy a glass of wine while consigning mekong to the bin.

[mittheimp]

Ive lived in Thailand, Australia, Korea and im from england. From my own experience id put thailand at the bottom of those 4 countries when it comes to overall drinking - although there may be more people in thailand who have a serious drinking problem --but i also think there is a higher percentage of those who don't drink at all, than the three other countries.

[Heng]

Alcohol and the national lottery on top of a sub par work ethic (which by itself would be somewhat acceptable without an addiction to the former two items) is what keeps 85% of all Thais in the poor house.

Well there’s that and the lack of real effort by the upper classes to truly provide a free and competent education system to the lower classes – seems almost to be a concerted effort by the haves to keep the masses poor, uneducated (and it also seems drunk).

That's typical "I'm a victim" (by proxy) talk.

God helps those who help themselves... fortune favors the brave... no risk - no reward... you gotta be innit to winnit. Etc.

Yes, yes, I see your point. Obviously the educated upper class person has equal opportunity to become a success as the illiterate lower class bloke. Same chances to succeed, same chances to fail – yes, yes, certainly same same. Same understanding of how the world works, etc. ---- Not.

I don’t think most of them even know they are a victim – so hard for them to develop that as a defense as to why they are still in the lower class. (hence my proxy vote)

God? If we want to talk along those lines I would agree that Buddhism actually does help to keep the lower class down. All this hocus pocus about those that have, have because they have been good in past lives, and those that have-not, have-not because of how they were in past lives is complete and udder <deleted> that only helps to pacify the masses. IMHO the dhamma based beliefs tend to be far too accepting of fate/karma and do not help to promote a strong work ethic. The western vision of work ethic tends to relate directly to setting goals to obtain the things that one desires – not quite an easy thing to incorporate into the desire = suffering of the dhamma.

Wouldn’t a reasonable education system help to at least give the masses an understanding of risk/reward and return on their efforts? If they don’t understand the concept hard for them to put it into practice.

Note: Not that any of this really matters all that much to me from a practical stand-point. It would take decades for real changes in the education system to have much affect. As for now I too benefit from the centuries of effort by the Thai upper class to keep the lower classes poor and uneducated - Keeps things cheap for me as well.

What was this tread about anyway?

No kidding if you're going to compare end products of an entire lifetime and often generations of advantages. Just having a better diet from birth until adult age (compare kids raised on Carnation condensed milk mixed with tap water vs. breast fed + S-26 formula kids... diets of ramen, rice and fish sauce vs. three squares a day, etc.). Just diet alone from conception to adulthood probably results in a significant IQ difference, and that's just one facet that keeps the poor where they are. Some other's are: breathing better/cleaner air, actually having a complete nuclear family for support and emotional growth, not being exposed to a lot of unnecessary street type hazards, it goes on and on... My point is that there is no conspiracy, nor a need for one, whether here or anywhere else in the world because merely existing and living a higher quality life gives you more advantages than you would ever need anyway.

IMO all organized religion keeps the masses down.

Note: none of this really matters all that much to me either, as it's all relative. It's like saying the local Thai families that send their kids to Ivy League schools are keeping the families that can only afford state university educations abroad down. If only there were a "fair" system where all of the moderately well to do could be provided with a state subsidized Ivy League education. Then the playing field would be level. Not.

This thread is about booze... and I'm saying it's a choice that folks make to keep themselves down by overindulging in a habit they can't afford (along with gambling). Kicking the bottle or that lottery habit won't land underclass kids at Yale or Harvard, but it might allow a kid to pull themselves out of the crappy dirt floor temple school into the crappy dirt floor gov't school... and so forth.

Edited March 3, 2008 by Heng

[Bjorn]

I just came back from Czecg Republic. Great beer!! and the Czech's are drinking quite a lot, mostly beer though.

Sure farangs are "helping" to raise the average alcohol consumption in Thailand. Especially Farangs in Pattaya, we all know that. Well, the farangs in Pattaya will of course deny that fact, but what to expect............

Cheers