Pijem, torej sem Slovenec: Ali alkohol(izem) kot tabu in fenomen slovenstva

I Drink, Therefore I Am A Slovene

alcoholism, Slovenes, 19th century

It is a well known fact that each year, alcohol causes the deaths of about 2,000 Slovenes. Therefore it stands to reason that alcoholism is one of the most serious social illnesses of the Slovene nation; a nation of which the politician Fran Šuklje wrote long ago that it has an "inherent thirst". In fact, an exaggerated tendency to indulge in drink is a part of Slovenian folklore, the foundation of a clearly misguided national identity which persistently attempts to find (and has found ?!) proof of its Sloveneness in alcohol: I drink, therefore I am a Slovene; I am a Slovene, therefore I drink. An almost uncountable number of different case histories and stories kept safely on the periphery of the collective memory, together with "ancestral records" allowed to slip strangely into oblivion, show that this is a virtually unfathomable phenomenon, which should be subjected to a more thorough and comprehensive scientific analysis. Yet the actual state of affairs is just the opposite and the issue rarely touched upon. Could the cause be embarrassment? A childish attempt to escape the truth? Is it an idealised auto-stereotype, which does not bear serious criticism, or a taboo?

2025-07-01

Prispevki

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