Ban alcohol ads

One of the perks of having a blog is that you can speak your mind. When struggling with a particular issue there might be nobody around to listen; in a conversation someone might cut you off; or when writing an article about the subject, your writing might get censored. With a blog on the other hand you can speak, vent and even ramble, and you can do so to your hearts’ content. Which is exactly what I am about to do.

If you think I’m a little put out today, you would be right. The cause? A book. I’m reading a book (a murder mystery) and the main character (the detective) drinks like a fish, on and off duty. This puts my nose out of joint.

These days it’s all about healthy living, switching to organic products and shunning the smokers has become a national pastime. But has anyone who reads books ever noticed the alcohol consumption of fictional characters?

They guzzle down champagne, wine and spirits any time, any place from morning ‘till night. I wonder how recovering alcoholics feel about that. How do people, who try to break their drinking habit, feel about fictional characters drinking like fishes? It must be hard enough walking passed bars, restaurants and liquor stores, without being confronted with alcohol in books.

The same with TV and magazine advertisements. Why are alcohol promoters being given free rein to make their products look attractive to consumers? With their ads they are giving the impression that drinking is cool, fun and sexy. I wonder how much fun it is to lose a family member or friend because some drunk who had to have one more drink?

What about domestic violence? How many more spouses need to be beaten up before anyone is going to do anything? How many black eyes, broken noses, split lips, broken ribs and blood is it gonna take for someone to demand the advertising of alcohol be stopped?

Smokers are being given a hard time for lighting up and are bombarded by messages that oeh smoking is bad for you. But what about drinking? Is nobody going to say something about that?

Job advice

Where it comes to unemployment and finding a job, just about everyone has suddenly become an expert. Just Google ‘How to find a job’ and see what comes up. Who are the people who write those articles? Do they have any qualifications to give advice?

This morning I read a post by Laura, who was putting in her two cents. She stated that she was unemployed and rambled on and on about her quest to find a job. Something she had failed at, yet she felt qualified to tell other how to be successful.

At the bottom of her article I found her signature in which she stated that she was a full-time mom of six children. Six children! No wonder she couldn’t find a job.
Not only had she been out of the job market for a good number of years, her technical skills were probably far from up to date.

Other than that, would you hire a mom of six kids? I wouldn’t. What are the chances that she works an uninterrupted week? You know how it goes with kids … they have to be taken to school and picked up, so as an employer you can forget about her coming in early or staying late. When the kids get sick or have an accident, they have to be taken to the doctor and if it’s anything serious someone is needed at home to take care of them.

No thank you, where it comes to employment, give me a woman over the age of 45 any day.  Judging from the comments Laura got on her article, I wasn't the only one with misgivings.