George Best Media Deathwatch

[Mick F]

Originally Posted by Brian Jarvis

Best chose his lifestyle and disease or not it was like all alchoholism, self inflicted. He had a life of privilage and was not driven to drink by dire circumstances.

What complete and utter bollocks. You have obviously no experience of alcoholism. Nobody gets to choose it, it chooses them. I lost my sister to alcoholism & know exactly the toll it takes.

Before you judge someone, walk a mile in their shoes.

[OctopusAli]

I'm afraid i tend to agree with Brian. Everyone has the choice of taking that first & subsequent drink/drug. Yes, we could all get to that stage of losing control but nobody forces us to get to that point. He's had more chances than most & still chosen to throw them away. Yes, I feel very sorry for his family but would imagine deep down they are also angry with him for putting them through it. An alcoholic in the family is grim to say the least but we can all say no.

[JohnK]

Bottom line is we are all going to die. Next bottom line is we are all not perfect. We make choices for whatever reasons. The man chose to live his life that way - dangerous, just like diving, a hobby/lifestyle. Overstretch or overdo it and consequences have to be paid.

Judge ourselves first before we condemn others.

The man should be left to die in peace and the press should leave it alone.

[Mick F]

Originally Posted by OctopusAli

Everyone has the choice of taking that first & subsequent drink/drug.

Absolutely.

Originally Posted by OctopusAli

Yes, we could all get to that stage of losing control but nobody forces us to get to that point.

Ya reckon? Talk to an alcoholic & see their side of it. If you suffer from the disease you don't have it so easy and the answers aren't always so apparent.

Originally Posted by OctopusAli

He's had more chances than most & still chosen to throw them away.

Yes he's had more chances but I still question your usage of the words "choice" and "throw away". Twenty years ago I might have agreed with you, now I have a completely different point of view.

Originally Posted by OctopusAli

Yes, I feel very sorry for his family but would imagine deep down they are also angry with him for putting them through it.

and then some.......

Originally Posted by OctopusAli

An alcoholic in the family is grim to say the least but we can all say no.

Maybe you can, be thankful for that. Many people can't.

[Houseplant]

I doubt that anyone chooses to die a slow agonising death from alcoholic liver disease.

[Alun]

Alcoholics are alcoholics because they are alcoholics.

Whatever it was that got them started drinking in the first place is not the reason that they are still drinking. "Curing" the problem that made them start will not then cause them to stop drinking.

One of the biggest lies that an alcoholic will tell themselves is that they aren't an alcoholic, they can stop any time they wish to, they tend to follow this cycle:
Say they're stopping drinking
Stop drinking for a period of time (a day, a week, a month...)
Decide that they have proved that they aren't addicted to alcohol, because they've managed to stop for this period of time.
Decide that they fancy a drink, because they aren't addicted.
Go back to the level of consumption that they had before.

Alcohol abuse destroys lives and destroys families. It will, however, destroy the lives of those closest to the alcoholic before it destroys them.

[Bantam]

--- Pointless Comment Now, really. ---