olllllo said:
There are plenty of neo-prohibitionists that love that we characterize our hobby as an affliction.
Oh lordy...
Tell you what. The second you can demonstrate that homebrewers' casual use of the words "obsess" and/or "anal" on internet forums is being used by "neo-prohibitionists" to make a case that this hobby is an affliction/addiction/mental illness and thus should be made or kept illegal, I'll stop using these words outside of their rigid clinical definitions.
Zamial said:
I hate to point this out but most people keep their toothbrush in a cabinet in the bathroom because if you do not then you may as well brush your teeth in the toilet bowl. Every time that thing is flushed it sends an explosion of fecal matter into the air to cover everything.
...
Then we have the "addicted to" saying to mess with things. I do have issues with that kind of terminology because it is certainly a want vs. a need. Addiction is based on need. This is why I do not believe one can be "addicted to video games" or "addicted to brewing" these are strong wants that can mimic need but no one is going to die if you do not get to brew within a week.
To keep up with the thread's spirit of raging pedantry...
Most people actually DO leave their toothbrushes out in the open. Although the percentage IS slowly shrinking as awareness of how unsanitary it is grows, the vast majority still leave their toothbrushes out. Me, on the other hand... I no longer even flush the toilet without first putting down not just the seat, but the lid as well.
More importantly though, your idea of addiction doesn't even come close to matching the clinical definition. Addiction is a neuropsychiatric phenomenon. It really has nothing to do with "needs", at least not in the sense of what's necessary for survival. In terms of addiction, gambling, sex, and yes, even video games, can be just as legitimate as a drug addiction.
What you're referring to is more closely aligned with the concept of *dependency*, which is when the substance (or whatever) is required constantly, or else withdrawal symptoms start to occur. You can be dependent but not addicted (often the case with patients taking certain medications), or addicted without being dependent (e.g. a heroin user who hasn't been using long enough to become physically dependent but may already be psychologically hooked). And even when talking about dependence, your definition of "needs" only applies in a small minority cases. Certain drug withdrawals can be fatal, particularly GABAergic drugs (benzodiazepenes such as Xanax, barbiturates, and even alcohol), but most are not.
I doubt you'd question the legitimacy of heroin, and yet withdrawals from heroin are *almost* never fatal (and even then, it's pretty much only indirectly causal). Sure, it's extremely unpleasant for a heroin addict to go through withdrawal, but even cold turkey there's virtually no risk of death. Nicotine addiction and dependence are certainly real (as is nicotine withdrawal), and yet your own logic disagrees, since "no one is going to die if you do not get to [smoke a cigarette] within a week."
JiltedEmu said:
I could only get through the first 10 or so replies, but I'm going to go ahead and assume everyone's being trolled at this point. Please feel free to let me know if this has evolved into a meaningful or interesting discussion since that point.
I thought the same, until a couple seconds later I saw it was a mod.
Oh wait... "couple" should only refer to an integer, and even then, only "2".
Not 3. Not 2.5. Not even 2.0000000001
2. And since it's pretty much impossible that it was *precisely* 2 seconds after, the word "couple" is totally inappropriate. I mean, people will get the wrong idea. They're simply not capable of discerning context. How could I possibly make it 2 seconds *exactly*, without it being a femtosecond more or less? People might think I'm a wizard, when CLEARLT I'm just an EAC.
Oops. There I go again. I mean, people might think I'm ACTUALLY a wo-- TRANSMISSION INTERRUPTED [Reason: Top Secret Material]
