on 9/30/08 5:46 PM, Thomas Dalton at thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
2008/9/30 Marc Riddell michaeldavid86@comcast.net:
on 9/30/08 5:12 PM, Thomas Dalton at thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
There is not such thing as an "exceptional alcoholic" - a person either is, or they are not. It's like calling someone an "exceptional diabetic".
I disagree. An alcoholic whose alcoholism has never resulted in anything notable happening would be unexceptional from the point of view of writing an article about one whereas someone that's been constantly in the headlines because of the alcoholism would be very exceptional.
You are wrong here, Thomas. You are confusing the medical/psychological condition of alcoholism with the social pejorative use of some behaviors.
No, I'm not. This isn't a mailing list about medicine, it's a mailing list about an encyclopaedia. From the point of view of writing encyclopaedia articles the results of someone's alcoholism are far more important than the condition itself.
It is an encyclopedia article that makes reference to a medical condition. To focus only on the resultant behaviors, without understanding the condition, is pejorative journalism, and unfair to the person who is the subject of that article.
Marc Riddell