"Alcohol is a poison, harmful to the soul and body, therefore it is a great sin to drink alcohol and to offer it to others, and it is an even greater sin to produce and sell this poison" Tolstoy

submitted by EndlessSunflowers from self.quotes

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[–]Extract 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (3 children)

I saw the "How Vodka ruined Russia" video as well.

[–]Jacinda 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

According to Anne Williamson, Harvard Business School ruined Russia. Here's part of her testimony to US Congress.

VDare:

In the matter before us – the question of the many billions in capital that fled Russia to Western shores via the Bank of New York and other Western banks – we have had a window thrown open on what the financial affairs of a country without property rights, without banks, without the certainty of contract, without an accountable government or a leadership decent enough to be concerned with the national interest or its own citizens’ well-being looks like. It’s not a pretty picture, is it? But let there be no mistake, in Russia the West has truly been the author of its own misery. And there is no mistake as to who the victims are, i.e. Western, principally U.S., taxpayers and Russian citizens’ whose national legacy was stolen only to be squandered and/or invested in Western real estate and equities markets. [Cont...]

[–]Questionable 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

It's much less harmful if you take in proper nutrition along with the alcohol. I wouldn't as much blame Vodka for Russia's ills, as I would the poverty, and malnutrition.

[–]Extract 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I was just referring to the fact he posted this quote from the video just published here by the same OP.

But if you do watch the video, you'll see that while alcohol wasn't what caused poverty/malnutrition, it's the systematic social pressure (on the peasants) to consume Vodka is largely what created a feedback loop of poverty and alcoholism.
The business of selling Vodka to peasants was so profitable, by the way, that the ruling class made themselves a monopoly in that business, often granting production rights as exceptional rewards to nobility (as it was just that profitable).
I could go more about this, but it's all in the 10 minute video.