Idiot, Thy Name is Canadian

Here's another groundbreaking study by our "National" newspaper, the Mop & Pail.

Apparently, drinking a lot leads to drinking a lot. The title proclaims "Regular drinkers at risk of binge boozing".

OMFG, really?

And just in case one is inclined to overlook the shocking headline, the subtitle reads, "All genders and age groups at risk, Canadian study says."

And, get this, the McGill squad of highly-qualified academia also discovered that "...women tend to drink less than men."

Thank you Globe and Mail.

The article also tells us that Ms. Demers (one of the geniuses who received money to travel and investigate the obvious) was in Norway, and was discussing Canadian drinkers with her Norwegian hosts: "'They were looking at me and they did not understand,' she said of the Norwegians, noting she told them Canadians drink moderately and don't often get intoxicated."

I had this silly notion that Canadians do get intoxicated. But thankfully Ms Demers (whoever she is) has laid that myth to rest (while gently inferring that Norwegians are not quite so up to snuff as we Canucks are). God bless academia eh?

For anyone who bemoans the lack of journalistic rigour that seems to be prevalent in most of our media these days, this is not an unusual article. The average Canadian (assuming he or she even reads a newspaper) will accept this "study" as some kind of proof that drinking is bad, then turn around and open a highly-taxed beer.

For those of us who are actually awake, we'll tuck this apparently meaningless article away in the recesses of our pea-brains. Then when the state (à la Dalton McGuinty) decides to protect us from ourselves in one of its initiatives meant to distract from any real issues like health care, we may notice that this is one of the many "studies" used to impose any number of controlling measures upon we the sheepulace, all for our own protection.

As my friend "Chris" pointed out - the last line in the article sums it up. But the academics don't get it.