andrew_gelman_stats andrew_gelman_stats-2014 andrew_gelman_stats-2014-2158 knowledge-graph by maker-knowledge-mining
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Introduction: Our research assistants have unearthed the following guest column by H. L. Mencken which appeared in the New York Times of 5 Nov 1933, the date at which Prohibition ended in the United States. As a public service we are reprinting it here. I’m particularly impressed at how the Sage of Baltimore buttressed his article with references to the latest scientific literature of the time. I think you’ll all agree that Mencken’s column, in which he took a stand against the legality of alcohol consumption, has contemporary relevance , more than 80 years later. Because of the challenge of interpreting decades-old references, we have asked a leading scholar of Mencken’s writings to add notes where appropriate, to clarify any points of confusion. And now here’s Mencken’s column (with notes added in brackets), in its entirety: For a little while in my teenage years, my friends and I drank alcohol. It was fun. I have some fond memories of us all being silly together. I think those moments of
sentIndex sentText sentNum sentScore
1 And now here’s Mencken’s column (with notes added in brackets), in its entirety: For a little while in my teenage years, my friends and I drank alcohol. [sent-8, score-0.221]
2 We didn’t give it up for the obvious health reasons: that it is addictive in about one in six teenagers; that drinking and driving is a good way to get yourself killed; that young people who drink go on to suffer I. [sent-18, score-0.247]
3 Most of us figured out early on that drinking booze doesn’t really make you funnier or more creative (academic studies more or less confirm this). [sent-31, score-0.576]
4 The deeper sources of happiness usually involve a state of going somewhere, becoming better at something, learning more about something, overcoming difficulty and experiencing a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. [sent-36, score-0.141]
5 [Editor's note: Mencken forgot to mention the pleasures of sarcasm. [sent-37, score-0.147]
6 ] Finally, I think we had a vague sense that drinking booze was not exactly something you were proud of yourself for. [sent-45, score-0.465]
7 I think we had a sense, which all people have, or should have, that the actions you take change you inside, making you a little more or a little less coherent. [sent-49, score-0.213]
8 [Editor's note: "a little more or a little less coherent? [sent-50, score-0.213]
9 Perhaps this was just one of the days when he was being a little less coherent. [sent-54, score-0.132]
10 ] Not drinking, or only drinking sporadically, gave you a better shot at becoming a little more integrated and interesting. [sent-55, score-0.441]
11 Drinking all the time seemed likely to cumulatively fragment a person’s deep center, or at least not do much to enhance it. [sent-56, score-0.209]
12 [Editor's note: This particular passage should be particularly interesting to Mencken scholars, as it is the columnist's only known use of the phrase "cumulatively fragment a person's deep center. [sent-57, score-0.167]
13 I don’t have any problem with somebody who gets drunk from time to time, but I guess, on the whole, I think being drunk is not a particularly uplifting form of pleasure and should be discouraged more than encouraged. [sent-60, score-0.233]
14 By making booze legal, they are creating a situation in which the price will drop substantially. [sent-62, score-0.308]
15 As prices drop and legal fears go away, usage is bound to increase. [sent-64, score-0.143]
16 Many people these days shy away from talk about the moral status of drug use because that would imply that one sort of life you might choose is better than another sort of life. [sent-68, score-0.299]
17 I’d say that in healthy societies government wants to subtly tip the scale to favor temperate, prudent, self-governing citizenship. [sent-71, score-0.136]
18 ] But they are also nurturing a moral ecology in which it is a bit harder to be the sort of person most of us want to be. [sent-76, score-0.24]
19 [Editor's note: given Mencken's very public support of alcohol prohibition, we are surprised that he did not support the prohibition of tobacco and cannabis as well. [sent-77, score-0.435]
20 All this makes one wonder whether a modern-day columnist of Mencken’s stature—someone like David Brooks—would support prohibition of alcohol, tobacco, or any other recreational toxins. [sent-80, score-0.292]
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Introduction: Our research assistants have unearthed the following guest column by H. L. Mencken which appeared in the New York Times of 5 Nov 1933, the date at which Prohibition ended in the United States. As a public service we are reprinting it here. I’m particularly impressed at how the Sage of Baltimore buttressed his article with references to the latest scientific literature of the time. I think you’ll all agree that Mencken’s column, in which he took a stand against the legality of alcohol consumption, has contemporary relevance , more than 80 years later. Because of the challenge of interpreting decades-old references, we have asked a leading scholar of Mencken’s writings to add notes where appropriate, to clarify any points of confusion. And now here’s Mencken’s column (with notes added in brackets), in its entirety: For a little while in my teenage years, my friends and I drank alcohol. It was fun. I have some fond memories of us all being silly together. I think those moments of
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Introduction: Our research assistants have unearthed the following guest column by H. L. Mencken which appeared in the New York Times of 5 Nov 1933, the date at which Prohibition ended in the United States. As a public service we are reprinting it here. I’m particularly impressed at how the Sage of Baltimore buttressed his article with references to the latest scientific literature of the time. I think you’ll all agree that Mencken’s column, in which he took a stand against the legality of alcohol consumption, has contemporary relevance , more than 80 years later. Because of the challenge of interpreting decades-old references, we have asked a leading scholar of Mencken’s writings to add notes where appropriate, to clarify any points of confusion. And now here’s Mencken’s column (with notes added in brackets), in its entirety: For a little while in my teenage years, my friends and I drank alcohol. It was fun. I have some fond memories of us all being silly together. I think those moments of
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