I was never very fond of beer. I found the taste to be rather disgusting to be honest, until a few years ago.
My friend, an anthropology major, decided that drinking beer was a good form of socialization around the world. Almost anywhere you go beer can be found. She didn't care for the taste either, but we began our journey to attempt to like it because cultures around the world have a version of it. Thus if we ever ended up travelling anywhere we could try a local beverage both the same and yet different than elsewhere in the world. Whether made with barley or corn, there is something locals call beer in any country.
Today my friend and I have both acquired a taste for the beverage and actually enjoy them, they're no longer disgusting.
An interesting article I once read gave beer the credit for civilization, How Beer Gave Us Civilization by Jeffrey P. Kahn. Essentially he stated that pre-historic man was programmed with social instincts, which in their time were extremely beneficial allowing us to create a codependency with each other and ensured everyone fell into the proper hierarchy within the group.
Kahn, however, inferred that as people evolved our social instincts had to be altered as well to fully develop civilization. Civilization being defined as a society with a high level of culture. Creativeness according to Kahn, was, surprisingly, directly related to alcohol or beer. In order to develop creatively, to make art or to become inventive people needed to free their minds of the constrictions of our basic social instincts.
Therefore, by lowering ones' inhibitions and allowing people to overcome the hardwiring of their brains. Having a beer or two allows the creative "juices" to flow. For some this can be taken too far and drinking can become a problem, yet, an answer for the need to consume too much is found in the increased social anxiety of the day linked possibly to, you guessed it, those pesky social instincts from when people worked and lived together with a herd mentality.
Though the rise of society is suspected to be linked to civilization, there comes a point where overindulgence creates a back feed encouraging antisocial and uncivilized behaviours where people become destructive, not creative. There is a fine line and it is important not to cross it.
But, if used responsibly it can actually be of use. I've written previously about having troubles my first two years of university, but this same friend of mine mentioned that a professor had told her that drinking one or two while writing a paper was actually beneficial.
I was struggling one evening with the idea of post-modernism and was attempting to write a paper on the subject. I became fed up with the paper, sitting there and attempting to write it for the next day. I had attempted to write it a number of times, but continued to fail. I still cannot tell you what post-modernism is, but I had a beer and started writing. In the end I remember somehow working in medieval architecture as an example of how Burma was in transition from a modern society to a post-modern society.
At the time this seemed brilliant and I was sure I knew what I was talking about, I was thinking outside the box. My professor must have agreed because I did well with the paper, but as people began talking about post-modernism I discovered I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. So, the idea that a single beer while writing can develop a more creative flow or before going up to speak in front of people to calm nerves can be legitimate so long as it is not taken to excess. After all, according to Kahn this is how the rise of civilizations around the world developed.
Today we have civilization, but beer can still be beneficial for socializing. It often makes people talk more and invites people to sit for a chat. Too much and it becomes destructive, yet, it remains a form of socialization that has endured through the ages.
