Page 427 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

In Their Own Words

Sample Persuasive Speech

ALCOHOL AND TRUTH
by Arjun Buxi
It’s strange that there is this lifestyle that we are all taught. It’s very
cool, it’s glamorous, and it’s the place to be, but that is not the truth.
In reality, it is this vortex of manipulation, perpetrated by the alco-
holic beverage companies. We play a game with them—a game with
loaded dice that we are never meant to win. And each day we play it,
we are losing control.
You’ve guessed it! We’re talking about drinking. But don’t worry—
it’s not a temperance movement. There’s no right or wrong, good or
bad, and no one is burning in hell. No. This is plain and simple about
truth, about facts, and about knowledge. That’s all there is. And af-
ter this discussion, let’s all make an informed decision—choose. Be-
cause the power to choose is all we need.
So what are we going to talk about today? We’re going to talk
about the chemistry of drinking, the safety and responsibility factors,
Arjun Buxi
the addictive side of it. We’re going to talk about the companies and
their merchandising methods, and fi nally why do we drink in the fi rst place?
But fi rst things fi rst—the chemistry of drinking. According to Caroline Ryan in the BBC’s
online health service, when we have alcohol taken into our body, the brain releases two chemi-
cals: #1 dopamine, #2 endorphin. Dopamine gives us a feeling of satisfaction. So yes, we do
enjoy the drink. But the second one is a natural body painkiller, endorphin. Okay, put the two
together, of course we enjoy drinking! Fast forward maybe eight or twelve hours after the fi nal
drink. Now that’s when the fun begins! You feel maybe a headache coming on—basic nausea,
diarrhea, and sometimes we end up hugging the toilet. But what is this? This is a phenomenon
hereafter known as the “hangover.” Oh yes, we’ve all been there. But what is this?
How does it happen? You see what happens, when we’re knocked out cold, we’re com-
pletely comatose. The body is fi ghting. The body is breaking the alcohol down into its basic
components. The liver is cursing us because he’s doing all the work. And one by-product of
alcohol’s degeneration is acetaldehyde, which is a toxin. And ladies and gentlemen, toxins
have no business being inside the human body, but we put them there because we had the
alcohol. We’re brilliant.
Oh, let’s attack one certain myth here, while we’re at it. The myth is that we sleep better
when we have alcohol. We sleep longer, and in the case of my roommate, we’re much harder to
wake up, but that’s another story! We don’t sleep better because the body’s fi ghting these tox-
ins all night long, and we wake up the very next morning exhausted, so we haven’t slept better.
Moving further ahead. Now we talk about safety and responsibility. Is it really possible?
There’s this article by Manoj Sharma, in the Alcohol and Drug Education Journal, and he says
if we have two drinks—just two—whether it’s two small beers or small glasses of wine sepa-
rated from each other by an hour and not more than that in the whole session, he says maybe
that should be safe. Probably. Is it? Is it even practical? Do you feel two drinks is enough?
Shouldn’t there be more? Okay, let’s say I have a burst of willpower and I say, “Oh, only two
drinks tonight!” But wait a minute, there’s a football game going, there’s beautiful people on
the dance fl oor, there’s music, maybe it’s my birthday? Do I say “no” to the third drink, or the
fourth, or the fi fth? Think again because Fox in The Boston Globe (2002) had a study, and he
said that two drinks, just those two supposedly “safe” drinks impair our judgment. We lack
clarity of thought and our logic is skewed. How can we choose rationally? The game is loaded,
and we lose every day.
Moving further on, while we are talking about the companies, they have gall, you know. I
admire their ingenuity, but I hate them nonetheless. You see, Jake Gettleman in The New York
394 Times tells us about this wonderful merchandising idea called “Bud Pong.” Oh, it’s based on