Could someone please tell me the honest truth about why we are so addicted to booze?
I am not sure whether to rejoice, laugh, cry or be disappointed that there are apps through which you can order liquor and have it delivered to your home within 60 minutes of your order having been placed.
When I heard about one particular app on the radio I was happy but confused at the same time. My blood ran cold.
My confusion was about the impact the app was going to have on our lives. Make no mistake, this is a good idea because it is going to keep those who drink off the roads.
It will perhaps reduce deaths on the roads and as many violent deaths are linked to alcohol consumption, there may even be fewer stabbings in shebeens simply because there’ll be fewer people there. Because they’ll be enjoying their alcohol at home.
While I commended the thinker behind this for spotting a lucrative gap in the market, a part of me feels sad that someone actually thought of poisoning us right in front of our families and our children.
Whoever came up with this was really innovative but surely his sole motivator was not money? I am certain he also considered the lives and the welfare of children…
The app, devised by a young man born in the Eastern Cape, is expected to be up and running this month, as soon as drivers have been recruited in all the provinces to distribute the killer drink.
Of course liquor stores will also be lining up to sign up with the app. They will most likely benefit even more than its developer. Even the world’s fastest man Usain Bolt recognises booze’s potential, having teamed up with champagne producer G.H Mumm to launch his own brand of the sparkling stuff – Mumm Olympe Rosé.
One wonders why he didn’t decide to launch a clothing brand, maybe. But again people are running where money is.
How do we as a nation suffering under the burden of substance-induced social ills, allow booze to be accessible all over the place? And in my opinion, the laws put in place to regulate the sale and use of liquor, are not being adequately enforced.
I can’t stop thinking about those mothers and fathers out there who go berserk after drinking – and now there’s an app that will make it easier for them to access their poison. My thoughts are with their kids. Of course they may also go berserk while drinking at a tavern or shebeen, but now families and neighbours may be victimised because the shebeen will be right inside the house.
Access to alcohol can lead to job losses, divorces, domestic violence, rape and separation of families.
Why don’t we introduce innovations that will stabilise families rather than destroy them? We should challenge each other to better our own.
As much as I commended the entrepreneurial thinking behind the app, I feel the young man could have found a better business idea to invest his thinking in.
I remain a great admirer of black thinkers. I admire young black innovators. But when they are thinking money before life, I am out. But the positives will be time saving, life saving and home intimacy. My thoughts are far from sober.