Althouse: "How do our children see us..."

September 15, 2012

"How do our children see us..."

"... when we've been drinking."

A very striking Finnish public-service ad.

33 comments:

Moose said...: Striking and totally lacking in context - is this for problem drinkers I would hope?; 9/15/12, 8:05 AM
MPH said...: "Striking and totally lacking in context"

Well said.; 9/15/12, 8:11 AM
KCFleming said...: Shit, children see you that way when you tell them no, for the fiftieth time, you canNOT have a candy bar at the grocery checkout counter and you're in time out when we get home, buster.; 9/15/12, 8:14 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: My grandpa was a drunk. Drank a case of beer a day, and supplemented that with occasional shots of whiskey.

I liked him. Never saw a fishhead on his shoulders either.

He was pretty jolly.; 9/15/12, 8:15 AM
carrie said...: I think that everytime that you are drunk and caring for your child that it is problem, even if it is only one time. Like the guy who smoked pot who thought he was a better parent when he smoked pot, people who are impaired by alcohol are only fooling themselves when they think that no one can tell, especially their kids.; 9/15/12, 8:16 AM
carrie said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/15/12, 8:16 AM
robinintn said...: "Been drinking"? What the hell?parents who drink are monsters? Then they say they want a "conversation". That ad isn't conducive to conversation. It's conducive to "shut up child abusers".; 9/15/12, 8:19 AM
Paco Wové said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/15/12, 8:44 AM
Joe Schmoe said...: Phew. Thanks to a government-funded PSA for pointing that out! I'm now a better person. Seeing school kids coated in spurting blood was an awesome PSA for climate change too.

More please! I need improving!; 9/15/12, 8:53 AM
Darrell said...: I see today's American Left the same way--you know the most malignant narcissists and sociopaths that our country has ever created besides from serial killers who lack the ability to work in groups.; 9/15/12, 9:16 AM
edutcher said...: My old man got mean.

If I had the chance, I got the Hell out of the way.

I didn't want to see, or hear, him.; 9/15/12, 9:28 AM
Lyle said...: Finland is notorious for drunkards.

Great ad.

I don't think that is what children probably see, but it should make a few sober drunks look at themselves in a mirror.; 9/15/12, 9:39 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: http://tinyurl.com/8ejxr5g; 9/15/12, 10:13 AM
MaggotAtBroad&Wall said...: Alcohol has been an important part of humanity since forever. See Dionysus and Bacchus.

Because alcohol has been a part of humanity for at least 3500 years, I'm pretty sure people have a pretty good idea about its effects. Governments using taxpayer money to portray those who exercise their free will to consume alcohol as monsters is insulting. But understandable. When we give government the power to control healthcare, the bureaucrats have a compelling financial interest to see that you live your life in a healthy manner.

The liberal/progressive/socialist ideals about how to use government coercion to perfect humanity makes a giant leap forward here in 2014. It's gong to be awesome.; 9/15/12, 10:14 AM
Nathan said...: No, it's not what I saw. But it's sure as hell how I felt. That parting shot of the kid being buckled in, the heavy breathing, constant panic, not knowing what to expect.

Everyone's tolerance is different, and there's little comparison between a glass of wine at dinner and ploughing through a case during a day of college football. Generally speaking, though, most people tend to underestimate just how affected they have been by the alcohol, and seldom if ever appreciate how drunk they appear to others. Children don't necessarily understand shades of intoxication, but they pick up on subtle changes in behavior and mood, and can perceive that this person is not the mom or dad I know.

If you grew up with a drinking parent and feel unaffected by the experience, consider yourself fortunate. The world would hardly be a less happy place if some parents drank less around their children.; 9/15/12, 10:18 AM
dhagood said...: i've never seen anybody drink like people do in finland. when finns drink seriously, they don't get a little tipsy, or even knee-walking drunk. they go for alcohol poisoning. there is a finnish holiday, whose name i forget, where the whole nation pretty much is drunk. in the morning you have to walk around piles of vomit all over the public sidewalks.

it's a wonderful place, and i really enjoyed my time there, but jesus! drinking like that is NOT goood for anybody.; 9/15/12, 10:20 AM
Econophile said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/15/12, 10:32 AM
Econophile said...: The acting was quite effective--especially the last boy in the car.

Does anyone know why the text was in English? Most all young Finns speak English, but you'd think the ad would be targeted also to those who don't speak it. (Maybe even more so?); 9/15/12, 10:32 AM
Big Mike said...: Clever, but unlikely to be effective. Drunks and potheads always think it's everyone else's problem.; 9/15/12, 10:41 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: I thought that shaming doesn't work.

This applies only to fat asses?; 9/15/12, 10:49 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: Shouting Thomas,

My grandpa was a drunk. Drank a case of beer a day, and supplemented that with occasional shots of whiskey.

I liked him. Never saw a fishhead on his shoulders either.

He was pretty jolly.

My thought, too - this is bullshit.

Man, some people LOVE manipulation. It just stops their critical faculties in it's place and resigns them to buying into whatever BS they're selling, like they have no minds of their own.

Hey - everybody - while all this Middle Eastern shit is going on, tell me about how the ONLY issue we should be voting on is THE ECONOMY again!

That was a good one! About as brain-dead as this ad.

You guys think about as well as that fucking rabbit,...; 9/15/12, 11:16 AM
madAsHell said...: Alcohol.....that's how I survived parenthood!!; 9/15/12, 11:58 AM
Scott said...: The ad is effective for doing what, exactly?; 9/15/12, 12:32 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: True ad. Should the government be saying it? I don't know. That would be insultingly paternalistic coming from government here, though not so from a private entity. But then, perhaps the people of Finland have sunk into a relationship with government where they are more at ease with its paternalism.; 9/15/12, 12:42 PM
Unknown said...: Whether or not I agree with the ad my first thought was "how did they obtain that information?" Were they grilling children at school about what they think of drunk parents. Where did this info for the ad come from?; 9/15/12, 1:33 PM
Gospace said...: Someone already said it- Why English? Or is there an ad in Finnish? Or did the Finn's finally give up on it?; 9/15/12, 2:11 PM
Mary Beth said...: What I've learned this week: Drinking makes you a bad parent, smoking marijuana makes you a better parent.; 9/15/12, 2:11 PM
Jennifer said...: Freeman - It looks like the PSA was created by a non-profit, not the government.

I've never been to Finland, so I don't know anything about the drinking mentioned in comments above. But, drinking is so widely accepted, and NORMAL throughout Europe. I've never noticed any of the, for lack of a better word, stigma attached to drinking in the US. For example, the kindergartens in our village put on a parade through town, and there were two beer tents there. Just, completely normal. So, what strikes me as really odd is the wording - not this is how your kids see you "when you're falling down wasted". But "when you've been drinking." Really? Beer is cheaper than water here. Wine is cheaper than grapes. Everybody drinks and often. I find it odd that they're attempting to demonize drinking, not over-imbibing. Or, maybe something was lost in translation.

Visually striking, though. Certainly.; 9/15/12, 3:40 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Gotta love them Finnish filmmakers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upP-QNtrlqU

No, it's not a joke!

http://www.actors.co.ke/en/mer/articledetail/222; 9/15/12, 5:27 PM
jr565 said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/15/12, 7:09 PM
jr565 said...: It doesn't beat this ad:
You allright? I learned it by watching you!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Elr5K2Vuo

Awkard...; 9/15/12, 7:12 PM
Anonymous said...: Depends on the person: Some people change personality for the extreme worse, but some people don't. My friend's dad was pretty close to the blearily creepy Santa Claus, but my grandfather was jolly Santa and just fine during his lifelong 4:30 pm on the nose, celebratory cocktail.

I suspect it has more to do with someone's true personality than how they "handle alcohol." If you don't have any real need to maintain control to constrain the ugly bits of your personality in public, you'll be fine. Otherwise...; 9/15/12, 7:45 PM
SteveOrr said...: Adults in my life were mean as hell when drunk. I ended up in the hospital a few times. So it wasn’t just about “feelings”.

My father wasn’t the drunk. He was the only person who ever effectively stood up to the drunks. Unfortunately the folks divorced & dad was a thousand miles away. That’s when things really got bad.

The police? They don’t take a 6 yr old kid’s word when the adults close ranks & protect each other. So I’m definitely not a rah-rah government guy, either. It was actually that experience that taught me that government agents were worthless assholes.

It only stopped at about age 12 when I hit the weights & got big enough to fight back.

Now we're all adults & the abusers have come to me asking for forgiveness. Even when acknowledging the physical harm done, they were shocked to learn that they had "scared" me.; 9/15/12, 9:08 PM