Watching the first episode of Ken Burns' "Prohibition" on DVD.

[Brigid]

I had been wondering why the tactics of the "dry" crowd to get Prohibition passed sounded so eerily familiar: Women's groups gathered outside saloons, praying and blocking the entrances. A few, like Carrie Nation, became famous for busting up saloons if they could gain entry. "Wet" politicians and candidates were targeted for defeat in elections. Being dry and being patriotic became conflated with patriotism in the run-up to WWI because most brewers were of German origin. The institution of income tax in 1913 meant that the federal government was less dependent on excise taxes from alcohol for revenue. Perhaps most important of all, the "dry" crowd was absolutely single-minded in their devotion to their cause; and their opponents just didn't get that.

Does any of this remind you of another fiercely fought battle going on today in this country? I am not talking about the battle over legalizing pot -- I'm talking about the battle over abortion. The so-called "pro-lifers" don't even care if women die on the floor of hospital ERs because they can't get needed medical care. We underestimate them at our peril.

[proud patriot]

1. great series , I learned a lot

[elleng]

2. Yes, we underestimate 'pro-lifers' at our peril,

and I was interested to see the history of prohibition. However, I am extremely hesitant to conflate it with 'pro-lifers.'

Alcoholism is a serious, debilitating disease, and prior to AA etc., and the recognition of the disease, frustration is understanable, imo.

[MindPilot]

3. Sauerkraut became "liberty cabbage" -- it looked like satire.

If I didn't know it was real history, I would have thought it was a Saturday Night Live skit, although at six hours it was considerably shorter than the average SNL bit.

The parallels were absolutely amazing, the Christian do-gooders who think their imaginary sky-daddy endowed them with the obligation to tell the rest of us how to live, the completely over-the-top propaganda, the idea that country folks are somehow better than the sinful riff-raff inhabiting the cities, the political dirty tricks, the hypocrisy, the dehumanization of immigrants, people of color and the working class, the single solution to a complex problem, ignoring due process to enforce a law that most people break anyway. It truly is an incredible thing to watch.

[BlueIris]

4. The extremism of the "drys" in that movie *did* remind me of the anti-choice crowd.

Also reminded me of the religious fanatics pushing other pseudo-spiritual garbage on our society (Islamophobic crap, teaching creationism in schools, etc.)

[JHB]

5. Very strong parallels, since they also had "enemy", "foreign" religions to fight...

...namely Catholics and Jews.

[AnnieBW]

6. And Prohibition led to the explosion of Organized Crime

For a much more entertaining look at Prohibition, watch "Boardwalk Empire" on HBO.

About the only good thing that came out of the Prohibition years was, ironically enough, Alcoholics Anonymous. It was founded in 1935, when alcohol was still illegal.

[dsc]

9. Prohibition ended in 1934

AA was founded after Prohibition ended, not before. On edit it was December of 1933

[AnnieBW]

11. Oops, my bad

Should have looked before I posted.

[MindPilot]

10. Actually prohibition figured heavily in women's suffrage

and expanding the role of women in politics and society in general.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. It is a great series with many parallels to issues today...

Recommended.

[BlueIris]

8. Kick, because I hope everyone here gets a chance to see this. nt

[Initech]

12. Yeah I do see the parallels.

But what's really bothering me with the "pro life" crowd is that even both sides are doing this - in Prohibition the anti-alcohol crowd was really limited to one side, I'm not really seeing that with the "pro lifers".