My wife and I sat down to enjoy the premier of the new HBO show “Boardwalk Empire” last night. I was excited because it seemed like a more believable gangster scenario (I like gangster movies regardless of their validity) and we’d heard a sterling review of it on NPR. I was also excited to see Buschemi in a starring role, I’ve always thought he could handle it.


The best things about shows like Boradwalk and Mad Men is their detail in depicting real situations and people in an era that really happened. We’re entranced by the outfits and the music. Boardwalk gave a really good glimpse into the mindset of prohibition-era America. We hear music and see a movie that has to do with the “town going dry”. It really communicates that this was not necessarily a choice of the people, but rather a decision made by the government that did not reflect the majorities opinion.


All that being said, listening to some pretty authentic dialog by teetotalers (almost all women) made me feel less alone in the world. I am under NO circumstances for prohibition. It simply doesn’t work. As proven it just generates more problems on top of the problems inherit in a culture of alcoholic excess. However, the fact that there was, at some point, a large group of people (again, mostly women) who spoke out against the abuse and neglect to which alcohol served as a catalyst makes me feel like I didn’t just invent my convictions as a convenient way to deal with my own feelings. I’ve been called a teetotaler in the past, and always just accepted it as a replacement term for people who aren’t counter-culture savvy enough to call me a “straight edge fascist”. However, really putting some thought into the temperance movement and seeing it brought to life on a really good TV show, I’d almost say I have more in common with those women then with “straight edge” culture.


However, my insistence that litigation is rarely the best course of action, I guess I still wouldn’t be able to have a phosphate with the temperance crowd.