Keep Up Coverage of Problems of Alcohol

I enjoy your (Dianne Klein) column. Your writing is both honest and kind: a rare combination, and I am reminded of an upbeat Joan Didion. I was particularly glad to see you touch (however lightly) on the problem on alcohol (“Beware: Tragedies Can Drop From the Skies Over Anaheim,” Aug. 15).

You are right when you say that “nobody is getting too worked up about” alcohol-related accidents and that we are left with a “hollow” feeling of fear.

Last week, a cursory reading of The Times revealed eight teen-agers, one bicyclist and assorted adults (I can’t recall how many) killed, all as a consequence of alcohol. Nor do I believe that to speak out against the lunacy of alcohol is to be a fanatic. I believe that I am just exercising the voice of reason. But the problem of alcohol reflects a profound hypocrisy at the heart of our society, and the voice of reason can be ignored at best, or labeled demented at worst. Just as the essence of a dysfunctional family lies in the fact that wrong is perceived as right, so also does our culture, saturated with persuasions to drink, mirror this distortion.

Those of us who protest are regarded as oddballs and killjoys. The irony, of course, is that it’s the other way around. Nothing kills joy as much as the sight of young bodies strewn among the wreckage of “just another alcohol-related accident.” Or, as you report, a young boy’s neck, broken out of the blue.

I am glad that you commented on this problem and hope you continue to do so.

M. POWER GIACOLETTI

Lake Forest