ALCKOHOLISM THE SILENCE KILLER IN RUSSIA!!



when a drunk driver doing nearly 200 km per hour ploughs into a group of teenagers on the sidewalk – what do you called that?......People have been discussing these issues , I don’t know you opinion  – one woman said- “It’s like you shouldn’t even have children!” another said-- “What’s the point? You let them out of the house - and some drunk bastard goes and does something like that!” The other woman pointed out that these children lived in state care facilities, and were returning from an arts competition, where they had won first prize. “That makes it even worse!” The first woman said. “First these kids are abandoned, then they work to make something of their lives, and someone comes along and ends it all, these damn drunks are everywhere.”
I was particularly struck by the story of these kids,  why should someone be mad my alcoholism just as most Russian’s, not staying in his house but decided to drink more for two days straight, and then get behind the wheel. Oh my God, this is disgusting  and inhuman in all its’ ramification. “I hope you do the human thing and kill yourself in prison!” Was one of the tamest online comments that I have seen directed at the driver since the tragedy occurred on Saturday September 22. Some Facebook users, have pointed out that the maximum sentence for what this ‘’mad driver guy’’ did is nine years - “less than what Khodorkovsky got!” It does seem bizarre that snuffing out seven lives after behaving in a deliberately dangerous manner will get you less time behind bars, say, than the maximum sentence for a single count of embezzlement. To put this in perspective, opposition leader Alexei Navalny faces a maximum of ten years in the slammer after being charged with embezzlement. It may be that the case against this driver will be perceived as yet another stain on the reputation of Russia’s increasingly beleaguered court system. The less trust the general public has in the courts, the more likely it is that drivers like this one will simply be “beaten to a pulp on the spot,” as another Facebook user put it. This is a terrifying scenario for a nation working to move beyond its chaotic past - but legal nihilism and  bastardize system  helps sustain an outlaw culture.
Legal issues aside, it remains to be seen whether this tragedy will do anything to influence drunk driving rates across Russia as a nation. I do not know anyone who drinks and drives in Moscow in particular and Russia in general. The rules are strict: just one drink puts you over the limit. Yet stories of drunk driving deaths - particularly at weekends - abound in the news.
“Let’s face it, if he had killed one or two people, we wouldn’t even care,” said one I read, who was particularly upset by accounts of this latest tragedy. “We’re used to it. Even priests get behind the wheel under the influence - nothing shocks people anymore.” ah ah ah ah ah --- hear that, Priest of all people!! For me, this is a “culture of desperation,” let’s call a spade a spade’’  this drunk driver was far from being a Byronic figure worthy of eloquent musings. To me, he is just a loser with a history of misconduct behind the wheel - someone who should have lost his license a long, long time ago. – I beg for an answer,  God Bless Russia as a Nation moving towards greatness!!


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