I Should Have Drunk Bad Wine

Posted by Tom Wark on Nov 17, 2009

I think it's one thing for America's alcohol wholesalers to selfishly and arrogantly take control of state legislatures and cripple consumers' beliefs that their demand is honestly assessed by suppliers and met for the sake of consistency with basic economic laws, all for the sake of multiplying their power, wealth and control of a huge swatch of the American economy. After all, that's business…of a sort.

But no matter how ugly the state-mandated three tier system can get, it's not nearly as ugly and damaging and immoral as the work of America's entertainment industry who cravenly produce things like "2012", a full blown slasher movie on a gigantic scale masquerading as a film about human resilience. 

In my desire to do good work for the Specialty Wine Retailers Association and in feeling compelled to call out the blatant absurdity of a system that hurts more than it helps, I'm told by some that I ought to be more moderate in the way I attack these personal and professional pursuits.

I can live with that critique of my approach.

But what's really difficult to live with is that I contributed my person coin to purveyors of artless filth who are best defined by their furious and giddy delight in slathering mud and feces all over that most precious thing called human life, all for the sake of making money and indulging their own sadistic nature. I used to think that slasher films, where the flaying of human flesh is used to evoke surprise and fear, was just about the worst thing a moviemaker could do with the trust and money they are given. I learned it wasn't. In "2012", a collection of "filmmakers" and actors upped the ante by fantasizing not just about the killing of a human being with sharp objects, but about the torture of all humanity while all humanity watches. That's sick.

Life is short and final.

That's just one of the reasons it's so precious. That's just one of the reasons we should expect ourselves and anyone else not infected by diseases of the mind to treat it with respect. That's just one of the reasons those of us in the wine business, whether aligned with producers or wholesalers or retailers, appreciate that we get to work around a man made product that primarily gives people pleasure. That, having been reminded of it in profound ways over the past year and a half, is why I'm positive I need to pursue those things that leave a real positive mark on my and others lives.

It's also why I need to be much more careful about spending money in support of smut like "2012" and instead spending it on something better, like time drinking the worst wine I've ever tasted.