What concerns me is that when you get into one group, the topic of vaccinations always comes up. One perspective is touted as the only truth, but come into the other company and the exact opposite view is considered the only valid angle, writes Lance Fredericks.
THAT’S it! I have had enough. The pandemic, masking, sanitising, travel restrictions, curfews, waves, vaccines … and masks again are driving me up the wall and across the neighbour’s driveway.
There are so many bad things that the ‘rona-circus’ brought to town; too many to mention. But one thing that gets my goat is the fact that Covid will creep into every single conversation … even our small talk.
What concerns me is that when you get into one group, the topic of vaccinations always comes up. One perspective is touted as the only truth, but come into the other company and the exact opposite view is considered the only valid angle.
The vaccinated point accusingly at the unvaccinated and the anti-vaxxers are pointing back – it’s just another division in our already fractured society – worldwide.
We are already divided along lines of race, religion, politics, economics, gender, and so on, and so on. Then along comes a virus and vaccines, and another chasm opens up.
I wonder if I could create another division – ‘beer’ with me as I share some random information.
Beer. That crisp, flavourful malty drink enjoyed by many men, apparently has a dark side. Researchers have learned that mosquitoes love beer, and as a consequence, they love biting people while they are drinking beer.
Not only that, studies have found that hops – one of three ingredients in beer – contain very high levels of phytoestrogens. What’s wrong with that, you wonder? Well, it seems, gentlemen, like our favourite ‘brewski’ could be making us effeminate and infertile.
As far back as 1951, it was discovered that sheep Down Under, grazing on a species of estrogenic clover, became infertile. This dealt a blow to the wool industry because the rams were no longer splashing on their Old Spice and frequenting the nightclubs looking for ‘baa-eautiful’ ewes.
They just stayed home and knitted – seeing as they had the wool.
But once it was discovered that plants could disrupt hormones, a theory started taking shape that hops could have estrogenic properties due to the fact that women who handled hops for a day when harvesting crops for beer production would immediately start their periods.
Further studies went on to indicate that the urine of men who had drunk even moderate amounts of beer showed an estrogenic effect in their bodies that lasted for days. The suggestion was that microbes in their gut kept producing female hormones after coming into contact with the beer.
And here’s the kicker, apparently men don’t actually need to chug beers to the point of intoxication for the estrogenic effects to occur – it happens even in moderate drinkers. But it’s also worth noting that the more beer a man drinks the more oestrogen dominance will affect his biology because hops, as we said, are a highly estrogenic plant.
So here’s the thing, drinking beer in excess not only has a sterilising effect on men but also feminises their bodies by reducing testosterone and increasing oestrogen.
Then, on the other side of the coin – and here I randomly selected some information – Dutch researchers studied 38,000 men and found that when they began drinking beer moderately over four years, they were significantly less likely to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
Meanwhile, over in Finland, researchers found that each 350ml bottle of beer a man drinks daily lowers his risk of developing kidney stones by 40 percent.
No, wait, they didn’t mean that if you drink three brewskis every day you’d have found the cure for kidney stones, but they speculate that a high fluid intake – besides having to make trips to the bathroom – could also keep kidneys functioning properly.
Also they suggested that the hops (yes, the evil hops I mentioned earlier) may be responsible for helping to slow the release of calcium from bone.
This was supported by a study done at Tufts University in Massachusetts that found that a couple beers a day could actually strengthen your bones.
They found that men who consumed no more than two ‘hop-juices’ had up to 4.5 percent greater bone density than non-drinkers. They also found that consuming more than two beers was associated with up to 5.2 percent lower density.
Over in Canada, researchers there found that one daily beer, but here they said specifically a lager or stout, increases antioxidant activity that can stop cataracts from forming in the eyes. But guess what … the scientists found that the risk of cataracts increased in those who had three or more amber drinks a day.
Gives a new meaning to the term ‘blind drunk’ doesn’t it?
In one study, Harvard researchers found that moderate beer drinkers were less likely to develop high blood pressure than those who sip wine or cocktails.
Wow, that’s a lot of conflicting information, isn’t it?
But here’s the point, beer drinkers will read this column and dismiss the negative publicity around their favourite brew, while embracing the ‘beer-nefits’. Meanwhile, ‘anti-beeros’ will cheer from the other side of the field.
If there is a disagreement – be it over beer, politics, religion or vaccines – and you are in one of the camps, often mere facts will not be able to sway you. You will dig in your heels embracing every argument that agrees with your already made-up mind. And another rift opens up between us, and we drift further and further apart in a sort of anti-social distancing.
A cold shiver ran down my spine when I pictured a vaxxer and an anti-vaxxer arguing while drinking a couple of beers. Won’t that be something to behold?
Yet, author Anthony Bourdain is credited with a quote that resonates with me when it comes to these debates, no matter what side of an argument I find myself. He says, “I don’t have to agree with you to like you or respect you.”
Give that man a brew!
