Man Makes Circular Search for Satchel, Sobriety

We can laugh at this but the reality is much uglier... last night I tried to help a similarly plastered wino with a cane who fell down and hit his head on the freezing sidewalk (pavement) in District VII. And it was double tragic 'cause he weighed a ton and the whole thing almost put my back out. Yet another reason to legalize weed, if you ask me.

I didn't 'laugh at this,' it made me sick and felt like punching the
two giggling morons in the face... Is there anyone else here who
didn't laugh or is it just me?

@Visitor. I bet that was you in the video. LOL. You gotta lay off the sauce. Can't keep falling on your face. You're ugly enough as it is.

In a country of 1 million alcoholics this is not so funny any more. It's also pretty sad that you can always find people in trouble, and people laughing at them, but rarely anyone who's willing to help. Hungary needs a major attitude adjustment to get out of the ditch.

I really agree with Stan on this. I don't find anything amusing about alcoholism. What makes me even more sad about it is the number who are using alcohol to 'self medicate' in the absence of meaningful mental health support. It makes me angry when I think about the number of people who are IN mental health institutions with incorrect diagnoses, while so many who clearly need serious help are on the streets, living from drink to drink.

Anon600: Boy are you ever right; a lot of this city/country's winos are self-medicating for lack of any other option, which is just tragic beyond words. What's also bizarre/tragic is how local districts that are shortening the hours during which you can buy booze still alow bars to open up at the crack of dawn, when no one should be boozing up.

And how about banning those tiny bottles of alcohol sold in subway 'cafes'?

Your kneejerk reactions of closing bars early and stopping the sales of airplane bottles in the subway does nothing to stop the problem. Alcoholics are a crafty lot and will just start buying earlier and stashing their booze for when they need it. What they need is programs to force them to dry out then have a job and it aint going to happen anytime soon.

Plus the video is damn funny not because of the alcoholics but because you can remember when it was you or your friend in this state....

Wilbur, alcoholism is tragic no matter how you look at it. While it may seem funny now to watch your friends falling over themselves, I doubt you'll feel the same way when you or someone you love ends up that way permanently. Of course, so many still say 'it will never happen to me', but it still does. I agree that restricting the sale of alcohol is not the whole solution to the problem, but your suggestion of forcing alcoholics into programmes and making them hold down jobs is equally unrealistic...especially when you consider how hard it is for many Hungarians to find jobs as it is. I know it's hard to feel compassion for people who smell bad, or who throw up in the subway, or who pester you for money that you 'know' will only end up in the nearest bar, but until society in general starts to look at WHY people become alcoholic in the first place, and starts to care for those who have very real problems, no amount of simple answers is ever going to make an impact. I have a suggestion. Next time you see someone begging in the subway with the 'ehes vagyok' sign, buy him/her something to eat. Ok, so no-one is going to ring a bell and say 'how wonderful', but you just never know when that little gesture of kindness might actually be the turning point in someone's life. At the very least wish them well, and thank your lucky stars it isn't you.

@Anon & Erik /Why do you think these people are ill and need to
be 'medicated' self or by 'pros?' "until society in general starts to
look at WHY people become alcoholic" Why don't you tell us why?
&, why *so many in such a short time* just when we've finally
become free?
@FayeFaye & Erik /If you take away their booze _suicide will be the
only option for these people to escape their unbearable lives & our
suicide rates are one of the world's highest as it is. To not mention
population growth/ magyarhirlap.hu/cikk.php?cikk=156101 /
which is negative, to say the least
@Another giggling moron /if you say so yourself, you must be.
I also wonder if Adrian D thinks this wretch is funny since he is not
black, a Jew or a Gypsy: someone "progressive folk" would care
about.

@Visitor "Why don't you tell us why? &, why *so many in such a short time* just when we've finally
become free?".
I guess they're drinking to forget what hungary had done to deserve so many stupid, ugly fucks like Visitor. LOL:)
But here's a more likely explanation. Hungary had the fastest growing alcholism rate in the world even before 'western liberation'.
http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-5955.html.

This is not funny.