From: ANDOVER@delphi.com
Date: Wed 07 Aug 1996 - 09:05:13 EEST
First, there are all kinds of things that are banned for religious reasons --
including alcohol, beef, pork, and so on in the RW in our history. It might
be interesting to think of similar food or beverage bans for various
Glorantha cultures, not to mention fast days, and so on. The geas cults
do have requirements that one eat or not eat various substances in certain
seasons or times, of course (like Ramadan, Lent, fish on Fridays, & so on).
Second, even governments that weren't concerned with the health of their
own people were concerned with balance-of-payments questions. One of the
key aspects of the politics of the opium trade with China was that the British finally found something to sell to the Chinese for their silk and spices and china. The Roman Empire at
varioustimes banned the import of silk products in a futile attempt to
prevent the drain of specie to the East. So one doesn't have to assume a particular modern interest
in people's health in order to ban hazia -- if it causes currency to drain
out of the Empire they will try to limit it or outlaw it!
Finally, in fact the history of temperance and of tobacco shows that efforts
to ban or limit consumption have existed throughout their history. Sometimes
inspired by religion, sometimes by fears as to health, sometimes by groups
interested in improving the condition of the people. I already mentioned
that James the First of England tried to ban tobacco in the early 17thg
century. Some cultures and religions have tried to do the same to coffee
and/or tea.
And, of course, there are political struggles, ideological struggles, and
financial interests involved in all these bans, so they can be a fun part
of any ongoing campaign. Just consider that at the beginning of this
century, Coca-cola was called "coke" because it contained coke! And old
ladies swallowed or injected the stuff.
The hodge-podge of alternate de facto and de jure legalization and prohibition,
together with drug-and-alcohol-running, gang violence, police corruption, and
so on, of 20th century America is not new. It exists in all "advanced"
bureaucratic societies all the way back to Ancient Egypt.
Jim Chapin
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