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Running head: THE FACTORS OF VICE CATEGORIZATION

The factors of vice categorization Edith Colato WCU

THE FACTORS OF VICE CATEGORIZATION

As a young adult who has committed four years in the Evangelical faith, I have observed the transitions my mind has made and is constantly making pertaining to what it tolerates and what it abhors in contrast to my Catholic childhood. As a child I was shown to be lenient towards vices not directly associated with dreadful sins. Now, as a wife of an Evangelical music minister, I am shown to tolerate no vices whatsoever. The tolerance of vices differs in each individual's perspective due to many factors that play in the individual's upbringings and exposure to. Culture, faith, and personal experiences are just a few amongst the many contributing factors of to why there is so much diversity in the viewing of vices in dispute and are the most influential. As one grows up, they are exposed to a certain culture that tends to establish a sort of mentality in where whatever was appraised by the culture tends to be a trend in their lifestyles and seen often as an essential to their identity. For example, Dr. Heath(2010), who observed the drinking habits of this Bolivian tribe called the Camba, noted that the Camba people viewed alcohol not as a vice but a cultural and social tradition. They did not treat alcohol as a means of existence but as a ritual item used in their customs that defined who they were. The School of Alcohol in New Haven depicted how, even though Italians and Irish practiced the same religion, found that there were more Irish than Italians with alcoholic problems. This paints a picture where alcohol is tolerated more amongst the Irish culture and where religion plays minimal, if any, effects. Both cultures are of rich Catholic origins which tolerates the consumption of alcohol but warns against the abuse of it. The key here is, then, what the studies found that the Italians took alcohol as a sort of luxury rather than a vice. Italians drank wine with their meals and when socializing, a glass of wine with a friend and no more. It was of no extend to the point of uncontrollable drinking. Others may argue that faith and how it is taught to each individual may also be a factor. Though in the Catholic faith the idea of consuming alcohol is not necessarily a sin, a branch called

THE FACTORS OF VICE CATEGORIZATION

the Christian Evangelicals heavily discourages any amount of consumption of alcohol whatsoever. That is why there is such a diversity in the tolerance of alcohol in my culture. Though El Salvador reigns with laws discouraging alcohol it still is a diverse issue due to the different religions and cultures that are established there. Just in my remote tribal community alone there is a festivity every time there is good crops where the natives have a party that lasts alone up to a whole month. There the essential item is a heavily sweet yet pungent alcoholic drink made from fermented corn boiled in molasses called chicha. Everyone from the eldest to the youngest drinks the chicha for it is the essential part of the harvest festival. Another example of how faith influences people's mind can be in the laws and restrictions on certain foods. Meyer- Rochow (2009) describes how the Jewish faith highlights the importance of kosher food which leads to non-contaminant of the body as well as the soul. He also points out that the Faith also holds a negative attitude in hunting for pleasure. With this said, Jewish man could be observed to hold gaming animals as a vice compared to a Catholic man; both monotheistic with similar principles but containing certain doctrines that influence their follower's minds. Rochow also argues that in the religion's strict food taboos, one can observe that different laws pertain to certain category of people. For example the Hindu's food doctrines calls for the 'Holy ones', or Brahmins, to avoid consumption of all types of meat what so ever. This uneven application of laws also sets a mental diversity pool amongst the people pertaining to a certain faith alone. The final disputed contributor to the categorization of certain vices which is personal experience. An example of this can be even found in my own family. In my father's side of the family alcohol is a tolerated vice where in any occasion everyone drinks. I have observed that, as alcohol has become a cultural thing in the family the other generations have developed alcoholic problems. Despite of that, my youngest uncle has been the only one who cannot tolerate the consumption of the alcohol at all due to the death of his brother related to alcoholism. This shows

THE FACTORS OF VICE CATEGORIZATION that this uncle developed intolerance because of a personal experience. Sedaris (2008) wrote an article on the New Yorker depicting how he was exposed to smoking. He points out that as a child,even though he was exposed to smoking from all directions, he developed an intolerance to

smoking. However, he developed tolerance when he began smoking as he entered adult hood. He developed this tolerance through the factor of personal experience. When he began to smoke, he realized that it individualized him. Sedaris is a clear example of how vices can change overtime due to personal experiences. Every individual reacts differently to every situation and tends to create a diversity pool of definitions to vice. A man who was strictly non-alcoholic might have experienced a tragic event and used alcohol to cope with the situation. Or a girl who grew up strictly faith bound and thus abhorred smoking, could become a smoker as an adult due to the influence of the cultural trend and her trying to find an identity for herself in that culture. Faith, culture, and personal experiences all lend a hand in molding an individual and can be argued that is a keystone to individuality and identity. They are also what contribute to the reason why some people act the way they do. For example the out-of-control drunkard in a Kenyan tribe, described by anthropologist Edgerton (2010), only acted out of control in front of his fellow native people but was in all senses when faced by this foreign visitor. This drunkard was only acting upon what seemed to be logical in his cultural upbringing and returned to his senses only towards those who did not share the same cultural values as he. Though many other factors can be weighted and disputed many can be categorized into one of these three fundamental bases . One can always observe that the way every individual's thought and action is processed and carried out is heavily influenced by the exposure to certain experiences, cultures, and beliefs.

THE FACTORS OF VICE CATEGORIZATION References Gladwell (2010, February 15). Drinking Games. The New Yorker. Retrieved from http://www.gladwell.com/2010/2010_02_15_a_drinking.html Rochow, V. (2009). Food taboos: their origins and. Journal of Ethnobiology and Et,5(1), pp.110. Sedaris,A. (2008, May 5 ). Letting Go. The New Yorker. Retrieved from

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/05/080505fa_fact_sedaris?currentPage=all

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