This little nugget caught my eye in an article about alcohol use in Turkey:

As people go along with modernization and economic and intellectual development, they become less conservative. The increase in alcohol consumption stands as proof of this.

I don't know if I fully accept this even if you would never confuse me with a conservative. Drinking is much more of a chameleon than that, a refuge for the downtrodden since Biblical days as well as a celebratory toast for the millionaire. As Homer suggests, it is the cause of and solution to all of life's problems.... no, the other Homer.