“Addictions… started out like magical pets, pocket monsters. They did extraordinary tricks, showed you things you hadn’t seen, and were fun. But came, through some gradual dire alchemy, to make decisions for you. Eventually, they were making your most crucial life decisions. And they were… less intelligent than goldfish.” — William Gibson

In the first place, several elements have the potential for abuse. Several causes can result in addiction, and individuals may find themselves drunk on alcohol or power, as well as other temptations. Across many societies today, a dangerous confusion is taking root—the glorification of recklessness as courage and the elevation of emotional instability as strength. This cultural distortion, which I call Drunkenmania, has nothing to do with alcohol itself. It is a deeper illness: a collective admiration for behaviours that should neither be encouraged nor celebrated. In a Drunkenmanic society, noise is mistaken for authority, aggression for leadership, instability for boldness, and destruction for power. Those who shout are seen as brave; those who harm others are seen as strong; those who create chaos are called fearless.This treatise seeks to expose the illusion and remind society of an uncomfortable truth: bravery has never looked like madness.“First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

Let’s try to understand Drunkenmania.Many substances can lead to intoxication, meaning that being drunk isn’t solely about alcohol or power; the combination of the two can be misleading and destructive.Drunkenmania is a social disorder—a cultural blindness that makes communities applaud the very behaviours that weaken them. It manifests when:impulsiveness is praised as courage,violence is mistaken for assertiveness,emotional imbalance is admired as strength,and destructive personalities are elevated as heroes. At its core, Drunkenmania is society’s failure to distinguish genuine courage from performative recklessness. “ I When a society cannot tell the difference between boldness and foolishness, it begins to worship its own destroyers. ”Whatever the case, recklessness is not courage.One of the most harmful symptoms of Drunkenmania is the belief that recklessness equals bravery. Many people admired as “fearless” are not brave; they are simply unrestrained. They lack the emotional stability to evaluate risk, exercise caution, or consider consequences.Recklessness produces chaos, not courage.Courage is deliberate; recklessness is accidental.Courage is thoughtful; recklessness is blind. “Bravery is not the absence of fear—it is the presence of discipline.”Societies that confuse these two become playgrounds for emotionally unstable individuals who thrive on drama and destruction” .And loquaciousness is not bravery.A particularly damaging misconception is the belief that talking endlessly, loudly, or aggressively is a sign of courage. It is not.Many of the loudest voices are driven by insecurity. Loquaciousness often disguises confusion, fear, or emotional instability. True bravery does not require noise. “A loud voice is not a strong heart.”“Those who shout the most often have the least to say.” Courage is often silent, steady, and principled—not verbose, boastful, or belligerent.Again thuggery and betrayal do not make leaders. Another harmful aspect of Drunkenmania is the romanticization of thuggery and betrayal. In some places, bullies are treated as strong men, and manipulators are praised as clever strategists.This is a dangerous delusion! Violence is not strength.Intimidation is not authority.Treachery is not intelligence.“A person who gains influence by destroying others is not powerful—they are merely postponing their own collapse. ”Throughout history, every figure who rose by violence or deceit eventually fell by the same tools they wielded. “Those who destroy others will surely be destroyed. The harvest always resembles the seed. ”Several psychological and social factors contribute to Drunkenmania: Loudness mimics confidence, and people often assume a noisy individual is bold, when noise is often a product of inner chaos. Aggression mimics fearlessness, and most times an aggressive individual appears fearless because they do not recognize boundaries, danger, or decency.Recklessness mimics decisiveness to the extent that people misinterpret impulsive choices as quick decision-making.Societies traumatized by oppression admire any form of force even when that force is destructive or irrational. Above all the crowd loves spectacle so drama attracts attention, and attention becomes mistaken for legitimacy. These distortions allow Drunkenmania to flourish. However, it should be noted that not everything that draws a crowd deserves applause.There are social and political cost of Drunkenmania. When societies reward the unstable, they end up governed by instability.Governance becomes noisy and unreflective so impulsive individuals rise because they confuse aggression with competence.Under such condition, violence becomes normalized; thuggery is tolerated and accepted, thereafter admired.Eventually values collapse with wisdom, restraint, and integrity being dismissed as weakness. And institutions decay as emotionally volatile decision-makers weaken systems they should strengthen.The end result is that communities become unsafe. Families, neighborhoods, and youth are exposed to destructive role models. Like the one who sold dog to buy monkey, the nation that crowns the unstable must prepare to live under chaos. Drunkenmania is not a harmless cultural quirk—it is a path to social and political ruin. Be that as it, the Inevitable fate of destroyers cannot be wished away. No matter how long it takes, destruction eventually returns to its source. People who build their influence through intimidation, betrayal, or reckless bravado always face one of three endings: self-destruction, public disgrace, or violent retaliation from the same forces they unleashed. This is not philosophy—it is a universal historical pattern. “Every destroyer is a delayed victim. No throne built on chaos stands for long.” A society that encourages Drunkenmania invites the rise—and fall—of self-destructive personalities who drag others down with them. It becomes important to know and appreciate what true bravery is and use it as a tool to heal Drunkenmania so the society must rediscover the real meaning of courage. True bravery is being: calm under pressure, guided by principle, measured in judgment, responsible in action, firm yet gentle, strong yet humble.True bravery builds; it does not destroy. It stabilizes; it does not scatter.It protects; it does not endanger. “The bravest person in the room is often the calmest. ”Ending Drunkenmania is a cultural reorientation we must embrace.To defeat this confusion, societies must: revalue wisdom and emotional intelligence, celebrate restraint, thoughtfulness, and maturity. We should elevate builders instead of destroyers. Honour should be given to genuine teachers, thinkers, caregivers, and responsible leaders. All hands must be on deck to promote mental health awareness, and in doing so we should endeavour to understand the difference between instability and courage. Mechanisms should be in place to reject thuggery and betrayal as paths to power. Efforts should be made to remove cultural rewards for destructive behaviour. It is important to teach young people healthy definitions of strength, and by so doing we should endeavour to replace the hero-worship of bullies with admiration for disciplined achievers. Strength is not how loudly you intimidate others, but how responsibly you lead yourself.

In conclusion Drunkenmania is a dangerous misreading of human behaviour—a cultural error that praises the very traits that undermine social progress. It elevates the unbalanced, empowers the destructive, and punishes the wise. Loquaciousness is not bravery.Thuggery is not strength. Betrayal is not strategy.Recklessness is not courage.Noise is not leadership. Real courage is quiet, disciplined, principled, and constructive. “Societies rise when they honour the calm and the wise; they fall when they enthrone the loud and the unstable. ”To conquer Drunkenmania is to reclaim strength in its truest form—strength that builds, protects, and endures. This is the path to follow.

Livy-Elcon Emereonye Writes from Lagos Nigeria