Discussion Main / TheRoaring20s

So, I feel that an article on The Roaring Twenties should mention how Prohibition was a case of both Gone Horribly Right and Gone Horribly Wrong. I just, well, where would I put it? Here's my entry:

• Gone Horribly Right/Gone Horribly Wrong: Prohibition manages to be a case of both these tropes put together, although each refers to different aspects of the matter.
  • Gone Horribly Right: Originally, the Temperance League had actually campaigned on a fairly light and level-headed platform; they just wanted to restrict distilled "hard" liquor, and soft liquor like beer and cider was supposed to remain legal. Unfortunately, the man who ultimately pushed Prohibition through via the Volstead Act — Wayne Wheeler — was a Temperance fanatic who changed the bill at the last minute to completely ban all forms of liquor consumption. So the Temperance League got what they wanted... but in a far more draconian form than they had intended it. Which directly led to Prohibition's failure.
  • Gone Horribly Wrong: Prohibition was meant to curtail alcoholism and related social ills. Instead, alcohol consumption increased when the law was passed, because the strict laws against it made alcoholics increase their consumption under the "hang for a sheep instead of being hanged for a lamb" mentality, and the air of forbidden fruit made it more alluring to people who never drank before. Worse still, the law of Supply & Demand made Prohibition directly responsible for the rise of organized crime, as bootleg liquor became an illegal business that could generate such vast profits that criminals learned to work together, since the payoff from their teamwork could satisfy even the greediest of crooks.

Should the pothole in the image caption be Truth in Television instead of Reality Ensues?