There is no dignity in alcoholism

Because you seem particular upset about seeing his penis rather than him urinating in public

I get the anger OP, I really do. A family member died far before their time because of alcoholism. I actually can't feel any empathy for them anymore. I just feel deep anger at how badly they affected their children and a huge sense of relief that they're now gone and can't hurt themselves or anyone else anymore. And I feel guilt for feeling that way but dealing with an alcoholic wears you down completely.

I'm not saying it's a helpful way to feel..... but it's understandable. I'd have been furious seeing that too.

when they are this bad, I’d lock them up in a care home type situation

"What you witnessed wasn't pleasant op."

What an understatement.

I pity them but I'm also disgusted. It's self inflicted, and people are told it's addictive and to be responsible all the time. It actually takes a long time of abuse (which would have been a choice) to get to that level of alcohol addiction (unlike strong drugs).

He should not have been allowed to enter the station to begin with. When you have train rails with electric running through them, he is a safety risk to himself and anybody he might (accidentally) bump into.

I don't think you should feel sorry for him specifically as this sounds like an intimidating situation so absolutely my first feeling too would be panic/fear/relief my children weren't there.

It's the broader stuff about alcoholics all being selfish that I'm disagreeing with.

No one has ever successfully stopped this.

how would you do it?

I went from being a Lib Dem to never voting for left wing parties again because of people like this

we don’t have to put up with this. We don’t have to see men shutting in the street and pissing on trains and ignore it, patting ourselves on the back for being emotionally mature enough just to leave them to it, not even arresting them because - shrug - nothing would happen. there must be other ways of dealing with it, being compassionate but stopping them negatively affecting every single other person around.

Life means living with other people. You don’t get to control people to make sure they never upset or inconvenience you. Welcome to life.

RE the exposure - he would likely be arrested, left to dry out in a police cell then fined. Maybe referred to alcohol services or social work.

No sex offenders register or anything like that as there was no chance he did it for sexual gratification (as you would find with flashers etc).

We live in a free country so people are allowed to be alcoholics. You’re obviously aware that people are rarely imprisoned for anti social behaviour as in the scheme of crimes it’s not a serious one.

I don’t know anyone who would support the sectioning of someone just because they got their penis out and pissed on the tube but maybe it’s another example of not understanding society very well

This exactly

This is such a weird thread. Yes he exposed his penis. If he had been arrested what do you think would happen? Nothing.
Thousands of people commit crimes every day, you can’t stop them by being outraged by them.

of course that man never wanted to be a chronic alcoholic who pissed on the tube. No one ever wants that.

alcoholism is a common trauma response and shame is a very big part of what keeps people drinking.

you can be irritated by him of course, but being too emotionally immature to understand addiction isn’t something to be proud of either.

Clearly it isn’t ok but you don’t know why he’s an alcoholic.

I genuinely am wondering. I don’t know.

When you're wondering when we as a community stop putting up with alcoholics, what exactly do you suggest we do with them?

The council opened an alcoholic half way house near me in covid (thank god, closed since). Before then I was one of the professional compassion merchants (😁) mentioned upthread. But that got rid of it all. Horrific men fighting non stop in the street, pissing everywhere at all times, shitting in front gardens, shouting abuse at me and my children for no reason, robbing every shop blind - they were so appalling. Honestly don’t know what the solution is as they will never work or get better as far as I can see (all in their 50s) so what we have to put up witn this (as a community) for ever? I understand the OP as a howl of despair about it all as I have felt it too many times, as I walked to my door with chaos around. I hope all of you judging the OP never have the council move one of these houses into your street.

this is an ill informed, inaccurate and patronising post. I for one am not an alcoholic, or a compassion merchant 🙄

Don't mince your words now! Addiction isn't a moral failing, you know. You're no better than anyone else for being without it.

I get where you’re coming from, OP. The image you paint of this guy’s behaviour is disgusting.

I think he’s fortunate that he didn’t get beaten black and blue on that train - people with a kid, or anyone touched by his steam of urine might’ve lost their temper with him.

Addiction is grim.

I think it's because... Well what's the solution? I think everyone knows that alcoholism robs you of your dignity... Along with everything else good in your life then kills you. But how do you propose to solve the problem of addiction ? Through shame?

It seems to me that the people who persist in calling it an "illness" are either firsthand sufferers of the "disease" or professional compassion merchants. And the rest of us are just fed up of putting up with the poor behaviour of those to repeatedly choose to not address their addictions.

I agree wholeheartedly with you that it's fucking disgusting through.

Really, why is the OP getting such a hard time? What she witnessed was disgusting. It's easy to be sympathetic with the drunk when you weren't there having to dodge his filthy piss.

I once got onto an apparently empty carriage to find a man semi-collapsed in the aisle, trousers round his ankles and diarrhoea still coming out of him. There was shit everywhere. Thankfully I managed to hop back off before the doors shut. This was during the day. I can't believe anyone would be relaxed about their kids witnessing that, or the OP's pissing drunk.

Someone up the thread mention 'pearl clutching'! For fuck's sake, how bad does someone's behaviour have to be before they are expected to take accountability?