If you are a South Park fan, then you have probably seen the episode "Bloody Mary" at some point.
That episode is mostly known for being disrespectful towards the Virgin Mary, although personally I remember it more for something that's been annoying me for some time - Trey's and Matt's stubborn insistence that "alcoholism is not a disease!".
My big problem with this opinion is that it makes Trey and Matt come off as self-proclaimed know-it-alls who believe they know these kinds of things better than actual doctors with lots of expertise.
Yes, I know that South Park is supposed to be a satire show and that it's not supposed to be taken seriously most of the time, but a lot of people do seem to take this one episode very, very seriously, so that's what I'm gonna do as well.
My question is - why should we listen more to the opinions of two creators of an animated satire show than to the opinions of actual professionals who work with medical conditions and diseases every day?
I know a couple doctors in real life who have openly described alcoholism as a disease/disorder, and last time I checked it was even defined as a disease by World Health Organization.
My understanding (based on what I have heard from real doctors, by the way) is that alcoholism can count as a disease (or disorder) because alcoholics don't notice or realise their own problems and feel such a huge craving for alcohol that they cannot think of anything else - I guess you could say that alcohol makes them "unconscious" of reality so that they only have alcohol on their minds, and in that case they wouldn't even get a chance to control themselves, kind of like we are unable to decide to get out of bed right when we have fallen into deep sleep.

My point is that Trey and Matt are in no position to make such bold statements about alcoholism when they have no medical education themselves - this just makes them come off as conspiracy theorists ("the doctors are lying to us!" or some BS like that), and this would be no different from claiming that the moon landings were faked and accusing all scientists and geologists on Earth of "being in on the hoax".