Yeah Yeah I Know Its the DAILYFAIL But Read Through.. So the question rises.. WHY is binge drinking such a popular pastime amongst various young people (men and women)?? It creates problems that sometimes go as far as getting tackled by the Law (drunk driving, vehicular homicide, drunk violence etc) as well as many permanent social problems as well (losing virginity to a gal/guy who you hardly know, catching dangerous STDs) doesn't it? Is it really a viable social time when you can't even remember what you did last night? Cigarrette smoking can kill you too, but only after you smoke a WHOOOOOOLE lot over many many years. And drinking in moderation (socially) is fine I guess, but what is THE FUN FACTOR in drinking to the point of exhaustion and making a complete arse of yourself?? Is being drunk and passing out truly, really that big of a fun? I myself do not drink and my friends who DO drink always does so quite moderately. I havent seen anyone I know getting crazy-drunk nor heard so in passing personally, but I definitely see the heavy-drinking-idiots in the news and also in the media. So if anyone here is a heavy drinker, could you shine light upon the fact on how is it so... enjoyable I guess... to be such a drunken mess out in public?
Probably because, even though the participants for the most part are minors, it is the only legal mind altering drug they can get their hands on. They see movies like Animal House that deify binge drinkers and so forth. What we need is all the kids that want to drink to experience the autopsy of a certified drunk with cirrhosis, a pickled brain and really bad heart disease. Maybe then they will decide to sip wine every other month or so when they finally reach the age of consent.
Because it disables higher brain functions, lowering inhibitions and allowing the normally neurotic to have a bit of fun?
Humans are broken, society breaks them, booze gives them the illusion of wellness for awhile, and humans, like all animals, assume more always equals better. That was easy. Next thread.
Everyone I saw binge-drinking at school had some sort of mental problem. Either they were overachievers who hopelessly stressed themselves out (more than I did to myself, if you can believe it), or people who had SUCH a need to lose control that they chugged and chugged until they couldn't even walk. Then they just lay in a stupor, or shouted obscenities and shit about being free. That's not normal. Actually DESIRING a complete loss of control every time you come in contact with alcohol goes beyond "doing it because it's fun."
I've never dealt much with binge drinker until I came to Japan, where the only thing a good part of my ship know how to do is run to what we call the Honch area and drink half their paycheck away in one night. I'd list examples, but I have this site on my Facebook profile, and the ship is pretty damn small, but suffice it to say I have a very frustrating time of finding other folks who don't see the appeal of using their money on something besides booze.
It basically falls back to American Protestant puritanism which has actually worsened in recent years. European kids basically grow up around beer and wine. It's a part of their diet. Once they become adults, alcohol is no big mystery. American kids grow up where alcohol is forbidden: a situation that has actually worsened as the Federal gubmint has once again infringed on states rights and pressured states to raise the drinking age from 18 to 21 and lowered blood alcohol limits from 0.10 to 0.08. Alcohol is a mystery to American kids. It's an adventure. It's forbidden fruit. So, when they get to an age and place in life where they can get access to it, they go hog-shit crazy and don't know when to say when. As gubmint has expanded its powers and people have become more and more dependent on the gubmint telling them what to do, when and what to eat, how often they should fart and how bad it should smell, etc., etc., etc., Americans have lost the ability for critical thinking and decision making. I read something a few years ago that NASA was having to send their engineers and mission controllers to classes on critical thinking because it's a skill the younger generation hasn't learned.
Well, shit, by that measure, so too should sticking your dick in a pile of cowshit, or lighting one's asshole on fire. Get to it, American teens. Hey, kids, get in that guy's creepy van over there, it's an adventure! It's forbidden fruit!
A common sense analysis (that I somewhat agree with) but also a little irrelevant here given that the article Megatron posted and asked about wasn't related to American kids. As for your question Megatron...being drunk in public can be great, so long as you are part of a group or in an environment where a large number of people are also drunk. It's late at night (and I have had a couple of beers tonight so am sleepy) so I am not up to a detailed post now, but will have to make a note to come back to this with a thought out reply later.
Having been to Europe and partied with their youth, I can't disagree more. Europeans get fucked up on an epic scale. They can out party most American college students and it isn't because they're pacing themselves. I've seen plenty of Brits puke and rally. My trip to Spain damn near killed me. Those people don't quit till the sun comes up. They don't even hit their stride until about 3:30am. The Belgians are also all-night drinkers with hollow legs. Binge drinking is alive and well in the Old World.
Not saying they don't party till they puke, but they don't seem to have the accompanying social problems on the epic scale we do. [EDIT]When Amsterdam legalized pot, pot use actually decreased. One of our biggest problems that causes alot of our other problems is that we deal with the world the way we wish it would be rather than the way it really is.
Define "binge drinking". Seriously, what are your parameters? I've heard things like "over 5 drinks in an evening", which is ludicrous. If you're going to a party/concert/barbecue that lasts 4 hours or more, you're barely getting a buzz if you average out the drinks over time. I rarely drink to get sloppy drunk anymore, but I like to achieve and maintain a nice buzz. As long as I'm not driving impaired, not ruining my life, and not puking on someone else's shoe, who really cares?
There was a bit in one of the "Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" books that explains it for me. It was something like: you have a drink, and that drink starts to get lonely down there, so you send it a second drink to keep it company. Then you send a third to see what's keeping the second drink. Then you send a fourth drink to see what all the noise is about. Then a fifth... Like old Looney Toons cartoons and Hogan's Heroes, that bit was sort've funny when I was a teenager, but now that I'm in my thirties I totally get it. I'll have a rough day or be stressed out and decide I want to unwind, so I'll have a cocktail. Then I'll have a beer with dinner. Then I decide to have another cocktail while checking e-mails. Often this will be a drink that isn't as strong as the one I actually wanted because I don't want to get hammered. But once it gets to work on me I decide, what the Hell, I should have the drink I really wanted in the first place. Around that time I realize that if I have just one more drink, I'll have had something from each of the major liquor groups. So it isn't like "WHOO-HOO! I'M-A GONNA GET WASTED!" I'll just be having a nice quiet evening and suddenly...
Personally, I'm a tee-totaler, and while I have no aversion to drinking, I don't like the idea of losing control of my faculties. It's why I don't like taking OTC medications that cause dizziness or disorientation. Because I don't drink and haven't ever, I don't know what my safe limit would be, and I'd rather not risk it. I would like to try a few things, but as someone who is always responsible for someone else, I can't abdicate that to do so.
As a smoker of Pot, the amount smoked along with the type, determines how high you get. Sometimes I take a big bong hit and get blasted. Other times, all I want is to get my consciousness shifted a small bit, and so take a small flake and some red hairs off a bud and put it through a hand pipe. I can function, write, and do many things, and do them well and with more passion. I completely hate alcohol and have seen firsthand how fucking stupid it makes you. Pot is a much better drug.
Japan is bad, but the military overall. I started drinking in college, but that was nothing till I joined the Army. Are you sure that was in "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?" Cuz, it sounds like a stand up comedy routine I heard back in the '90s - something about mixing drinks and then all hell breaks loose when the Mexican (Tequila) shows up.
It's from the Hitchhiker's Guide. Zaphod Beeblebrox is taking pan-galactic gargle blasters, IIRC, and he has that thought sequence when he downs more shots. Or was it just a bottle of that 'ol janx spirit?
Here is why it is so popular. Mommy and daddy and the church and everybody else had held this person back for so long for having a drink and they all drink heavily when they finally get the chance to have a drink. They go wild because like sex, they do not get any responsible knowledge about the subject from mom and dad.
I wanted to say something hurtful but then realized you being from a broken family and without any love from your parents have made you a sad and bitter individual anyways. No need for me to remind you what a financially and mentally struggling piece of shit human being you truly are. You get reminded of that with every breath you take.
