Why is drinking such a valued asset?

Great Debates
41

[QUOTE=Lissa]
I wouldn’t have pressed him, either, but a statement like that has always struck me as saying, “Alcohol has an incredible, crack-like power over me. If I take one drink, I know I won’t be strong enough to resist becoming an addict.”
[/QUOTE]
Don’t at least some alcoholics describe precisely that kind of effect ?

[QUOTE=Lissa]
People can sometimes take it that a teetotaller is sitting in judgement on them for drinking.
[/QUOTE]
Frankly, if someone takes “No, thank you” as a condemnation, I can’t help but think of the phrase “The guilty flee when no man pursueth”.

42

As someone who drank quite a bit in his teens and his twenties, I have to chim in and say it was pretty fun. Going out with a group of people and having drinks was a good deal of fun. It also is a social lubricant and I would wind up talking to people I had never met before in my life and would probably never see again.

I think with the taste that once you get used to it, you find that it does taste good. I still might enjoy a cold gin and tonic on a hot day or some bourbon on a cold day.

I’m 31 now and I don’t generally drink much anymore since I usually have other things that keep me busy and the recovery time for a few drinks is much much longer than before.

43

[QUOTE=Sage Rat]
You forgot to mention that alcohol smells foul and doesn’t really taste very good.

[/quote]

Can’t agree with you there. I’m not a big drinker–I’ll go months between drinks for no particular reason–but I love, love, LOVE the taste of Scotch. It’s heaven. Also Southern Comfort.

I don’t drink to get drunk, though.

44

[QUOTE=MGorgon]

Am I the only one out there that refuses to drink and partake in drugs of any kind, aside from ibuprofen and zantac?
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Nope. I never touched any drugs in college, and not for lack of opportunity or moral outrage. I’m just not interested. Alcolhol I’ll drink in certain situations, but haven’t gotten anywhere close to being drunk in decades. Again, I’m just not interested - a bottle of beer will sit in my refrigerator for months without me thinking about it, and I’ll have a glass of wine before dinner only if my wife suggests it.

I like my brain the way it is, and don’t see any reason to alter it.
It doesn’t have to affect your social life. In college I hung out with the druggies in my hall (and so did the other guy who never touched the stuff.) People can be very accepting on both sides.

Hint: start playing poker with them. It might be profitable. :slight_smile:

45

Alcohol was one of the first things humans invented. We crawled out of the mud, got conscious, and immediately started getting trashed.

Let’s face it- the human condition isn’t so great. We die. Our friends and families die. We must work to survive. We will all experience great pain in our lives, and little pains every day.

Alcohol is disassociative. It makes our day-to-day lives, and our troubles, seem far way. For us type A people, this can be as close to “living in the moment” as we can get. If it’s done just right, it can make an ordinary night seem like magic- everything glows. Everyone is beautiful and golden. Time moves in slow honey-dripped moments. It’s beautiful. Perfect. It’s a very ephemeral thing- that magic moment might just last a moment before it desends in to vomit and regret. But for some us romantics that one beautiful moment beckons us despite it all.

It’s also one of the few things we have left in the public space. One of our few rituals. Pubs are one of the few places you can go just to go and talk to strangers and be in public. It’s an age-old way to interact and cement friendships.

And then there is the taste. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, and almost all of our non-drug drinks are sweet. I simply adore the sparkle of champagne, the complexity of wine, the earthyness of beer, and the sharp warm sting of hard liquor. Alcohol is uniquely satisfying in a way other drinks are not. If they had virgin vodka I could splash in to all of my drinks for taste, I’d totally do it. Not everyone likes it- not everyone likes hot peppers or coffee or other intense taste experiences, but for those that do, it’s really really good.

Finally, there is a practical reason to drink alcohol. Throughout time it’s been the only way to assure that you are drinking safe water. No doubt this accounts for part of it’s deep intergration in to our society.

46

[QUOTE=Sage Rat]

You forgot to mention that alcohol smells foul and doesn’t really taste very good.
[/QUOTE]

Another disagreement, well you might have a case for pure alcohol (never tried), or some drinks, but I do like the taste of a good drink, very unique and pleasent tastes with out being ubber sweet. Actually I wish I could get the taste of certain drinks w/o the alcohol.

47

If drinking makes you happier, or loosens you up so that you’re more fun to be around, or makes you a better conversationalist, or a better dancer, or funnier, or more outgoing, this can be a valuable asset.

Alas, drinking doesn’t do this for me to any significant extent—maybe a little, but not much. Which sucks, because I could really use a good social lubricant. I really wish there were a substance I could imbibe that would make me more fun to be around. But on the upside, this means I’m not particularly likely to become an alcoholic or to experience the troubles that come with drinking.

48

[QUOTE=Der Trihs]
Frankly, if someone takes “No, thank you” as a condemnation, I can’t help but think of the phrase “The guilty flee when no man pursueth”.
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No, I said those who state that they don’t drink because they think it’s wrong can make people around them feel uncomfortable.

49

[QUOTE=velvetjones]
Many people have one or two, get that warm glow, that good feeling and then they stop.

But some people don’t. For some people if 1 is good 10 must be better right.

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This seems to be true especially for late teens/early 20s. Drinking is great id you knwo your limits and it’s not all about seeing how shitfaced you can get. Overdoing it occassionally is part of learning how to handle it. Puking every time you do it is just stupid. Or indicative of a problem.

50

[QUOTE=even sven]
Alcohol was one of the first things humans invented.
[/quote]

I know what you’re trying to say, but you put it wrong. Alcoholic beverages were invented early wrt civilizaiton (within the last 10K years), but not early in terms of our becoming human (within the last 2M years). At least, that’s what the data that we have tells us. It is likely that our prehistoric ancestors used mind altering drugs of some kind (since they’re prevelent in all extant societies), but it’s unclear just how or when that process started, and there’s no evidence that it was alcohol.

Well put!

Good point. I believe that tea drinking in Asia served a simliar purpose-- boiled water for tea is going to be safer than just drinking water in general.

51

[QUOTE=even sven]
Alcohol is disassociative. It makes our day-to-day lives, and our troubles, seem far way. For us type A people, this can be as close to “living in the moment” as we can get. If it’s done just right, it can make an ordinary night seem like magic- everything glows. Everyone is beautiful and golden. Time moves in slow honey-dripped moments. It’s beautiful. Perfect. It’s a very ephemeral thing- that magic moment might just last a moment before it desends in to vomit and regret. But for some us romantics that one beautiful moment beckons us despite it all.
[/QUOTE]
Dammit, I’ll never get my ten year coin if you keep that up. A fine desciption, now I have a meeting to go to.

52

[QUOTE=even sven]

Alcohol is disassociative. It makes our day-to-day lives, and our troubles, seem far way. For us type A people, this can be as close to “living in the moment” as we can get. If it’s done just right, it can make an ordinary night seem like magic- everything glows. Everyone is beautiful and golden. Time moves in slow honey-dripped moments. It’s beautiful. Perfect. It’s a very ephemeral thing- that magic moment might just last a moment before it desends in to vomit and regret. But for some us romantics that one beautiful moment beckons us despite it all.

[/QUOTE]

Some people will say that’s the problem with alchohol. It appears to make your problems disappear for awhile and creates a false perception about everything. But then again what’s the alternative? What incredible activity would people be doing if they weren’t out at a bar drinking?
When you drink, you want to say in the “window” where your buzzed enough to have a good time but not so drunk as to make a complete ass of yourself.

53

[QUOTE=Lissa]
I don’t drink much because of the medications I’m taking, but I won’t refuse a glass of wine at a dinner party. There are times when refusing would just be rude, such as a glass of champagne at a celebration or a toast.

“Take some wine for thy belly’s sake.” There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a glass or two in a social situation. A stance against becoming a sloppy drunk is a good one, but refusing to ever drink at all is a bit silly, in my opinion.
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Not really. Some people get really sick on even just one glass, and in my case, like I said, booze makes me all flushed and sleepy. That doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy a drink every now and then for a special occasion, but generally, as I told a cousin of mine earlier today-caffeine is my drug of choice.

Some people just do not drink, and their reasons should be respected. Is an alcoholic rude to refuse a glass of wine? Or someone on medication, a transplant patient, a long family history of alcoholism or whatever?

I know you probably didn’t mean that, but I just thought I’d point it out.

54

Drinking in the extreme is for some a rite-de-passage, where you go from the normal, decent guy, to the invincible one laughing with the devil, going through a black hole and out on the other side. You puke, you grab a pizza, you’re older. It’s part of being in-between being a child and being an adult.

It’s cool. You lose control. You’re close to death, you don’t care, you’re Jimmy Dean, and you’re back for more.

It opens the doors for you. You might be the one nobody notice, you might hear about who made out with who, you wonder what’s going on; you hear about parties, you’re not invited, you’re not in. What the f+ck, is this how you’re gonna live your life?

You take a drink, you take some more, and all the doors are open, and all the guys are laughing, and you’re in, you lose control, you’re cool, you make out with somebody, you don’t care, you’re immortal, you wake up, you’re ready to come back for more.

At school, people smile, give you a friendly hit on the shoulder, you’re the man, you took straight vodka, the blonde one seems interested – where’s the party next time?

Aside of the facts that alcohol is a very effective anti depressive, anti anxiety, anti stress drug. Really, really effective drug – and legal, and socially acceptable.

Of couse they drink.

It even tastes good.

Those are the problems.

55

I agree wholeheartedly with those saying alcoholism wouldn’t be as much of a problem in the U.S. with high-schoolers (and younger) if Americans were introduced gradually and earlier. Alcoholic beverages carry the soft, alluring glow of the forbidden fruit. We’re just begging the young’uns to sneak off and have a drink.

Personally, I drink various alcoholic beverages because I really do like the taste. I’ll take a pint of fresh craft-brewed ale over any non-alcoholic drink I’ve tried (except our well water–I really like our well water). A snifter of tawny port or a glass of anejo tequila is wonderful after dinner. It’s all about the taste. That’s why I don’t drink whiskey. I don’t like how it tastes.

My personal opinion is that drinking to the point of falling down, vomiting, becoming beligerent, experiencing memory loss, or making a fool of yourself in public is crass and stupid. That said, I’ve done it a few times because alcohol does a good job of temporarily numbing the pain when something bad happens. I suppose I can see how it could be a bonding experience, but that only explains doing it once. I have no idea why people do it over and over. In fact, I have no idea how a lot of the folks in the bars at 2:00 am can afford to get sloshed every night!

[QUOTE=John Mace]
Beer can be, too, if it’s made right (which almost never happens in the US).
[/QUOTE]
My second will call on you in the morning, good sir! Do not judge American beer by the products of Anheuser-Busch, Coors, and their ilk. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of fine American beers. I’d stack up the porter and 70-shilling ale from our local microbrewery against anything I’ve had in the UK, and I’d serve their hefeweizen to a visiting German without hesitation. If you look around a bit, you’ll find fine beers of just about every type made in the US.

56

I guess I become a little uncomfortable when people wax poetic about the transcendence of booze.

It’s something to do: I got plastered a couple of times in my younger days. But I really don’t think it’s a particularly profound experience. And alcoholism is a risk that should be respected.

Zero consumption of alcohol seems ok to me. As a point of comparison, I’ve never ridden a motorcycle. It’s because I’m a spaz: I possess poor balance, poor coordination and a tendency to get lost in thought. I’m not saying that riding a cycle is wrong: it’s just poorly matched with my skill set.

57

[QUOTE=Wakinyan]

You take a drink, you take some more, and all the doors are open, and all the guys are laughing, and you’re in, you lose control, you’re cool, you make out with somebody, you don’t care, you’re immortal, you wake up, you’re ready to come back for more.

At school, people smile, give you a friendly hit on the shoulder, you’re the man, you took straight vodka, the blonde one seems interested – where’s the party next time?

Those are the problems.
[/QUOTE]

Yeah…if being awesome is a problem

58

[QUOTE=MGorgon]
I’m only 17, so I might not have a full grasp of life’s experiences. But why is it that it’s considered a valuable asset to enjoy consuming alcohol? My friends go to parties and get smashed, get no meaningful sleep because you black out when drunk, vomit like crazy the next day, and say they enjoy it? I’m of the mind that if it reduces your judgement, makes vomitting a normal habit, and is literally poisoning your body, why do it? It’s like smoking, you’re paying to reduce your lifespan.

Alot of the people that talk about drinking say pretty much the same things: “Yeah, I got so wasted last night, I was in the hospital getting my stomach pumped”, “I don’t remember anything from last night” Upon further questioning as to why someone would drink to the point of forgetting the entire night, which to me, seems to defeat the purpose, they said “Yeah, but I’m assuming I had a blast”.

Am I the only one out there that refuses to drink and partake in drugs of any kind, aside from ibuprofen and zantac? Am I the only one who hates how parties must require drinking? I wouldn’t mind going out with my friends, I’d love to, really. But lately it’s just involed either drinking or doing something stupid, like getting stoned and watching terminator or something.

Any other proud to be sober for life people out there?
[/QUOTE]

To answer the question in the title: It’s not.

I have yet to figure out how my social, professional, and familial life has been negatively impacted by the fact that I don’t drink. To be honest, once you get past a certain age/lifestyle, any adult who thinks less of you because you don’t drink isn’t somebody you’d care to be around in the first place.

59

[QUOTE=JohnT]
To answer the question in the title: It’s not.

I have yet to figure out how my social, professional, and familial life has been negatively impacted by the fact that I don’t drink. To be honest, once you get past a certain age/lifestyle, any adult who thinks less of you because you don’t drink isn’t somebody you’d care to be around in the first place.
[/QUOTE]

While I like to drink, I think less of coworkers who get smashed at happy hours and especially less of management that thinks alchohol is the way to build teamwork.

60

Drinking can be fun, but getting smashed generally isn’t. And if the OPs friends always get smashed, it will be hard to understand how alcohol can be fun. Getting buzzed or tipsy can be nice. Its relaxing and fun and silly. I have yet to get truly smashed, because I know where to stop when its fun.

I thought the same kind of stuff before I tried drinking. You just won’t get it if you never try.