From a few threads I have seen and even started (an example is this ongoing thread), it seems that there are two prevalent opinions with regard to drinking: non-drinkers and former-drinkers say drinking is bad or not good; drinkers say it’s not so bad (and often complain about the first group’s generalizations). Are there any non-drinkers or former-drinkers that take the second group’s approach (that drinking is fine)? Or are people in the second group reacting to an attack on their lifestyle?
No, all non-drinkers, as a group, uniformely condem drinking.
But really, I don’t drink, but I have nothing about those that do, assuming they do not attempt to do complex things such as driving, or posting while they are drunk.
I’m a teetotaler (well, almost, I drink maybe twice a year) and I don’t have any problem with drinking. Aside from people who don’t drink for religious reasons and former alcoholics, I don’t think there’s any non-drinkers who condemn drinkers, at least nobody I know. Then again, I don’t feel like reading through that thread to find out if there’s any here.
I’m a non-drinker, but I don’t believe that drinking is necessarily bad or even not good. In fact, most serious research that I’ve heard of indicates that a small amount of regular imbibing is good for you. It’s only bad when done to excess or done irresponsibly.
The reason that I don’t drink is that it all tastes like turpentine. Wine, beer, hard liquor, margaritas, they are all, to me, the most foul and disgusting tasting substances I’ve ever put in my mouth. Yeah, I know the party line, it’s an acquired taste. Well, over the last, oh at least twenty years, I’ve tried a lot of drinks. My SO, who loves wine, will often have a glass that she says is just wonderful, smooth, etc. I’ll taste it, and grimace, it’s just more turpentine. I’ve tried forcing myself to drink an entire glass of what she says is excellent wine on a number of occasions. By the end of the glass, I’m just dying. It’s never gotten to taste any better to me.
It’s something I should add to this thread: I will never, to my dying day, understand how anyone – much less so many people – can find the taste of alcoholic drinks pleasurable.
Most of the non-drinkers I know are in this camp (to a greater or lesser extent; I know people who will try things and even drink more of them if the rest of the flavor of the thing is sufficient to outweigh the alchohol taste).
I’m a former drinker (once I made the connection between “drink two beers” and “get hangover”, it was done for me), my dad recently drank himself to death, and I have no problem with social drinking. I will not tolerate drunks (alcoholics) either, though. That’s a terrible way to live, and I won’t participate in it or be around someone who is.
I don’t drink but I have no problem with other people drinking.
Like others, I’m simply turned off by the taste. I honestly think wine tastes like vinegar and gym socks; liquor’s even worse. I’ve tried and tried, had wine on many occasions and tried all different kinds, and I hate it all. Beer doesn’t taste good, but it’s not quite as gag-inducing as wine or liquor. But there’s lots of things I don’t like the taste of that other people enjoy, so big deal. I don’t like pumpkin pie, either, but I don’t go around criticizing people for liking it.
I also tend to not like the high-alcohol (8%) mass-produced ciders where they essentially tip in the extra alcohol whereas a cider that’s properly brewed to 8% tastes just fine.
It is definitely evil in the wrong hands. Otherwise, getting sloshed a couple times a year isn’t so bad. Nor is having a few a week. Just don’t be stupid about it.
My perception is that drinkers react negatively to the mere presence of non-drinkers (i.e. at social functions) far more than the converse. It’s as if a substantial number of drinkers sensed a condemnatory attitude that generally is not there. The non-drinkers often feel pressured to drink by the imbibers, or scoffed at.
Case in point: a close relative habitually had a drink or two at meals out with Mrs. J and I, while we typically did not (I am more or less in the “few beers a year” camp; Mrs. J. does not drink). Neither of us is Carrie Nation and never said or implied anything negative about the relative’s drinking, who nonetheless almost always said something semi-humorous on these occasions about us being “teetotalers”, which we grew to not appreciate. (the relative eventually developed something of a drinking problem, about which we are not gloating).
I don’t mind others around me drinking, until it becomes excessive and has a negative impact on me (ranging from loud, stupid behavior to threatening my safety on the roads). If I lived in Russia, where supposedly 30% of deaths are now alcohol-related, I’d be more concerned.
When it starts to become a “lifestyle” - maybe that’s the reason for the hypersensitivity.
Funny, you know, as a non-smoker who always honestley responds, “Sorry, I don’t smoke, but I would give you one if I did.”, I don’t see non-smokers who are hostile to smokers, but I understand there are a lot of them. I would have thought it would be the oposite, since drinking can have a more immediate negative effect then smoking, at least as far as actual harm goes, and not noxeous fumes. You know, drunk driving at the worst, and social embarassment at the worst, as opposed to dying younger then you would have otherwise, ruining your voice box, and sticking up the area, and uyour clothes. (The last was for cheap cigars only. Some pipes smell fantastic, thought I am not tempted to indulge.)
Many non-drinkers here have said that they have no objection to drinking as long as it doesn’t get out of hand. I’d be interested to know what are your definitions of ‘out of hand’.
I drink fairly regularly - I’ll average 2-3 bottles of wine a week, plus maybe going out on a Friday or Saturday night. I regularly go to the pub after work for a beer or two with my colleagues to wind down a bit after a stressful day - I probably won’t drink any wine that evening if I do this tho!!
This, to me, is normal. I don’t get hungover from this and I rarely drink enough to make a fool of myself and I never never drink and drive.
I’m guessing a lot of you are fromthe US whereas I am from the UK where the drinking habits are a lot different but I was wondering what you considered the point where you WOULD condemn a drinker.
Having grown up with an alcoholic father, I greatly dislike being around drunk persons. Condemn? No. I don’t care that a person is drinking and I don’t think it’s evil or immoral. But I do not spend my time around people who are drunk. It’s not worth it. Drunk people are stupid people. Sober people might be stupid, too, but it’s not a given!
I don’t think that all drunk people are stupid. I think they are capable of stupid things - and here I stress the word capable, not that they always are.
I really enjoy sitting around with friends, polishing off several bottles of wine. We are probably drunk yet the conversation (and we once actually taped it in case we were labouring under a horrid misaprehension!!) was reasonably intelligent.
Suppose it all depends on your definition of drunk really.
