A lot of people drink in order to get rid of their problems.  I don't see why.  If you are going through problems, alcohol, which is a depressant, will actually cause you to feel worse about your problems, and more often than not, those problems have either remained just as they were, or worsened due to the drinking.  It's often used as a form of procrastination, which I think as most of us by now know, is only going to cause more problems in the future.

Most everyone knows the physical, social, emotional, and legal dangers it could possibly put you in, but most people find it worth the fun to go out and drink, and live it up like it's the last time you'll ever get to have fun.  I see one weird logic behind this.

You drink.  You have fun, as much fun as you'd have in 2 normal days, compacted into 1 night.  You wake up halfway through the next day, and you feel like you've been hit by a truck, a.k.a., a hangover.  The next day even, you're probably still not feeling the greatest, and you have to make sure the mess that was made was cleaned up, and make sure everyone else is okay, got home safely, etc...  So really, you're not gaining anymore fun into your life.  You're basically just compacting it into small time frames.

I don't see why people would knowingly risk all these dangers, and pay money to go through all this, even though really, you're not gaining anything from it.

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Procrastination is bad for these two reasons.
1.
2.

I don't understand why the rest of my peer group loves it so much, they all turn into arrogant, annoying fucks when they drink. TBH. I can't stand them. That's why I drink sometimes, because when you're drunk too, you don't notice.

Bad reason, yeah. But sometimes I have fun, mainly because I'm pretty shy/uptight IRL.

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We've seen those mountains kneeling, felten and grey
We thought our very hearts would up and melt away
vivere senza rimpianti

That being said, all the points you made are good ones to not drink.

That being said, it's a choice that everyone makes for themselves.  There is no right or wrong answer to anything like that, as what's right for you may not be right for everyone else.

It is very fun if done correctly, with the right people.  =D

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"Say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude,
at least it's an ethos."
--Walter Sobchak

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I agree with you, but have you ever drunk alcohol before? Maybe then you would understand. I occasionally drink, but I don't really enjoy it very much, and find it a waste of money.

I don't understand why the rest of my peer group loves it so much, they all turn into arrogant, annoying fucks when they drink. TBH. I can't stand them. That's why I drink sometimes, because when you're drunk too, you don't notice.

Bad reason, yeah. But sometimes I have fun, mainly because I'm pretty shy/uptight IRL.

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I will admit it probably makes me somewhat bias on the topic, but I grew up around alcohol.  I live in a family of alcoholics, and my friends drink alcohol like fishes drink water.  When I am faced with a group of my peers deciding to drink, instead of partaking in said acts and causing myself to be part of the problem, I remove myself from the situation, and will see them and talk to them at a later time.  Being more outgoing is one benefit of it, but it is also masking somewhat of an issue.  Alcoholic beverages are often referred as "liquid courage," because you suddenly have had your mental filter removed, and will say and do whatever is on the top of your mind.  Yes, you're not as shy as before, but you can also say things that sober, you would have wisely avoided.  Also, it's masking the issue of learning to be socially outgoing.  Being shy or introverted isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if being shy is a reason why you get drunk, it is not a very efficient way of getting through life.  Suppose you're not making friends at work, and are not part of the team effort.  Coming into work drunk so you can have the courage to talk to them isn't going to help.

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Procrastination is bad for these two reasons.
1.
2.

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I see it as an excuse for behaviour that you normally wouldn't resort to. If you consume a lot of alcohol your behaviour is going to change, and you are going to act differently. There is one person in the group of people I spend most of my time with that is a big drinker, drug user, etc. I really can't stand him, but that is beside the point. Any time he tells a story about what he does when inebriated he sounds like a jackass, but he says he had a lot of fun, but when people condone him for it, his response is, "I was drunk, leave me the fuck alone." or something similar.

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Exactly.  It has become an excuse for inappropriate irresponsibility.  Social drinking I can understand, but when you are no longer in control of your actions, and cannot make intelligent decisions consciously, that doesn't mean that it's okay.

There is a clear, and major difference between someone who didn't know better, and someone who knew better, but allowed themselves to become impaired to the extent that they cannot be responsible members of society.

Someone with a severe mental disability, if he gets into a car and ends up running over a pedestrian, although still saddening, it was an accident, he didn't know the consequences of his actions.  If someone were to get in a car drunk, and did the same thing, it is not as if he didn't know better, he impaired his judgment.  You would be just as guilty if you put on a blindfold and went for a drive, but we don't do that, because sober, we are able to make the informed decision that we should not drive blindfolded.

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Procrastination is bad for these two reasons.
1.
2.

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Drinking isn't always the same as having a huge ass party, overdrinking, and getting a hangover. Just saying.

That being said, all the points you made are good ones to not drink.

That being said, it's a choice that everyone makes for themselves. There is no right or wrong answer to anything like that, as what's right for you may not be right for everyone else.

It is very fun if done correctly, with the right people. =D

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I was referring to heavy drinking.  Even if you drink heavily alone, you can still face a host of problems, but partying is by far the most common scene of it.  moderate drinking is still okay, as long as you are still able to maintain sound judgment, but even then, I still personally don't agree with it.  Then again, this isn't about person feelings.

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Procrastination is bad for these two reasons.
1.
2.

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Quote: from Themakingofagod at 7:40 pm on June 29, 2009
I will admit it probably makes me somewhat bias on the topic, but I grew up around alcohol.  

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As for drinking with friends, or at parties, and such...well, this depends on who your "friends" are. If you hang out with frat boys and such, you're much more likely to be exposed to reckless behavior than a few friends at a buddy's house. Drinking with friends is more about memories than anything. Obviously it doesn't help if you get so drunk you don't remember anything, but it's just a good time. And if your friends are respectable, they will generally make responsible decisions about their limits and how to get home, etc. But yea, since memories are the only things truly personal to us that we affect yet do not directly control, we have a tendency to want as many as will make us laugh as possible. Drinking is just means to an end.

But personally, I love listening to music while inebriated. It's a sorry excuse (I hardly drink anyway), but for me music is a big deal, so it's pretty awesome in that respect.

Post edited at 11:13 am on June 30, 2009 by Audioblood

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This is how we bleed in audio.

- memory loss
- loss of motor functions
- fatty degeneration of the liver, liver infection, liver cirrhosis
- sleeping disorders
- sexual problems
- premature dementia
- hypertension
- heart problems
- death in car accidents
- fetus deformation for pregnant women

etc.

What not to like!?

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"The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the
shoreline of wonder" (Ralph W. Sockman)

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In general, patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis have been drinking heavily for 10 to 20 years, according to the Eighth Special Report to the U.S. Congress on Alcohol. About 90 percent of heavy alcohol users develop fatty liver, 40 percent have signs of alcoholic hepatitis, and 15 to 30 percent develop liver cirrhosis.

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Quoted site can be found here.

So yeah. If you've been drinking heavily for 10 to 20 years, you have self-worth issues needing to be resolved anyway. A lot of those side effects can be avoided by responsible, moderate use. Because many people are irresponsible and gluttonous (particularly in the U.S.) there is an age limit on buying it, which is 3 years higher in the U.S. than most other places. The issue here is not the substance. If you stare at a bottle of alcohol all night, you will not get drunk. Even if you drink a whole bottle of liquor, there is nothing in the substance which MAKES you get in your car and drive off. Alcohol does not shove itself down the throats of pregnant mothers. It's really more about will-power than anything, and blaming a substance for people's actions/problems is not going to solve the underlying problem.

Post edited at 1:13 pm on June 30, 2009 by Audioblood

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This is how we bleed in audio.

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I understand it is a way of gathering with your peers and having fun, but are those people really that fun to hang around with if you need to be inebriated in order to have a good time?

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first objection: You make an incorrect assumption here that people drink to make their peers more fun. It is, most of the time, the case that friends who can otherwise have fun sober, simply get drunk because that--in itself--is fun too. Getting drunk together is fun, and friends enjoy the process of it; it is not used solely as a coping method for boring buddies.

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I know there are studies showing health benefits to moderate drinking of alcoholic beverages, but I've yet to see anything that even remotely suggests that heavy drinking, or consumption of a lot of alcohol in a short amount of time is good for you.

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It's not. Neither is smoking cigarettes--or anything for that matter, really. But millions upon millions of people do it. Fast food is awful for you, but McDonalds sold over sixty gazillion oily greasy "cheeseburgers" this past year.

Driving in a car isn't "good for you", but it is certainly a commodity we enjoy.

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A lot of people drink in order to get rid of their problems. I don't see why. If you are going through problems, alcohol, which is a depressant, will actually cause you to feel worse about your problems, and more often than not, those problems have either remained just as they were, or worsened due to the drinking.

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Yep. Drinking to drown problems isn't a viable way to deal with issues. But it solves one's short-term sadness; which is why so many people drown away their lives. If your argument is that drinking to forget is a bad idea, I doubt you'll find many objections.

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It's often used as a form of procrastination, which I think as most of us by now know, is only going to cause more problems in the future.

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So not true. I procrastinate all the time; and yea, sometimes alcohol takes the place of whatever it was I am supposed to be doing. But drinking alcohol does not necessitate being irresponsible. If the work gets done, and if one can do a good job after putting it off, then what harm is done?

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Most everyone knows the physical, social, emotional, and legal dangers it could possibly put you in, but most people find it worth the fun to go out and drink, and live it up like it's the last time you'll ever get to have fun.

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1. Every time could be the last time
2. If you can have a blast, why wouldn't you?
"Want to drink and have a ball tonight, Fred?"
"Well, Tim, I don't know. You know, I can always have fun another time; plus, do I really need to have a blast? Will I be better off having a fun time, or are the possible negatives greater than the immediate positives. No thanks, I'll call it a night."

That sounds pretty lame.

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You drink. You have fun, as much fun as you'd have in 2 normal days, compacted into 1 night. You wake up halfway through the next day, and you feel like you've been hit by a truck, a.k.a., a hangover.

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The next day even, you're probably still not feeling the greatest, and you have to make sure the mess that was made was cleaned up, and make sure everyone else is okay, got home safely, etc... So really, you're not gaining anymore fun into your life. You're basically just compacting it into small time frames.

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This is wrong.

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Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful.It's the transition
that's troublesome.   --Isaac Asimov

I'm not sure if you're exaggerating the negatives or if you are really misinformed. Because the points you make are just not true.

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i spy on you too

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In general, patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis have been drinking heavily for 10 to 20 years, according to the Eighth Special Report to the U.S. Congress on Alcohol. About 90 percent of heavy alcohol users develop fatty liver, 40 percent have signs of alcoholic hepatitis, and 15 to 30 percent develop liver cirrhosis.

---

Quoted site can be found here.

So yeah. If you've been drinking heavily for 10 to 20 years, you have self-worth issues needing to be resolved anyway. A lot of those side effects can be avoided by responsible, moderate use. Because many people are irresponsible and gluttonous (particularly in the U.S.) there is an age limit on buying it, which is 3 years higher in the U.S. than most other places. The issue here is not the substance. If you stare at a bottle of alcohol all night, you will not get drunk. Even if you drink a whole bottle of liquor, there is nothing in the substance which MAKES you get in your car and drive off. Alcohol does not shove itself down the throats of pregnant mothers. It's really more about will-power than anything, and blaming a substance for people's actions/problems is not going to solve the underlying problem.

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There is no such thing as a responsible or moderate intake of alcohol, because it is highly additive. Arguing that there are is just as insane as arguing that it is possible to be responsible in your drug abuse of pure heroin. Completely out of the question.

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"The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the
shoreline of wonder" (Ralph W. Sockman)

You clearly have no knowledge of neurochemistry at all.

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"The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the
shoreline of wonder" (Ralph W. Sockman)