It's always seemed natural to me to argue that Europe is "doing it right" by having a lower drinking age than America. My logic went somewhat like this: 1) If a person can die for their country, drive a car, have a credit card, and even get married at 18, then why the hell can't they have beer with their pizza? and 2) If we remove the taboo and mystery of drinking to teens, perhaps they will do less "Look at me, I'm cool, doing something subversive"-drinking and more "What type of wine should I have with my dinner?"-drinking.
And yet, every day when I go into Oxford proper I have to walk around at least five puke puddles that've accumulated overnight on the sidewalks. I've witnessed people stumbling around shitfaced at 11 am, and I've been verbally harangued by men so drunk they wavered where they stood. I've always thought that the frat-party culture of American college life is stupid, but you know what? It's like that here, too! And the Oxford students haven't even arrived yet!
Apparently, it's not this bad in other parts of Europe. This holds true to my own experience: From what I've seen of the French, for instance, they'd generally rather slit their own throats than suffer the impropriety of wandering around glassy-eyed at 12 noon vomiting on the sidewalk. They're what BBC calls part of the ever-sophisticated "Wine Belt." To the east is the "Vodka Belt," a land where Russians drink for 3 days straight and engage in related shenanigans for a week at a time. (Of course, Germany does its own thing as part of the "Beer Belt.")
Interestingly, though, instead of the Wine Belt influencing the Vodka Belt and Britain - both known for intense binge drinking - to stop, it's going the other way around...France and Italy are slowly succumbing to more and more hazardous drinking, the careful wine-wipping so ubiquitous to France being usurped by teens who go out into the Parisian streets and get wasted to match their British and American counterparts.
Why? I have no idea, but it seems that simply having a lower drinking age does NOT solve the problem. Britain has entirely berid itself of the "taboo" of teens drinking, but instead of learning to have a healthy, moderate attitude toward it, British teens just throw on their party hats and head down to the local pub.
Britain, by the way, also has an appallingly high teenage pregnancy rate, the highest in Western Europe. Coincidence? Probably not. It's not like it's any mystery that people forget to put on condoms when they're so flaming drunk they can barely see two inches in front of their face!
It truly makes me wonder: What's the secret to fixing this? Even countries like Sweden and Denmark, which seem to always have their shit together and display a high level of relative happiness, are seeing swarms of binge drinking-related incidents. Are we that deeply unhappy with our lives, that we need to ease the pain with alcohol? Are we simply bored? Or is it something else altogether? Personally, I'm happier to take a nice walk than drink, but so many people my age would rather play beer pong that actually have a conversation with someone or go on a hike through the woods. What's driving us as an international generation to be so heavily invested in alcohol?
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Wow. You know, I don't remember it being like that when you and I were there. Maybe we were in a different area, although the soccer fan at the station was "quite pissed." It is so sad that the problem is increasing, instead of decreasing. Short attention spans? I really have no idea. And as a teen, I was not a drinker, so I have no experience there to draw on. I'm so glad that you've figured out what is important to you.
ReplyDeleteBoredom.
ReplyDeleteComplete disregard for creativity.
Social standard that makes fun of intelligence.
Combine that with a mind-altering substance which is both cheap, easily accessable, and socially accepted (see: encouraged) and I think you stand at exactly where we are right now.
If you are feeling bold you could say that having a culture that has become extremely good at denial towards 'traditional' things that have found to be both dangerous and unhealthy doesn't help either.
:D
Alcohol can be such a terrible problem. And associated with the relaxing of a person's social norms (ie. acting like a jackass) are the health concerns (liver, brain cells, STD's due to a lack of concern while under the influence), safety concerns (drunk driving endangering others, attempting unsafe acts, and a tendancy towards getting into arguments and having your ass handed to you). It is a global problem that has a multitude of other problems associated with it. That being said, I still enjoy a glass of wine with dinner. You can only hope that people will find a way to discipline their intake. And I am so glad that you are keeping your mind open to the idea that your previous thoughts and beliefs might require modifications or corrections. You inspire me to believe in the next generation.
ReplyDeleteYou are amazing. You have the ability to craft the written word to present your ideas in a lucid and compelling manner. Your mother has done an outstanding job of raising you. Luckily your messed-up dad wasn't around to pollute your mind. I am astounded and enchanted each and every time I get the chance to read what you have written. Careful though, your friends might start describing you as the hateful "M" word. Yes, you are starting to display a little bit of a moderate tendancy.
MomMom - Yeah, we were staying in a different area. The train station is at least 20 minutes from the section of town I'm staying in now.
ReplyDeleteJordan - I think I'll do another post later dealing more with your thoughts, and we can discuss them there if you like :) I'm having a lot of "cultural revelations," so to speak, and I'd like to evaluate and express them in the context of what you've said (especially the idea of valuing or not valuing intelligence and intelligent behavior).
Dad - I'm glad you enjoy my posts, I was worried with this one that I'd become too wordy and tangential for a travel blog. And I still whig out pretty hard at certain conservative ideals, so I won't be trading in my liberal card for a moderate one quite yet! But it is true that I have found several issues in which I just can't bring myself to side entirely with the American left as it stands today.
Sorry to jump in on your conversation, but this is something I have been wondering about. It is interesting to hear that it is an international phenomenon and not just a local thing. This year has been dramatically worse (or as Wayne would say – more entertaining) for Wayne at Cal Poly. Not only did they have a alcohol poisonig death last year at a fraternity initiation, this year the wild partying started a week before school started. At night they had large groups (around 1000 students) roaming on California Blvd. near the Cal Poly campus. They have had record arrests for drunk in public (they target the ones who if they make it to the dorm may die in their own bed of alcohol poisoning or asphyxiate in their own vomit). The thing that amazes me is that these are smart people. They had to take honors classes in high school and get more than a 4.0 GPA just to get accepted. Even smart people make foolish choices, but why would they throw away all that hard work for drinking? It is a mystery.
ReplyDeleteAunt Suzette
Aunt Suzette, that's interesting that it's been a particularly bad year there too.
ReplyDeleteAnd as for why honors students would drink that much, well, I've heard the term "work harder, play harder" come out of the mouths of extremely driven students. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but I guess some people that work extremely hard at school feel like it's easiest to unwind with a ton of alcohol.