miscreant

Really, I actually find the opposite. Most people I know when they go out for drinks always take along a DD, and keep enough money to get home if the DD has too many.

I think who you're talking about when you say 'most people' are actually university students, as it's much more accepted to go on binges during your university career. Even then though, whenever my friends and I would go out, we were responsible enough to have a way to get home that didn't include drunk people driving.

I only know one or two people who can reach the point of being completely out of control (i.e. can't even remember what happened the next day) before they pass out.

Miscreant

Hedwig

I suppose I risk it for the same reasons I risk things from going to get a tattoo to eating spicy food when I have a delicate stomach. It's something I enjoy doing...from time to time. I'm like Monkeybot in that I always put a good deal of planning into any occassion when I've chosen to drink. Both my grandfathers were alcoholics so I'm very very careful about drinking too much too often...or even at all a good deal of the time. But those times the risk is worth it to me. I consider most of them minimal because I take all the precautions I can and I know what kind of person I turn into when I drink too much.

I hope that explains my personal POV. I cannot explain other people's though.

I wanted to edit this to say that I don't see anything wrong with drinking far more often than I do...I choose to not drink often specifically because I know that alcoholism is a possibility for me in my family and I saw the ill effects of it on both my grandfathers. However, I honestly don't think that everyone who has alcoholism in the family is in great danger of becoming alcoholic. I've known plenty of individuals where this was the case.

wally

Besides the benefit of making the girl (guy) you just picked up at the bar more attractive and easier to converse with, there are some medical benefit to alcohol too: http://www.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/01/25...ers/index.html

Remember too, it is a very powerfull legal drug that if used unwisely can do great harm but damn, there are a plethora of beverages that are just delightfull to imbibe.

So pick you poison and drink up!
Wally

Jacey

Ok elwood, maybe my brain is just numbed from boredom at work, but I can't figure out for the life of me why you started this thread. You ask for those who drink to make a case for you, but to me this comes off like the trolls we get who say "make a case for atheism," then don't accept or openly criticize every statement/position but in front of them.

Jacey
Wanting a drink

tribalbeeyatch

Let's see...So, you are a person who drinks to excess, or at least one who has drunk to excess, and yet you still will have a glass of wine every now and again. That sounds perfectly healthy to me. And yet you also say:
Aren't you one of these people? How can you justify having that rare glass of wine with dinner knowing that you are capable of drinking to excess and losing control?

As for myself, I have drunk to excess on any number of occasions, and yet I don't drink and drive, don't get into fights and don't come home and murder anybody with a baseball bat. Am I more likely to engage in those sorts of destructive behaviors drunk than I am sober? Yes, I would say that the likelihood is increased. But that only moves their probabilities from say "never in a million years" to "no way, not gonna happen". It's not like I've such a borderline personality that a few drinks are going to turn me into a raving psychopath. Perhaps, owing to your own inexperience with alcohol, it is hard for you to understand that drinking doesn't rob a person entirely of their volition.

HaysooChreesto!

There's lots of things we don't need to do. If you boil it down, all we need is food and shelter to live. I believe that on some level humanity has a need to escape reality on occassion as alcohol and beer specifically has been a "staple" of civilization since recorded time. Since the day some guy accidentally left some bread in some sugar water in Mesopotamia, people have been imbibing. What's that prove? Absolutely nothing I guess.
I see things like bungie jumping and skydiving to be incredibally unnecessary activities. They don't get you in shape or make one more thoughtful or intelligent. One thing goes wrong and it's over in an ugly way. They could have a family left behind by their dangerous activities, they could be business owners that cause the loss of jobs due to their demise, etc. However, what those activities do for them in essence is make them feel good. So I say go for it.

Beer makes me feel good, so I drink it. It's not the only thing that makes me feel good, it's just one thing. I find it to be an excellent escape from the realities of life and it relaxes me.
It's really pretty simple.

elwoodblues

I honestly want feedback from the other side. I have a damned difficult time understanding why people choose or want to drink, and I was put in the position last night of trying to defend it, and really couldn't very well.

As for points I skipped, I either conceded them or considered them too trivial. Bring me a specific and I'll let you know.

I'm fairly satisfied now, though. Thank you all for your honest responses. I think I have a better handle on the mentality now.

And for the record, this all came up through wedding plans, of all things. We're trying to decide whether or not to have alcohol at the reception. We sure as hell don't want to pay for booze; we're trying to decide whether or not to let someone else pay for it if they choose to (ie, my parents).

NialScorva

That's the exact impression that I'm getting.

elwoodblues

The ONE time I got drunk it took 10 shots. One glass of wine isn't even over the legal limit. And I don't drink THAT for a buzz; I drink it because it tastes good with steak.

Is there a chance I might become slightly, marginally impaired with one glass of wine over the course of a large meal? Yes. Slight, but existent. Is there a chance this will come into play at a critical instant while I'm impaired? Yes. Again, slight but existent. So the resulting chance is infinitesimal. In balance with the pleasure I get from the taste of a good glass of wine with a good meal.

The problem I have is that getting drunk off your ass, often, raises those odds fantastically. And I just can't fathom that it's still worth the wildly increased risk. Measuring the risk of a single glass of wine on a full stomach makes me pause. Why doesn't it make other people even pause to consider a fifth of whiskey? Or 3 white russians?

Hedwig

As far as this goes, it's your reception...if you don't want alcohol there, don't allow it. If you decide to let others drink, let them bring their own if they wish. Just a little unneccessary advice.