It's honestly one of the biggest ills facing society. The roadmap to addiction is severe, and there's really nothing "cool" about it.
While it doesn't necessarily precipitate dysfunction, it definitely greases the wheels, and leads to all manner of things from general assholery to physical abuse to date rape.
Especially in America, where we've stupidly raised the drinking age to 21, which has achieved little beyond promoting binge drinking among teens.
Fuck the doom posting. I'd rather hear about you going on some grand adventure hike than clinking ice cubes to the desperation of your soul.
I'm not for prohibition, but I think people need to check themselves before playing their hand in blackout culture.
Please stop having bad takes. Please. You can have one or two as a treat. But damn. Why not address the material reasons why people drink, and not shame the poor who desire escape/comfort from their problems with substances? You're treating it like the temperance movement. That it's a moral failing to partake, or speak about partaking because it leads to evil things.
And people need to stop conflating exercise with drugs. The "a breath of fresh air gets me higher than any drug" dorks are worse than the 420 blaze it dorks or drunk posters. That's not how drugs work. Breathing doesn't get you high. You go take a hike.
If you need a sign that it’s due to material reasons, just look at the culture around alcohol in the US compared to most other countries. Alcohol isn’t different here. When people are left to rot by their government and representatives, of course we turn to substance abuse (myself included)
"It’s honestly one of the biggest ills facing society." lmao, this is a good bit
I mean, stuff like "exploration of workers around the world" or "murder" or "bigotry" or "there aren't enough AOC feet pics" ranks much, much higher for me than "drugs" personally, but if people wanna put drugs up in their top 5, sure.
Frankly the biggest problems with drugs/alcohol is why people turn to them in the first place, not access or age restrictions or how much it's advertised. Escapism is the foundation for drug use, and there's about 10 million things fueling that desire to escape. If we wanna leave all those reasons in place, then sure drugs are a big problem, otherwise focus on the conditions that lead to drug use and you'll see significant improvements in consumption
Should we? Yes.
Can we? I don't think so.
One of several reasons I don't go to queer events anymore is because at least a few years ago they all seamed to be heavily promoted by alcohol companies that were basically selling binge drinking and alcoholism as the cornerstone of a queer lifestyle. It just got really gross, watching my friends get shitty drunk surrounded by all these big colorful SMIRNOFF signs.
I think I hold a pretty similar view. I think soberness or moderate consumption is pretty much always preferable, and it should be promoted among revolutionaries because otherwise it is really hard to do what it actually takes, but we are also subject to all the awful shit that makes people want to not be sober so we have to push people to create some good sober alternatives for group activities whenever possible and not approach it from a shaming or personal blame angle.
yeah i stopped going to queer events with drinking when people would grope me nonconsensually :\
now i just like to make myself fruity shots every now and again to enhance the cuddle experience with my bf
Especially in America, where we’ve stupidly raised the drinking age to 21, which has achieved little beyond promoting binge drinking among teens.
I'll be honest with you, I think the age is irrelevant and what counts is cultural attitude. Over here in the UK it's 18 and we've got one of the worst binge drinking cultures among not only teens, but 20-30s too. It's a point of working class cultural pride to be the person that can drink the most among peers. This is promoted by all venues, clubs and online because it benefits sales.
Promoting a healthy relationship with alcohol is necessary and this means clamping down on all the sources that promote this cultural attitude as well as outputting media that opposes and promotes the opposite - a health relationship with the drug posed in a positive light.
Dude it was really wild when I visited the UK, it's like everyone's idea of a weekend is binge drinking and/or doing lots of drugs if they can afford it. In Greece drinking age is also 18 I think (I'm saying I think because it doesn't mean anything in practice, like, it's just not enforced) and sure enough most people start drinking more than just a cup of wine or whatever when they are 15 or so, but they don't get shitfaced as much as Brits do, and not as frequently, plus they don't do anywhere near as much drugs. Brits are also some of the worst tourists because they get incredibly drunk and/or high and mess shit up, piss everywhere, become obnoxious etc. Why does that happen?
Bad culture around it and zero opposition or willingness to present a healthy alternative.
I suspect part of it is also our attitudes to mental health. People are expected to suck it up when it comes to mental health and never talk about it. This results in alcohol use as a form of self-medication, among other things. Of course nobody is willing to tackle this issue because alcohol abuse is apparently "british culture" and to even remotely touch it would result in serious reactionary opposition. You can achieve some wins with like supermarket restrictions of promotion/special offers on sales but that's not addressing the cultural issue itself.
We can have fun and drink too. 4-5 pints vs 8 pints and 4 shots for a night is a significant difference in behaviour and attitude to the night. One I think is "let's have fun with alcohol" and the other is "let's fucking drink myself into complete oblivion".
Eliminating the latter requires positive depiction and promotion of the former. And perhaps promoting recognition among people that the latter is a warning sign of people who are in some form of trouble and trying to use alcohol to escape it through complete self obliteration.
That's fair. I don't disagree with you. Awareness so people actually help those engaging in this behaviour and promote the healthier relationship would do a lot. Having people recognise those who are clearly drowning some sort of problem and using it as a barometer for providing help seems like a good way to work at the issue to me.
Brits seem to take a really specific pride in doing MDMA as unsafely as possible as well. I can't imagine what the rate of serotonin syndrome is over there.
Struggle session time
Fuck the doom posting. I’d rather hear about you going on some grand adventure hike than clinking ice cubes to the desperation of your soul.
Thats just your stupid fucking opinion you lib. The reality is that in our capitalist hellhole is that not everybody has the money and time to engage in this bullshit "muh positivity" instagram and corporate culture and go on these so called "grand adventures". Doomposting is a form of honest venting, and communities which discourage such honesty fall prey to the greater ideological rot that is capitalist realism. A first step to solving any problem is acknowledging and understanding its existence, and doomposting is a means of raising consciousness about such problems.
I’m not for prohibition, but I think people need to check themselves before playing their hand in blackout culture.
Imagine thinking a >8K strong small group of leftists on the internet infrequently posting about alcohol is responsible for causing "muh blackout culture". Shut the fuck up. Also, Im sorry, but who here is actually making posts that glorifying alcohol consumption?
I think I feel that encouraging sobriety is in the same boat as encouraging the swoletariat.
It’d be nice if you could live that lifestyle but I’m not going to judge someone because they don’t or start telling people they have to do it.
Trying to scold Chapo Dot Chat into telling stories about "going on some grand adventure hike" is genuinely one of the funniest things I've read in a long time.
damn its almost like we live in a complete hellworld and for many people, especially poor people and minorities, alcohol is the only way you can keep yourself from jumping under a train
"blackout culture" lol what a terrible ass take
While it doesn’t necessarily precipitate dysfunction, it definitely greases the wheels, and leads to all manner of things from general assholery to physical abuse to date rape.
I dunno, I drink all the time and all I do is get really talkative and happy. I don't think booze will turn you into a violent rapist asshole if your sober self isn't already a violent rapist asshole. All it does is lower inhibitions, not completely change who you are.
I mean actual alcoholism is really nasty and causes your relationships to fail, the poster isn't talking about drinking 50 units a week
And? The problem still lies with, you know, the person committing the date rape. "Don't drink because you might get raped" is right up there with "don't wear immodest clothes because you might get raped." It's all behavioral policing shit that ignores the fact that rapes are caused by perpetrators' actions, not victims' negligence.
Drinking in moderation is fine and everyone deserves the right to their own coping mechanisms. I'm not going to stop talking about drinks I enjoy because alcohol can lead to problems. Just talk about it realistically and responsibly.
