I can't understand how in this day and age we haven't invented something that is legal (weed is still not), gives a decent buzz, without the godawful toxicity of alcohol. That shit is poison, the buzz is lousy, makes fools of those who drink it, and packs a nasty-ass hangover.
That's what I'd like to know.
"I can't understand how in this day and age we haven't invented something that is legal (weed is still not), gives a decent buzz, without the godawful toxicity of alcohol."
Have you ever read the Bible? It's intoxicating, but in a legal way.
glorifically wrote:
In European countries people are introduced to alcohol at a much younger age, but they don't go on vomit-inducing benders like the youth of the USA.
As a European I would agree with that with the exception of Poland, Russia, Hungary, The Czech Republic, Moldova, Slovakia, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Lithuania, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Armenia, Austria, Montenegro, Greece, Bulgaria, Monaco, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, the Ukraine, Andorra, Luxembourg, Belarus, Belgium, Holland, Ireland, Malta, Georgia, Cyprus, Estonia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Latvia, Macedonia and San Marino, parts of Italy, Switzerland and Turkey and especially the UK.
In some parts of Switzerland and Italy its not cool to be drunk in public, so people get drunk at home. Some Turks are strict Moslems.
When that Jesus dude turned water into wine. Party on!!
It happened on 12/10/2007:http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?board=1&id=2274918&thread=2267046
Uup wrote:
It seems that almost everyone does it, even when they're underage. Has it always been like this?
Yes, they have - the legal weeks - aka Spice...
I can't understand how in this day and age we haven't invented something that is legal (weed is still not), gives a decent buzz, without the godawful toxicity of alcohol. That shit is poison, the buzz is lousy, makes fools of those who drink it, and packs a nasty-ass hangover.
That's what I'd like to know.[/quote]
Not sure how it became so glorified, but it definitely should not be. People also tend to stigmatize certain ethnic groups like the Irish as glorifying drinking. This is bigoted and dead wrong. Then again I'm drunk while I'm posting this.
"While no one knows when beverage alcohol was first used, it was presumably the result of a fortuitous accident that occurred at least tens of thousands of years ago. However, the discovery of late Stone Age beer jugs has established the fact that intentionally fermented beverages existed at least as early as the Neolithic period (cir. 10,000 B.C.)"
Um it became glorified the minute we invented like 5000 years ago. If you don't like it don't drink it. The rest of us will in enjoy it and you can go read a book. We'll meet back later and you can tell me about your crappy book and ill tell you what a vagina feels like.
categorically wrote:
Before prohibition the cer capita consumption of alcohol was 1.6-1.8 gallons of pure alcohol per year. If it was 4% beer that would be more than 15 beers per person per day!
Your math is wrong. Even at 1.8 gallons times 128 ounces you get 230.4 ounces per annum. A 4% beer at 12 ounces contains 0.48 ounces of alcohol. 230.4/0.48=480 beers. At 365 days thats roughly 1.315 beers per person per day.
categorically wrote:
I think what you should be asking is - when did drinking alcohol become so passe?
Before prohibition the cer capita consumption of alcohol was 1.6-1.8 gallons of pure alcohol per year. If it was 4% beer that would be more than 15 beers per person per day! More than 2 liters of hard liquor for every man, woman, and child!
Source?
Randy Oldman wrote:
glorifically wrote:In European countries people are introduced to alcohol at a much younger age, but they don't go on vomit-inducing benders like the youth of the USA.
As a European I would agree with that with the exception of Poland, Russia, Hungary, The Czech Republic, Moldova, Slovakia, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Lithuania, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Armenia, Austria, Montenegro, Greece, Bulgaria, Monaco, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, the Ukraine, Andorra, Luxembourg, Belarus, Belgium, Holland, Ireland, Malta, Georgia, Cyprus, Estonia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Latvia, Macedonia and San Marino, parts of Italy, Switzerland and Turkey and especially the UK.
In some parts of Switzerland and Italy its not cool to be drunk in public, so people get drunk at home. Some Turks are strict Moslems.
YES.
Where do people get the idea that Europeans don't get really drunk?
Battle Axed wrote:
I can't understand how in this day and age we haven't invented something that is legal (weed is still not), gives a decent buzz, without the godawful toxicity of alcohol.
You should read Brave New World, the last thing we want is a widely accepted, brain altering stimulant, that does not show immediate negative consequences.
Here's a little background on Johnny Appleseed who spread apple seeds around the country- so people could make alcohol.
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2141/whats-the-story-with-johnny-appleseed
"Here's something else you probably didn't know. In the 1700s and 1800s, most apples were grown not for eating but for making hard cider. Johnny Appleseed didn't just bring fresh fruit to the frontier, he brought the alcoholic drink of choice.
Cider was safer, tastier, and easier to make than corn liquor. You pressed the apples to produce juice, let the juice ferment in a barrel for a few weeks, and presto! you had a mildly alcoholic beverage, about half the strength of wine. For something stronger, the cider could be distilled into brandy or frozen into applejack (about 66 proof). In rural areas, cider took the place not only of wine and beer but also of coffee, juice, even water.
We stopped drinking apples and started eating them in the early 1900s. The Women's Christian Temperance Union publicized the evils of alcohol, the movement towards Prohibition was gaining momentum, and the apple industry saw the need to re-position the apple. "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" was an old adage, dating from the late 1800s, that was updated into an advertising slogan, promoted by apple growers fearful that prohibition would cut sales. We can thank prohibition for shifting the image of the apple to the healthy, wholesome, American-as-apple-pie fruit that it is today."
Some people think it goes back to this Garden place - and soem guy in a a toga told these two naked people not to eat some fruit. But because it was forbidden, the guy couldn't leave it well enough alone.
Another popular theory in theology circles revolves around a film called Animal House.
Uup wrote:
It seems that almost everyone does it, even when they're underage. Has it always been like this?
Since they started the bud bowl, super bowl, baseball games, since it was legalized, since State Government's got into the business of State-Liquor stores.
It is a business that is shoved down every American's throat. Budweiser spent 100-million dollars last year simply to convince you that they are the "King of Beers" through TV...thats how.
mwwwin wrote:
I dont drink wrote:Never had a sip of alchohol, never will.
One of the best moves you'll ever make - the $ you'll save, hangovers you'll miss, DUIs you won't get, health you'll have...nothing good comes out of drinking...
Everything in moderation. Don't be such a prude.
I'm a freaking distance runner - I can't do anything in moderation. Everything I undertake has to be balls-to-the-wall or I just can't do it.
I don't have an exact date nor do I have any historical data. However, I do have my experiences and my analysis of my own psychology and that of my social groups (from the point of my own self monitoring to present day). The glorification of alcohol (when I was first introduced to it in family gatherings) appeared to be rooted in celebration; it acted as a conversation driver and appeared to make family members who would otherwise be strangers more friendly. As I got older, those family drinking sessions remained the same, but my perception gradually changed (as I too was partaking in the drinking).
When I first started drinking, it was exciting and very much rooted in celebration whether with family or friends or random people at a bar during a football game. As I said before I don't know when historically drinking was glorified, but my best guess is that it is probably correlated with the institution of leisure time and the brewing process. Both of these aspects cater to the modern day experience which would have seemingly been impossible at some points in history given technology and the contention between varying nation states.
Anyway, I will digress to finish my thought. At this point in time, I have concluded that the glorification (for me and many others) is not rooted in celebration and is much more so a selfish animal. I drank (and many of my family members and friends drank) so that they could get feel that unique euphoria; the conversation factor just seemed to be a tertiary benefit. That excitement is great but after a while it fades as does the conversation. At the end of the day, drinking (for me) was an escape from reality and a crutch that inhibited emotional and social development (which ironically is one of the very reasons many people do it). All judgement aside, I do wish all the best in the journeys to realizing what is best for them.
^^^
Boom goes the dynamite.