Drinking culture in LS

[Jihad_Jesus]

If you go to AA they will tell you that there are many different types of alcoholics. The defining characteristic is when the alcohol has negative influences on other aspects of your life. Using this definition the binge-drinking frat boy that gets totally wasted, makes an ass of himself and sodomizes a twelve year old (as described above) is an alcoholic. I, however, don't like this definition. 

[queencruella]

I'm sorta in the same boat as Matthies.  I usually have beer in my fridge, and I'll have a couple if I'm watching a game or eating dinner, but I don't need to drink, and I'm sure there's been plenty of times in the last few years where I went a month or more without having a single drink....

but same as Matthies, if I'm going out to a club/bar/party, I generally don't have less than 15 drinks, and always get blackout drunk...during the school year this is limited to Friday/Saturday, but in the summer it's probably a little more frequent

I wouldn't consider myself an alcoholic and I wouldn't consider Matthies one either, but no need to be a jerk - people might have different conceptions of what alcoholism is. 

does anyone else have a problem with the definition of 5 drinks in one night as 'binge drinking'? 15 drinks in a night... ok you're probably binging, and good luck getting up early and studying or going to class.  and it could possibly have a negative influence on other parts of your life as well. but having 5 drinks over the course of a night means you could still be legally able to drive responsibly, and yet you're supposedly engaging in dangerous, addictive behavior?!

(strangely enough, that argument never held against my UG's health and wellness officer, even though i was sure it would prove i'd done my homework and should be let off probation.)

I think the US generally has a lower threshold for what constitutes "alcoholism" than what I've seen in other countries. I do think that people who binge drink semi-rarely but are dry for long periods of time can be alcoholics if they go on 1-3 day benders, but someone who will go out and drink 5 drinks in a night once or twice a week is probably not an alcoholic.

[rugercaptain]

Tomorrow will be 5 weeks without a drop.  If that fails, I'll go to a meeting. 

Congrats.  I wish I had your willpower.

[quem vem la-sou eu]

oh give me a fn break.  i'm sorry, but if you diagnose your self as an alcoholic b/c u like to go hard once every few months then that is just pathetic. 

Please explain why, in your eyes, such a person is pathetic.

[brett favre]

oh give me a fn break.  i'm sorry, but if you diagnose your self as an alcoholic b/c u like to go hard once every few months then that is just pathetic. 

Please explain why, in your eyes, such a person is pathetic.

b/c if you go about every 6 months w/ out a drink then get hammered and make an ass out of yourself one night and decide you are an alcoholic you are too sensitive and being hard on yourself.  you do not have a dependence on alcohol, you're just an idiot who can't hold his liquor.

I believe South Park described it best when saying that you are just using the "Mel Gibson-defense."  (although Gibson may be a true drunk).

But what he described is not a dependence on alcohol.

[quem vem la-sou eu]

oh give me a fn break.  i'm sorry, but if you diagnose your self as an alcoholic b/c u like to go hard once every few months then that is just pathetic. 

Please explain why, in your eyes, such a person is pathetic.

b/c if you go about every 6 months w/ out a drink then get hammered and make an ass out of yourself one night and decide you are an alcoholic you are too sensitive and being hard on yourself.  you do not have a dependence on alcohol, you're just an idiot who can't hold his liquor.

I believe South Park described it best when saying that you are just using the "Mel Gibson-defense."  (although Gibson may be a true drunk).

But what he described is not a dependence on alcohol.

I think the problem is in how you've chosen to define alcoholism as "dependence on alcohol" when in fact alcoholism is not objectively defined in any such terms, at least not by consensus.

I don't think the intermittent drinker is a problem per se, but when that intermittent drinker develops destructive/abusive behavior in conjunction with their drinking, I don't think it's inappropriate (or pathetic) for that drinker to seek out help.

[quem vem la-sou eu]

Unless you're Mark Foley, in which case there is no salvation for you, anywhere, ever.

[slacker]

I'm coming into this thread late, but I agree on the don't get plastered in front of the classmates. It becomes the stuff of legend, but probably not in the way that you want to be remembered. I'll add a caveat to this -- if you do go out and get drunk, don't go home and drunk-mail your entire section. That's just self-memorializing the stupidity.

Personally, I stopped drinking several years before school started. Sometimes I go to socials, and I get along fine w/out drinking at 'em.

[gratif]

b/c if you go about every 6 months w/ out a drink then get hammered and make an ass out of yourself one night and decide you are an alcoholic you are too sensitive and being hard on yourself.  you do not have a dependence on alcohol, you're just an idiot who can't hold his liquor.

Just because my hand doesn't tremble if I don't have a morning scotch doesn't mean I don't have a problem.  When alcoholics (my operative definition) enjoy drinking, they are not in control of it, or when they are in control of it, they aren't enjoying it.

[theprocrastinator]

I'm coming into this thread late, but I agree on the don't get plastered in front of the classmates. It becomes the stuff of legend, but probably not in the way that you want to be remembered. I'll add a caveat to this -- if you do go out and get drunk, don't go home and drunk-mail your entire section. That's just self-memorializing the stupidity.

Personally, I stopped drinking several years before school started. Sometimes I go to socials, and I get along fine w/out drinking at 'em.

I don't get this "don't drink with your classmates" crap. I mean, sure 1L is just a huge rumor mill, but by graduation everybody has done so much stupid crap that nobody really has the moral high ground to judge you anymore. The few that do probably won't be your friends anyway if you went out drinking all the time.

Plus, and I know this is against conventional wisdom, but it is possible to go out and get hammered without completely shaming yourself. If you can't handle that, than you should probably be more concerned with refraining from drinking at all than drinking with your classmates specifically.