Now Prof Carlos Z. and I got a good picture of binge drinking since we were hired for an evening to do security at Maes B (the Youth Field) Concert while we were at the Eisteddfod in North Wales. This article about binge drinking in the UK seems a bit off target to me. If the professor in Aberystwyth really thinks that the problem is in the media hype.
Now perhaps there has been a bit of an over concern by teetoddlers in evangelical circles in Wales from time to time, but the Prof Carlos Z. and I saw a large number of underage binge drinkers, and nobody doing anything about it. In fact parents appeared to chalk it up to some kind of rite of passage. Great rite of passage for an underage teenage girl at an event with older binge drinking guys! Maybe the professor should visit a few binging events and rethink his thesis.
Monday, September 17, 2007
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3 comments:
TBH though, I wonder if a large music festival is really the best situation to form a balanced perspective of this kind of thing. A binge that happens once a year, for example, might be a mild concern. But isn't a major issue. Having said that, I DO get concerned about under-age drinking and worry about how many young people seem to feel it is a normal part of lief for them to a) drink alcohol (often without their parents knowledge) and b) drink alcohol to excess.
But it isn't just under-age people who seem to go in for excessive consumption of alcohol. I struggle to understand the concept of drinking until you are senseless. Ok, so I don't drink alcohol at all and can bearly remember what it feels like to be drunk. I do remember the feeling of being out of control. Perhaps we should be sending our young people to some sort of Toronto blessing type gathering. I wonder which would be the worse evil. :D
BB
Mike
The culture of Binging does seem stronger in the UK than places I've seen in the US, and consequently the binging at festivals would be expected to be worse as well - and as I've seen it is.
In the US, businesses would never be able to openly serve underage people without quickly getting busted by the police, and eventually getting shut down by the authorities. Yet at Eisteddfod they purchased alcohol freely and openly. So it seems that even the authorities allow for an underage binging culture, and I have seen parents at Eisteddfod tacitly accept it as a part of "growing up."
At least that's my experience in Wales. maybe quite different in the UK.
The law suggests that people as young as 5 can have an alcoholic drink in their own home I believe. It's a bit insane really. I think the laws in relation to alcohol could do with a bit of tightening up in the UK. The Binge part of this is really what I would question. But even that might be something I've just been fortunate enough to avoid seeing. I know in pubs the rules tend to be strictly adhered to though.
BB
Mike
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