Poll: As to alcohol and its use

[Secret Chief]

However, if I haven't had any alcohol for more than 3 months, I will look for an excuse to break the fifth (pardon the pun) precept, often creating a ritual around it.

Is that the pastafarianism?

 

[LuisDantas]

I'm a teetotaler, and have been since the late 1990s. Never drank very much or even like alcohol much in the first place.

Mostly I am just scared stuffless by the very idea of drunkness.

 

[Secret Chief]

What do you find embarrassing, specifically? I know some who become louder or more outgoing than usual without going overboard (e.g., crossing others' boundaries or causing trouble). In a bar setting, I think loudness and (harmless) silliness are so expected as to not really be embarrassing in most cases.

Hard to be specific, especially when they are strangers rather than people I know. I suppose the whole personality switch from an adult to a moron talking ****. Saying stuff which (hopefully) they wouldn't be saying if it wasn't for the alcohol in them. And a lot of long term alcohol abuse goes on in the privacy of the home...

It's possible alcohol triggered my epileptic seizures.

My partner's father became violent when he was inebriated (a common event). She left home as soon as possible and got married to a man who...guess what...after a couple of years of marriage decided he was unhappy, started abusing alcohol and then started using his fists.

Alcohol can be a cause of dementia. My mother abused alcohol in her later years and had dementia. If it didn't cause the dementia it certainly contributed to her mental incapacitation.
Alcohol-Induced Dementia: Decay Symptoms, Stages and Treatment

An (ex) friend, whilst drunk had an argument with his heavily pregnant girlfriend and punched her in the stomach.

My friend's 14 year old daughter has been caught secretly drinking wine and (most recently) vodka. Her father died of alcohol poisoninhg. Most of her family abuse alcohol. (At a recent wedding party, an uncle fell in a river due to inebriation).

These are just a few examples from one person. I could easily give more. I think it is a lot bigger problem than people realise and society doesn't want to address it. Of course, like tobacco in the past, governments like the tax revenues and the industry is a powerful lobby. I think if alcohol as a drug was discovered today it would be banned.

 

[Mock Turtle]

Alcohol isn't my drug. I don't drink for the effect, I drink what tastes good, mostly mead and whisky, sometimes beer or wine and the occasional amaretto with or in my coffee.
I've been drunk (blackout drunk) once when I was about 14. That cured me from ever drinking to much ever again.

Much the same for me - as to never aiming for the effects - and perhaps why I prefer wine more now (acquired during several holidays in France and other countries) than much else.

 

[PureX]

All the above. Which is why it should be used with caution, if at all.

 

[Mock Turtle]

I have not successfully recovered from being raised by a raging alcoholic, so in that sense, I think that this isn't about beliefs for me, but something closer to objective knowledge. Certain individuals simply shouldn't use it. Maybe it does work for some, but I haven't met that many people like that.

Would I regulate it? I guess a view I come to some times, is that you should be completely free to do as much as you want, but you shouldn't have kids if you do. Think about it, society allowed my father to drink a giant pack of high alcoholic volume beer every night, and he become cantankerous to the point where I could not really study for school, at times. He finally had to quit, when diabetes kicked in, way later. But if I bring up what he was like, he will still say it's my fault if I didn't get enough sleep, if he was yelling or something.

With any problem I have had in life, he always said 'it's your choice' to succeed or not, up to and including my trying to study, when he was arguing all night with my ma. Alcohol fueled it, but society does not care

So the point is, I think you can do whatever you want, but the application to have children should probably assert some stricter regulation. A question on it might say something like, 'do you drink a giant pack of beer every night?' If so, how does that make for good parenting

As I mentioned, my grandfather was a (perpetual, according to my mother and other family members) drunk - during hard times in Wales when unemployment was very high - and I don't know whether this led to his abusing my mother (and other siblings) or was just another facet of his character, but it often brings the worst out of people as I have witnessed - releasing the anger or aggression. So I can see why it perhaps is something to be avoided unless one is at peace with oneself and having reasonable control of one's life.

 

[Mock Turtle]

Drink for pleasure,just know when to stop or:

I don't know why this series hasn't been repeated on TV - not that I know of, or perhaps on a channel that I can't access - but this was so funny, and I do miss Rab.

 

[England my lionheart]

I don't know why this series hasn't been repeated on TV - not that I know of, or perhaps on a channel that I can't access - but this was so funny, and I do miss Rab.

Me too,great comedy.

 

[crossfire]

Is that the pastafarianism?

No, that's the heretic in me. It keeps me from being able to boast, I don't drink alcohol, so I'm better than you! It helps me to keep the important things in perspective.

 

[Secret Chief]

No, that's the heretic in me. It keeps me from being able to boast, I don't drink alcohol, so I'm better than you! It helps me to keep the important things in perspective.

Such as cake.

 

[crossfire]

Such as cake.

I don't do much cake, either. Maybe for a birthday ritual.

 

[Secret Chief]

I don't do much cake, either. Maybe for a birthday ritual.

Come on, there's no precept about cake

 

[crossfire]

Come on, there's no precept about cake

Indeed. Now, it there was a precept against coffee and tea, I'd be in trouble.

 

[Sand Dancer]

Whether influenced by your own experiences or by a particular belief, what is your opinion regarding alcohol?

Overall, not very healthy, except for red wine. Tasty sometimes. I wish they still had neighborhood bars, so people could stumble home instead of having to drive.

 

[RestlessSoul]

My mother's a drunk. She sometimes discloses too much, and then when she realizes she probably shouldn't have said that, she gets a little red faced.

And probably wakes up the next morning crippled with shame and self-loathing, wondering “****, did I really say or do that?”

At least that’s how I used to wake up/come to most mornings.

 

[JustGeorge]

And probably wakes up the next morning crippled with shame and self-loathing, wondering “****, did I really say or do that?”

At least that’s how I used to wake up/come to most mornings.

I don't think she remembers, honestly. Thankfully, she's not mean... she just discloses more than most want to know.

I will say getting loose lipped after an extra drink was a wake up call for me in the opposite direction. In my drinking days, my anxiety was so bad, I didn't say much at all. I had a few instances where I said something I felt was 'open' ("I don't like movies" "This song makes me cry" "I think Joe is a real jerk") and would apologize the next day for my 'emotional' outburst and my friends would look at me and say "uh... that's not a problem. What you said was fine. "

It made me examine why I was so repressed... (I'm strange, I think.)

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I love alcohol, especially beer. I drink it everyday, and apparently so do most of my coworkers.

 

[Goldemar]

Whether influenced by your own experiences or by a particular belief, what is your opinion regarding alcohol?

I personally avoid it as for me it's a slippery slope to oblivion and forgetfulness of God when I believe I should be instead remembering God in my every waking moment. But I certainly would never prevent others from indulging themselves.

 

[Mock Turtle]

Overall, not very healthy, except for red wine. Tasty sometimes. I wish they still had neighborhood bars, so people could stumble home instead of having to drive.

If I knew enough about red wines I might be tempted - I have drunk quite a bit of such - but it is mainly dry whites that I like. If I find I have made a mistake and it is too sweet I will just pour it away.

 

[Ella S.]

Personally, inebriation is generally something that goes against the standards that I hold myself to.

I don't care if other people drink, but I do consider "responsible drinking" to be an oxymoron. I think it's inherently irresponsible to put yourself in a state where you aren't in full control of your actions, or to even flirt with such a state. It's usually fairly harmless, though.

So I voted both "Alcohol is evil - avoid it completely" and "Not for me but live and let live."