Control

[asterroc]

A couple of my students recently have asked me ... well, they said, "you know what it's like to drink a lot, you were a college student." And my answer was no, I don't know what it's like. "C'mon, you have to have drunk." "Yeah right, of course you drank." And no, I didn't. I didn't really drink anything until grad school, and even to this day the most I've had in a night is three. I think I've done this on three separate occasions, and one time I really thought I was going to puke and fall over with just that little.

So the question is why not? And reading through some literature on binge drinking, I figured it out. There is exactly one thing in the world that I can control: Myself. I am not willing to give that up.

Comments

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Right, I don't lose my morals either, though if I have a full drink I'll occasionally speak before thinking. I don't like the woozy feeling all that much. And besides, I'm usually the one driving. If I have a passenger, I won't drink at all. If I don't, I will have a single drink and wait an hour after finishing it before driving.

[kadath.livejournal.com]

Honestly, even when I've been falling over drunk, I've never been tempted to drive or sleep with unsuitable men or steal or whatever. Booze doesn't get rid of your morals, it just reveals what you actually wanted to do all along.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Well, it interferes w/ decision-making skills. If a situation comes up where you have to make a choice and you would've been uncertain while sober, you will also be uncertain when drunk, and you will not be able to properly weigh the alternatives.

Here's another one: should a drunk driver who gets in a fatal accident be charged with manslaughter (unintentional) or murder (premeditated)? A year ago I would've said murder: the person chose to get drunk and should be held responsible for his/her actions. Today I realize (from interacting w/ my students) that while they choose to get drunk and choose to drive while drunk, many of them do not fully understand the risks they are taking, just like we argue that minors should not face the same penalties as they do not understand the consequences of their actions. Yeah these people are adults, and it's sad that they don't understand what they're doing, but cognitive development isn't nailed to the age of 18, or even 21, it depends upon the individual.

[kadath.livejournal.com]

The worst judgement error I've ever made while blitzed is thinking my hands were steady enough to pour another drink.

I'm not defending drinking and driving, or getting into fistfights, or whatever--either I've never been drunk enough to have my inhibitions fall that far, or I'm really inhibited.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

And you also have good friends who do not know your weaknesses and try to take advantage of them, or do not have their own inhibitions lowered enough to do it. Date rape wouldn't necessarily require that your inhibitions were lowered, just your physical ability to resist.

[meleah.livejournal.com]

Ok, I totally disagree with this entire thread. I'm a drinker - a 'lush' even. I love it, I was drunk or on drugs for a good portion of my undergraduate, I'm still a high acheiver, I'm still responsible, I know how to separate work and play, and now that I'm in the US and a faculty member, anything illegal only enters my sphere on a very, very, rare occasion.

Nevertheless - I very rarely, no matter how irresponsible, drove under the influence of anything. In this day and age (and I'm at least 10 years past legal in my country, less here), if you get behind the wheel of a car under the influence of anything, at any age, you KNOW that's an irresponsible choice. There's a degree of premeditation - at the point you have the drink/take the drug and know your only way out is driving, that's the point you needed to make another choice/choose another way home/find some crash space. If you didn't, then yeah, i'm sorry - you're responsible. End of story. We KNOW cars are a lethal weapon. You operate that weapon in a situation other than prime, knowlingly (and we all know when we are drunk/high or going to be so based on what we plan on drinking/doing) then you are responsible. Sorry, but that's that.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Firstly, I don't mean to absolve people of responsibility, let me make that clear. I'm just arguing the degree of premeditation, and the resulting degree of punishment such people should be given.

at the point you have the drink/take the drug and know your only way out is driving,

I think a lot of people don't do that. They drink/take the drug WITHOUT thinking about the next three hours. A child will run out into the street after his baseball without thinking about the fact that he could get hit by a car.

We KNOW cars are a lethal weapon.

They may know it factually, but they do not internalize it to a point where they will act upon it. A slightly more mature kid will think about the fact that cars drive across the street all the time, but will believe he can make it.

This sort of thought process (I feel) would also lead to the same population that's more likely to get into drunk driving accidents, also having higher levels of lung cancer (smoking), and STDs and teen pregnancies (unprotected sex). I need to read more about Piaget's cognitive development theory, but I'm under the impression that he says while most people get these decision-making skills in their teen years, for some it takes a lot longer, if they ever get there.