Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Entry: A note on an earlier comment

An anonymous person posted a comment on my blog last week about my attitude concerning alcohol and how I represent it on my blog. Here is the comment as it was written....

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
You seem to have a huge problem with people who consume alcohol, with the caveat that they are cool when they are not drinking. Seems to me that you need to let go of whatever you have against drinkers (heavy or not) and go with the "live and let live" philosophy. Why not let people make their own mistakes? I know that blogs are suppsed to be about personal commentary, etc., but this feels more like a manifesto than anything else. Chill out!!!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'd like to set the record straight on this one for anyone who might be curious.

Firstly, I don't disapprove of alcohol. This is important to understand. I also don't disapprove of people who drink it. Anybody who knows anything about me at all or has spent any time around me knows this. I'm also a really great DD.

I do have a problem with irresponsible drinkers. There are three types that I don't really like to hang around....
- people who drink with the sole purpose of getting trashed
- people who always think that they're alright to drive regardless of their state
- people who don't take responsibility for the things that they do when they're under the influence. That
whole "Oh...sorry about that...I was drunk" excuse really doesn't work with me. I've heard it so many
times that it makes me ill.

All in all, I do enjoy being around people who are indulging a bit simply because I get a glimpse into what is really going on in their minds that they're usually too reserved to talk about. The friends that I hang around have never had a problem saying 'no' when the time came for a refill but they had to drive later. And, in the event that they did say or do something stupid while under the influence, I like the fact that they'll apologize for it later. Even last week when I was with that huge group of drinkers, they all knew when to call it quits and were smart enough to have their DDs assigned beforehand.

So, in short, just because I do some creative reporting on here at times regarding alcohol consumption does not mean that I have a crusade against it. It simply means that I have a perspective on it that 99% of the population can't claim to have and I'm quite comfortable with it. :)

8 comments:

mblitch said...

Hey you might not be a drinker, but at least use use a good quality beer as the icon for your rant. Umm Guinness

Jason C. Miller said...

(sigh)

Leave it to Mike to find the bright side of everything. :)

Anonymous said...

Well, unless you have been drunk before than I don't think you can be upset with the "sorry, I was drunk" thing. At least they are apologizing. Being a drinker like myself I know that alcohol will cause you to say and do things that you would not do normally. It's really not an excuse. I've said things to people that I would NEVER say sober. I apologized of course, but the only way to explain it was "I was drunk". You, having never been intoxicated, would never understand this.

Jason C. Miller said...

Honestly, I fail to see what my never having had a drink has to do with this. People know that they could do stupid things when they're drunk. They drink and get to that point anyway. So, it's like...."Yeah...I'm going to drink and I'm immune from responsibility for anything that I do or say while under the influence". Personally, I think that's bogus. You may be intoxicated, but you know BEFOREHAND that you might do some anomalous things while under the influence and the responsibily for those actions needs to be accepted. It's not like you aren't aware beforehand that you'll be uninhibited.

So, as I said before...the whole "Sorry, I was drunk" thing really doesn't jive well with me. :)

Anonymous said...

Well, what do you want the person to say? I mean, they said sorry, and they explained that they were drunk. At least you got an apology, what else do you want? Are you saying that you would rather the person just said "sorry" but left out the drunk part? Because the fact that they were drunk actually did have something to do with it, so why would they leave that out?

Jason C. Miller said...

Actually, it sounds dumb, but yes. I'm talking about the people who use it as an excuse and who aren't genuinely apologetic. I guess it's kinda difficult to talk about the required inflection over an post like this.

Anonymous said...

oh, I see what you're saying. You're talking about the type of people who try to blow it off. They're not really sorry, but they're just like "oh well, I was drunk...whatever" Yeah, I could see how that could get old. If I do or say anything unappropriate while I'm intoxicated I really do try to apologize and make things right with whomever I hurt. But I guess some people try to use it as an excuse and a reason to not be held accountable for their actions. I do think that is wrong, so for once I will agree with you, but don't get used to it!

Jason C. Miller said...

Mark the date people. He agrees!!