Thoughts on social drinking.
I just recently arrived home from a normal 10 hour shift at work tonight behind a bar. 2pm - 12 am serving beer to customers. Whilst working tonight (and if no body already realises this, I'm Australian) I wondered why the United States has a drinking age of 21. 21? Why is the age so high? This got me thinking: "Aussies are brought up with alcohol from a young age, so why is the USA 21?
I got thinking, why the hell is the USA have a drinking age of 21?
- At the age of 16, you can legally have sex with anyone older than you, (even someone who is 87), marry them and have children.
- You can be independent, have a tax file number and work for a living
- Drive a car, and be responsible for your life and the life of others, but the most important point that i don't understand:
- You can join the army, shoot and kill someone (I call this close to murder) in war at the age of 18 in the USA, but you can't have a social beer with mates or even your father at the dinner table.
These are only a few points I wanted to talk about. But it got me thinking. Shooting and killing someone, yet not having a beer? Americans who are 18 - 20 - I feel for you, and I dont understand.
Post your thoughts and comments, and help me understand this. (This blog was cut short because I really need to pee.)
I like the drinking age being 21 here. More beer for me!
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, it's hard enough dealing with the 21 and 22 year olds in bars. I couldn't imagine how annoying an 18 or 19 year old would be!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteamerikans are just like that. retarded
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've never understood this either... what's so bad about drinking that you have to wait till you're 21 to do it?
ReplyDeleteit does seem a little incongruous, but with the drinking age having been 21 for so long, being obsessed with/immature about alcohol is so ingrained in the american highschool culture that lowering it would be disastrous. All the kids would think "holy shit this is so cool" and just get drunk 24/7
ReplyDeleteIn USA they can't have sex til they're 18.
ReplyDeleteDon't know what their legal age for smoking is, but in UK its:
16 for sex and 18 for alcohol and smokes - it used to be 16 for smokes until last year when a new law was passed
Courtesy of those pissed off ladies at MADD.com.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.madd.org/underage-drinking/why21/
It never made sense to me why it was 21 over 18 either. It's socially acceptable to drink in the US once you hit 18, just not legal. Overprotective laws is all I can imagine.
ReplyDeleteIn other countries, especially ones without legal drinking ages, there are significantly less alcohol-related crimes. Take that as you will.
ReplyDeleteAge of consent actually varies from 16-18 depending on state, as do driving ages. You're not legally an adult everywhere in the US until you're 18. I agree that the drinking age should be lowered, at least to 18. In Germany the drinking age for beer and wine is 16, but it's 18 for hard stuff. That seems reasonable to me, but they have to be 21 to drive, lol.
ReplyDeleteAge of consent actually varies from 16-18 depending on the state. So does the driving age. You're not legally an adult everywhere in the US until you're 18. I agree that it should be lowered. In Germany it's 16 for beer and wine, 18 for hard stuff. That seems reasonable to me. But they can't drive until they're 21, lol.
ReplyDeleteThoughtful post. As a Stateside resident I definitely agree with the sentiments expressed above. To send 19-21 year-olds out to war yet deny them the comfort of a good beer seems bass ackwards. The U.S. has an unhealthy love/hate relationship with alcohol that celebrates excess yet punishes "crossing the limit". It'd be nice if parents had nice, sensible conversations with their children about alcohol, but that will most likely never happen.
ReplyDeleteAlcoholic checking in.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all your points. Old enough to go to war but not old enough to drink.
Maybe because America is very conservative. I'm just guessing, can't say for certain.
I agree with you, i grew up in england and now live in the US and yet there are more drunk drivers and underage drinking here because probably kids have been oppressed so long and it's made out to be something bigger than it actually is! WTF?
ReplyDeleteThe last point is the one I have the biggest problem with with most.
ReplyDeleteThough you can have alcohol in your home, but you can't buy it is all.
I've been wondering about this for a while. What is the drinking age in Australia? I feel like if I had been exposed to alcohol earlier I would've had a few less crazy nights when I turned 21. Drinking isn't that amazing anyways. Spend too much money, do dumb shit, etc. hahaha.
ReplyDeleteI know these 2 guys from the USA (both 17). They came to visit Europe and were so happy they could get piss-ass drunk without getting into much trouble.
ReplyDeleteI mean, buying alcohol here is easy even if you don't have full 18, while in America it's much easier to get weed, for example, than to drink a glass of beer with friends.
it is pretty silly
ReplyDeleteI always wondered why americans have to be 21 to drink, you're not the only one!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you actually. It's retarded that the age is so high, we receive so many liberties at 18, why not a drink? It happens anyways.
ReplyDeleteI guess its because of the idiots that drink too much and do stupid shit ruined it for everyone else
ReplyDeleteThere are so many things wrong with society. Yes you are very right but to worry about something as stupid as this will give you cancer from stress.
ReplyDeleteUseful Sites.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/dec/05/government-scientific-advice-drugs-policy
ReplyDeleteIt's such a pitty law doesn't have to be rational and reasonable.
Yeah it really is stupid considering how easy it is for me to get alcohol anyway (I'm 18 btw).
ReplyDeleteThe US is weird like that. 0_o
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more. They got it wrong; give them beer at 18 and let them (if you must) hold their rifles when 21 comes.
ReplyDeleteI don't get it either. If anything, they should raise the driving age, since so many 16 year olds get out on the road and kill themselves or someone else. Just glad to be over 21 and an inveterate drunk, here.
ReplyDeleteI think much of this stems from "the old days" (Not ragging on any elderly people), back when times were simpler and easier to explain. I think this is just another example of America being slow to change. Eventually, I believe all of this will indeed change. We are already on the road to having weed fully legalized (Not a smoker, just pointing an example), and there is currently talk of lowering the drinking age down to 18. I think America would even have less problems if many of these things were legalized, look at other countries (Such as Australia), you guys are raised from an earlier age being allowed to drink, and the people as a whole seem to be better for it. They aren't going out just doing it and acting stupid to impress people. It just becomes "something else" you can do. It's not breaking the rules, it's normal. When everyone can do it, it's not as "cool". I currently am a few years short of the current legal age, but I hope America as a whole begins to improve. Our image in the world has done nothing but deteriorate in recent years.
ReplyDeletehttp://juju-paintballer.blogspot.com
glad to live in Germany one you turn 18 everything goes..and I think thats a reasonable age to take on live and the blows to the liver (well beer is ok once you're older than 16 )
ReplyDeleteYou know, just to comment on your last bullet...the US military (marines at least) used to be a bit different. Used to be if you were in the service, you could drink as much as you wanted in the bar on base. Never understood why they changed it. Kids are going to drink, regardless...bad idea to make them sneak around with it.
ReplyDelete