Yeah it's only vaguely relevant, but fukkit...
I don't have a side-splitting story about drunken oafs pissing on each other or glassing innocent bystanders, or public defecation. I don't have any wild tales from racist paranoid landlords or drunken ramblers. I tend to drink at home with friends. Benefits include not having to roar over ear-bleeding music, no queues for bathrooms or filthy toilets to contend with.

No, my beef is with some of the 'antics' in these stories.

Bit of background: my mum is an addiction counsellor, we're a foster family, ergo we've all seen the best and the worst addicts can do.

This QOTW is full of stories about people injuring themselves and/or others, destroying lives in some cases. And the fucktards don't seem to have realised that maybe the excessive alcohol consumption just might be in some way connected to their "legendary" mishaps. Worse than that, some of you seem to be cheering them on.

I know some of these stories are fakes, and some are grossly embellished. But I don't like the undercurrent of rationality in the responses. It seems that alcohol is an acceptable drug, if you're drunk off your tits you're just "one of the lads" or "great craic" or "a proper larf" or "a legend". If these heroic people did the same things but under a haze of ecstasy or hash, they'd be druggies, smackheads, losers.

I've seen families wracked and wrecked because of alcohol and drug abuse. It pains me to think of people encouraging others to drink far beyond their personal limits, engage in pretty risky behaviour and muck up other people along the way. Having a laugh and abusing oneself are occasionally indistinct. Is it really impossible to have a good time without going overboard?
When you talk fondly about the nutter in your local, mumbling into his pint or passing out in the jacks, don't you ever stop for a second and think about his life and how far down the shitter it might be? I say 'might', after all, he could be in the depths of alcoholism or he could be deliriously happy, in my experience it's rarely the latter.

I'm not going to read any more of this QOTW, futile I guess but it's really struck a nerve.


Peace out B3tans
(blueberrypossum wants to Jaffa your Cake, Mon 9 Feb 2009, 23:42, 13 replies)

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

(King Baby Duck more than a ceiling, Mon 9 Feb 2009, 23:47, closed)

click
couldn't agree with you more.

Shall we start a b3ta anti drunk brigade?
(Duckeee Is nothing special, in fact, she's a bit of a bore, Tue 10 Feb 2009, 0:27, closed)

well..
I'd prefer to see better education from parents/guardians. Try and get kids to realise that alcohol/drugs/miscellaneous substances are best left to moderation. No harm in an occasional dip but letting it rule/ruin your life is bad, mmmkay?

Maybe a b3tan who sees a friend overdoing the sauce could help said friend to see the extent of the problem and cut back a bit.
(blueberrypossum wants to Jaffa your Cake, Tue 10 Feb 2009, 0:32, closed)

Been there, seen that.
As a young woman I knew many 'merry' individuals who were usually seen falling down drunk around 9pm.

The joke back then was that they were alcoholics, always pissed up! The mad bastards!

I looked after them over the years when I worked in hospitals. Now they're all dead, aged no more than their 50s, and some were younger.

There seem to be a lot more of these young heavy drinkers around these days. I fear for them.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Tue 10 Feb 2009, 5:57, closed)

while I do occasionally drink
I live with an alcoholic.
I know exactly what it does to my family. I know exactly how much alcohol affects people.

So I would just like to say that while some people are alcoholics - other people just like a drink every now and then.

Hell I like to get shitfaced every now and then - but for me - that literally means every now and then. Like... once every three months - if that. in fact its more like twice a year that I get the chance to properly drink.
(Poppet some assembly required., Tue 10 Feb 2009, 6:37, closed)

Oh?
Well allrighty then, thats us told, isnt our collective face red etc..
(Reptilianoid, Tue 10 Feb 2009, 7:58, closed)

as a long time 33yo alcoholic
I would like to share that neither chastising me nor encouraging me makes me give a crap what you think about my drinking.
(bazmorningstar efil4nat3b, Tue 10 Feb 2009, 9:53, closed)

I like to get shitfaced fairly often.

However the rule that goes with this is under no circumstances physically or mentally harm anyone. I don't fill people with abuse or get violent - quite simple.

However I do slur hilarious, but more often quite poor jokes and anecdotes. I also get quite lairy and dance around like a twat on the dancefloor and spend a shitload of money doing so.

If you don't like getting together with likeminded drunks and getting a good old bit of banter, perhaps enjoyed with your favourite music or watching football then get the fuck out of the pub you light-weight twat.
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Tue 10 Feb 2009, 11:27, closed)

So
what you're saying is that we should all do what you say, and think like you, because you have experienced addictive behaviour and of course you can't have addictive behaviour without addictive substances, so therefore anyone who uses any potentially addictive substance is essentially to blame. And while we're at it, all men are rapists. Maybe it's just me, but I thought this was a thread about amusing pub stories, so why the rant?
(rampants, Tue 10 Feb 2009, 13:19, closed)

No
I'm asking you to step back for a moment and see the other side of the 'hilarious' escapades drinkers get up to.

Yes, I'm being judgmental, no doubt about that. I just don't see the funny side to some of these stories.
(blueberrypossum wants to Jaffa your Cake, Tue 10 Feb 2009, 14:54, closed)

Agree
I've seen the affect of alcoholism close up. Its really really grim.
( lion-cake Bad lion-cake, bad., Tue 10 Feb 2009, 14:31, closed)

If person A ruins their life through drinking alcohol, and person B drinks alcohol without ruining their life, then the life-ruining aspect is somewhere in person A and not in the alcohol. No amount of moral-brigade preaching against alcohol is going to make a blind bit of difference to person A, because the problem is not the alcohol, and person B will be deprived of a part of their life that they are enjoying and handling without difficulty.

Tackle the real issue, please. Help person A with their addictive, self-destructive personality problems. Don't make the symptom the scapegoat. That doesn't help anyone.
(Musuko, Tue 10 Feb 2009, 14:56, closed)

While I agree with your general sentiment......
......how have you survived getting as far as the QOTW on this website!?

I dread to think what you think about it's sister site, sickipedia!

To justify my response, I should add that I barely drink, but every now and again (1-3 times a year) I have a good old drink up with friends and get a bit, shall we say, wankered. I'm not a saint tho, as years 17-23 are pretty much a lager coloured blur. I also agree that any form of substance abuse can lead to horrendous personal and social problems both for the abuser and any surrounding humans, both familial and geographical.

However, please understand that for most of us it is perfectly possible to decry the nastiness of alcholism and still find it funny when (imaginary person) big jake shits himself, gets pregnant, gives himself kidney failure, dances like a nonce, throws up and glasses a pikey due to drink, in the same way that 'recent tragic news stories' (you all know what I mean) are both horrendous and AT THE SAME TIME provided some very funny jokes.

The QOTW purpose is (as far as I can see) humour and banter. Non Daily Mail readers can do this about serious topics without detracting from their seriousness.
(NoveltyCondomHead Clanks Wams., Tue 10 Feb 2009, 15:31, closed)