General Interest > Tacitus' Realm
Alcohol use in Europe vs the United States
psy:
--- Quote from: "none-ya" ---"Drink responsibly?" That's an oxymoronic slogan brought to you the alcohol companies. If people drank only until their blood alcohol level was .08 or less, Those companies would go out of business. And if someone drinks every day, the body grows dependent on it. That's the definition of addiction. Culture has nothing to do with it. Simply biology. Tell me Psy, have you ever tried to learn something while drunk?
--- End quote ---
I very rarely get drunk, so I can't say I've ever tried. I don't think you're getting the point, though. The point in Europe is not to get drunk, but to get a bit "buzzed" for lack of a better term, in order to facilitate socialization and discussion in such, not to play drinking games until you pass out. Different countries have differing norms as to what this level of lubrication is. In France a half bottle of wine (often ordered in a pitcher), with a meal between two people, is considered normal (if not an entire bottle). In business meetings in France, you drink. It's just a thing that happens in the culture. There is even a wine drinking holiday where just about everybody gets trashed on cheap red wine known as "Beaujolais nouveau" (though the French generally do not readily admit to outsiders they participate in this holiday, or that they would drink such swill).
In Germany, Demmark, Ireland, and elsewhere, the level of acceptable "lubrication" is likely a bit higher. Are people dependent? No. Not everybody drinks every day and even those who do don't necessarily develop alcohol dependence. Having a glass of wine with dinner, even every day, is not a sign of being a drunk in Europe, nor is having a beer with lunch. It's not enough to cause alcohol withdrawal so no, it's not "simple biology". It is culture, and because fewer people are dependent on cars to get around, it's much safer than in the states.
--- Quote ---Beer served in high school? Only the devil's advocate can defend that position. Just because a culture is older,doesn't make it better.
--- End quote ---
If their culture involved stoning women to death, I might agree with you, but I don't see this as better or worse than US culture. So they choose to drink. Big deal. So their culture even considers getting drunk and socializing with friends to be OK. My god, the horror. I agree alcohol has it's dangers, but a lot of those dangers are compounded by societal condemnation. Where there is no societal condemnation, there is no problem.
Oscar:
The allowed blood alcohol level for drivers in Denmark was actually lowered from 0.8 to 0.5 due to a bridge to Sweden.
25 years since the worst school bus disaster in the United States (Trucker Blogs)
For reasons unknown people from Sweden can be drunk from lighter products like Skin milk. The allowed blood alcohol level in Sweden is only 0.2 for the very same reason.
You cannot buy alcohol in ordinary shops either. Sweden have special permission from the European Union to sell alcohol from state-run shops only. They are also the only country in the European Union where they sell tobacco they chew instead of smoking it. Such tobacco is forbidden in the rest of the European countries.
Is it the gene pool? I don't know.
none-ya:
--- Quote ---Oscar wrote;
For reasons unknown people from Sweden can be drunk from lighter products like Skin milk.
--- End quote ---
This is comedy!
Oscar:
--- Quote from: "none-ya" ---This is comedy!
--- End quote ---
Here is some input from another message board: Drunken Swede tries to row home from Denmark (AR15.com)
none-ya:
If it's considered unpatriotic not to drink, then I guess they're only trying to save the rest of the world.
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/06/1 ... al-trials/
But not to dismay, things are a changin. I would love to try some real Danish pastry.
http://denmark.dk/en/lifestyle/food-dri ... -age-food/
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