When the Going Gets Tough . . .

[Perknose]

Americans drink more. Consequently, they die more, too.

 

[Greenman]

Link is dead.
Doesn't everyone that drinks drink more when times are tough?

 

[pmv]

The link is malformed

Should be

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/07/13/alcohol-consumption-deaths/

 

[HomerJS]

I thought the OP was Billy Ocean

 

[Perknose]

Link is dead.
Doesn't everyone that drinks drink more when times are tough?

1.Link in OP fixed.

2.Not really. I think that depends on why you drink in the first place, plus how often and how much you drink.

 

[Moonbeam]

Your link : http://https//www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/07/13/alcohol-consumption-deaths/ does not work for me

pmv's link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/07/13/alcohol-consumption-deaths/ does work for me.

Difficulties in life, in my opinion, make us feel what we want to deny, that we are worthless and deserve a terrible life. The pandemic created tons of fear and fear is a miserable state to be in.

If you know this psychological truth it can protect us from taking seriously that we deserve the situation we find ourselves in. Life is hard because we are all going to die and there is no escape from that fact. That is the way it is and it's not a fate that is there because we deserve it. It just is the way it is. Do not believe what you feel even though it is true in the sense that what we really feel is our inner belief. We believe lies so step back and take a breath. As I tell my cats, nobody is after their tails.

 

[Jaskalas]

I imagine many people drink to dull their senses. To escape the pain.
When the going gets tough, they hurt more. They need more escapism.

Stressed animals make many bad choices. This is but one of them.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

I'll drink to that.

Hic.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

It reminds me of the scene in Red Heat when Arnie and Peter Boyle are in his office. Frankenstein's Monster explains how the lights, the music, the plants; it's all supposed to help him with stress. He turns to Arnie and asks -

 

[cytg111]

Using alcohol to deal with stress is like taking out a loan to pay off another loan.

Consuming alcohol is borrowing happiness from tomorrow, it will be paid back with interest.

.... I can go on?

 

[skyking]

I saw that in the family and as an alcoholic it bothered me quite a bit. My niece and her beau ramped it up.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

There is no happy in the bottle.

 

[hal2kilo]

Link is dead.
Doesn't everyone that drinks drink more when times are tough?

The pandemic sobered my ass up.

 

[Greenman]

The pandemic sobered my ass up.

I've never been much of a drinker, and never found any relief in a bottle. So I'm not really sure how it helps. Being stressed out sucks, being stressed out with a hangover sucks squared.

 

[IronWing]

alcohol => loser => more alcohol => more loser

Alcohol is bad; you shouldn't drink.

 

[pmv]

alcohol => loser => more alcohol => more loser

Alcohol is bad; you shouldn't drink.

Never been a drinker, but I often feel a pang of envy when I read the seemingly regular articles about someone giving up drinking and how much better they felt. Not only do they get an easy way to feel better, but it seems as if every single person who gives up drinking, even if only for a week or a month, then gets paid to write an article about it.

I feel pretty (physically) terrible most of the time, and as I don't drink I can't give it up in order to get an easy win and feel better.

 

[Perknose]

Good article on the subject from the Atlantic which you should be able to access w/o a sub.

Basically says that medical thinking used to state that moderate drinking had health benefits, but current data does not support that. However, says the author, this misses the idea that,. while excessive drinking is indeed harmful, moderate drinking may be worth it personally because the enjoyment may outweigh the moderate health risk, as summed up in the title:

Is a Glass of Wine Harmless? Wrong Question.​

 

[nickqt]

Alcohol is a drug that is acutely toxic at relatively low amounts, causes chronic diseases besides addiction itself, can kill you when withdrawing (unlike almost all other drugs), and is easily accessible to anyone with a pulse. Not only is it easily accessible, it is shown on television and movies as "normal", and to be clear, is celebrated as some kind of rite of passage for children-becoming-adults. And it aggravates anger and poor decision-making, so that thousands of Americans are killed every year as a side-effect of one person's usage/abusage...never mind the harm it causes to the person using it.

That there are many drugs that are actually safe but remain schedule 1 is hilariously tragic and shows how the US government is non-functional and unable to make simple changes to policy that would benefit millions of Americans directly and indirectly.

 

[cytg111]

I’ve decided long ago that I only drink to get drunk, tie one on. So parties, events, stuff like that where its in the cards that everyone gets stupid. That means it can be months in between, and that is glorious, the clarity of mind and general well being is delicious… If you nip a little daily or every weekend I suggest you try and stop, see what 100% abstinence does for you for 14 days.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

“I don't trust any bastard who doesn't drink. People who don't drink are afraid of revealing themselves.”

“The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind.”

- Bogart

“I feel sorry for people who don't drink. They wake up in the morning and that's the best they're going to feel all day.”

-Dean Martin


“- King George VI: How do you manage drinking during the day?

- Winston Churchill: Practice.”

“- Randall Bragg: Mr. Everett Hitch. You a drinking man, Everett?

- Virgil Cole: Not so much.

- Randall Bragg: Hard to like a man who doesn't drink a little.

- Virgil Cole: But not impossible.”

“We're not the first people in the world to drink a little alcohol during the day. Hemingway, for instance, he drank every day until 8 p.m., and then stopped so that he was fit to write the next day. And his work was masterful. So if we're doing this, I guess that'll be our approach.”


“Doldrums. Doldrums. Eviler than the Devil. Boredom makes men to villains, and the water goes quick, lad, vanished. The only med'cine is drink. Keeps them sailors happy, keeps 'em agreeable, keeps 'em calm.”


“- Danny Torrance: Man takes a drink. A drink takes the drink. And then the drink takes a man. Isn't it so, Dad?
- The Bartender: Medicine. Medicine is what it is. Bona fide cure-all. The mind is a blackboard, and this is the eraser.”

“- Mary Kate Danaher: Could you use a little water in your whiskey?
- Michaleen Flynn: When I drink whiskey, I drink whiskey; and when I drink water, I drink water.”

I was listening to NPR a few years ago on the way to *shakes as if with an ague* work. They interviewed a group of 90+ seniors. All of them drank. Me Pop was a highly decorated WWII vet that literally killed Nazis. He self medicated with alcohol as far back as my memories go and undoubtedly longer, he died shortly before his 95th Bday. Moderate drinking can help with stress. Stress kills. I agree that some things like weed should be easily procurable by adults though.

If you ever wonder why alcohol is so accepted and ubiquitous in our society, the answer is simple. The U.S. government waged war on alcohol, alcohol won. The only reason drugs don't get the same treatment, is that the government hasn't surrendered yet.

I sometimes laugh when I think of a comment I saw a zoomer make back during the pandemic. It was a quip to the effect of - "How ya'll muthafuckas out here raw dogging life?!?"

I drink moderately. I enjoy a good beer or 3 with spicy food. I can appreciate a good single malt. I like high proof spiced rum. I enjoy wines. As to it making you a loser. Believe me, I was a loser long before I started drinking.

 

[Perknose]

“I don't trust any bastard who doesn't drink. People who don't drink are afraid of revealing themselves.”

“The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind.”

- Bogart

“I feel sorry for people who don't drink. They wake up in the morning and that's the best they're going to feel all day.”

-Dean Martin


“- King George VI: How do you manage drinking during the day?

- Winston Churchill: Practice.”

“- Randall Bragg: Mr. Everett Hitch. You a drinking man, Everett?

- Virgil Cole: Not so much.

- Randall Bragg: Hard to like a man who doesn't drink a little.

- Virgil Cole: But not impossible.”

“We're not the first people in the world to drink a little alcohol during the day. Hemingway, for instance, he drank every day until 8 p.m., and then stopped so that he was fit to write the next day. And his work was masterful. So if we're doing this, I guess that'll be our approach.”


“Doldrums. Doldrums. Eviler than the Devil. Boredom makes men to villains, and the water goes quick, lad, vanished. The only med'cine is drink. Keeps them sailors happy, keeps 'em agreeable, keeps 'em calm.”


“- Danny Torrance: Man takes a drink. A drink takes the drink. And then the drink takes a man. Isn't it so, Dad?
- The Bartender: Medicine. Medicine is what it is. Bona fide cure-all. The mind is a blackboard, and this is the eraser.”

“- Mary Kate Danaher: Could you use a little water in your whiskey?
- Michaleen Flynn: When I drink whiskey, I drink whiskey; and when I drink water, I drink water.”

I was listening to NPR a few years ago on the way to *shakes as if with an ague* work. They interviewed a group of 90+ seniors. All of them drank. Me Pop was a highly decorated WWII vet that literally killed Nazis. He self medicated with alcohol as far back as my memories go and undoubtedly longer, he died shortly before his 95th Bday. Moderate drinking can help with stress. Stress kills. I agree that some things like weed should be easily procurable by adults though.

If you ever wonder why alcohol is so accepted and ubiquitous in our society, the answer is simple. The U.S. government waged war on alcohol, alcohol won. The only reason drugs don't get the same treatment, is that the government hasn't surrendered yet.

I sometimes laugh when I think of a comment I saw a zoomer make back during the pandemic. It was a quip to the effect of - "How ya'll muthafuckas out here raw dogging life?!?"

I drink moderately. I enjoy a good beer or 3 with spicy food. I can appreciate a good single malt. I like high proof spiced rum. I enjoy wines. As to it making you a loser. Believe me, I was a loser long before I started drinking.

Woman to W.C. Fields: "You're drunk"

Fields: "And you're ugly. Tomorrow I'll be sober, and you'll still be ugly."

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Woman to W.C. Fields: "You're drunk"

Fields: "And you're ugly. Tomorrow I'll be sober, and you'll still be ugly."

I recall he also said - I drink, therefore I am.

 

[soundforbjt]

I recall he also said - I drink, therefore I am.

He’s also attributed to saying - I never drink water because fish fuck in it.

 

[skyking]

Wife's BFF has quit for a couple of years now and her biggest complaint is how drinking is represented everywhere, on TV, movies, etc. It is ingrained deeply in society and adds to her personal challenge.
Welcome to my world
She's also a smoker and marijuana user, which are both compulsive behaviors that go hand in hand with drinking. I had it easy.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

I drink. Sometimes I drink *a lot*.

Sometimes I drink because I like the taste of alcohol. Sometimes I drink to get drunk. Sometimes I drink to cope.

I have gone through long period of heavy drinking and long periods of abstinence.

And there are plenty of times I have gotten properly sauced and then jumped on to AT and subjected you people to my drunkenness.

I think any animal of sufficient intelligence will always be fascinated by drugs or anything that alters the consciousness. What is critical is that the animal control the drug, and not the other way around.