First of all, I won’t claim to be a complete expert on the topic of drinking age. I don’t necessarily have a plethora of factual, relevant information stored in my brain. What I do have is an interest in the topic that I hope will create an informative forum to aid in the broadening of the view of others. I also have the experiences and knowledge of a twenty-first century college student, a group that is far more experimental and uninhibited when it comes to obeying the rules set up by our superiors.
Drinking age is a topic that many people feel strongly about. Of course there is the typical college kid who just wants to get beer easier rather than going through his “older bro” at the fraternity, but there are also those of us who have thoughtfully considered the topic and advocate the lowering of the drinking age for legitimate reasons. Hopefully I won’t just get thrown into the “crazy youngster” category while trying to express my argument on this blog.
I will outrightly admit that the opposing argument has some decent points. I’m not the kind of person to reject every rebuttal or disregard the views of others. Underage drinking is an emotional topic because it is often associated with things like drunk driving and unnecessary death. Believe it or not, I have a soul. These things touch my heart too; I’m not made of stone. So just for clarification and so everyone doesn’t think I’m Satan, when I defend lowering the drinking age I’m not disregarding the danger of alcohol in general. I’m a reasonable person and will attempt to talk about the subject with reason and without bias.
I think your stance on the issue is based on fact and not emotion which is an good sign of unbiased opinions. I feel you will do a good job to present your ideas in an academic setting with appropriate language and economy of text. I look forward to reading it.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to point out the cartoon that you have on your page. It shows that the drinking age at 18 and 21 are the same. However, the beginning may not be the same. If the drinking age is lowered, then those who are 18 will "go crazy" because of the new law. In the end, things will eventually settle out and return to normal. If the drinking age in all of history was set at 18, then I do not believe there would be so much attention to this. People get used to things over time.
ReplyDeleteThe drinking age here is 21, but it is 18 in parts of Canada. It isn't very hard to go bar hopping in Canada if you are in the Northern United States...
(just a thought)
The cartoon and your post do depict the truth about drinking and young people. Whether or not it is legal to drink at 18 young people are still going to drink regardless. I feel that they may be less inclined to drink if it the drinking age is lowered just due to the fact that there is not the rush of doing something bad.
ReplyDeleteATD-
ReplyDeleteYes, it may be true that the teens will “go crazy” if the drinking age is lowered. Although I personally feel that this will be a fleeting reaction caused by the sudden ability for them to gain alcohol easily. If you think about it, 18-year-olds are currently in a constant state of “going crazy” with alcohol because it is restricted and they will over drink because it is against the rules. If the rules change so it isn’t as much of an adrenaline rush, I’m hoping that 18-year-olds across the nation will be less likely to binge drink overall. Once the legalization occurs that “go crazy” phase will eventually return to normalcy.