Self Analysis Post

As Nelly Furtado so wisely sang (slash stole from an old English proverb) “all good things come to an end.” Depending on your opinion, you might not necessarily classify my blog as a “good thing”, but just humor me here.

Overall, I think this has been a good experience. As I mentioned in my first post, I didn’t start out this blog with massive amounts of factual knowledge. I feel that there are two types of knowledge, knowledge that is based on experience and knowledge that is based on facts and laws. Guess which one I knew less about. But now I’d venture that I’m pretty well rounded/balanced in both knowledge departments.

As for my growth as a thinker overall, this process has significantly improved the ways in which I think. Now its time for a heart to heart--real talk here. You ready? So, I have a problem. It’s serious. I have the mindset of a consumer. This brain tends to be a complete sucker for whatever is thrown at it. I can’t tell you how many info-mercials I have bought into or the number of times I’ve gone out to a particular restaurant just because “the commercial made this look yummy”. Same thing with facts and statistics, I tend to believe what people tell me. So when I read a fact about number of fatalities due to underage drinking, I say “Oh no! Underage drinking is bad!” What this process has helped me learn is that you can’t trust everything you read or the statistics thrown at you, as shown here. You need to analyze all possibilities and essentially be skeptical of everything you read.

When it comes to arguments, it is important to both A) know both sides to the debate and B) know who your audience is. I think I developed as a blogger through this process because I started out stating my opinions and feelings, and then I realized if I’m trying to convince adults to get on team 18equalsadult, I need them to take me seriously. That’s when I started making history references and introducing legitimate organizations and alternatives, like the Amethyst Initiative and The National Youth Rights Association. People are much more apt to take you seriously if you have serious things to back yourself up.

So through this process I have learned many things about lowering the drinking age: the risks, implications, and possible positive effects. Through my broadened knowledge I can now see what the debate overall is about. It boils down to safety and what can be classified as human rights.

Thanks so much for tuning in! I hope I provided you with enough knowledge for you to form your own opinion on the issue. Maybe I inspired you to create your own blog!!! Yes?? ….Is that too far of a stretch? Probably. Either way, gracias. Until next time!

TV Versus Reality (if you say it with the right emphasis it rhymes!)

So I walk into my dorm room the other night and my roommate has the TV show Gossip Girl on. Yes, we all have our guilty pleasures- don’t judge. If you aren’t familiar with the pretense of the show, it is essentially about the “wealthy and fabulous” teenagers of the Upper East Side in Manhattan. This particular scene happened to be on the roof of NYU where there was a massive kegger going on.

“Aren’t these kids freshman in college?” I asked my roommate.

“Yep,” she nonchalantly replied.

So we all know drinking goes on in college. We also know that it is illegal. What I was unaware of is that it could be displayed in the media with such a casual presentation. Anyone with their wits about them could piece it together that these kids were drinking underage. I asked my roommate if that sort of thing is shown frequently on the show.

“Um, yeah I guess it is. They just like walk up to bars and order martinis all the time. Most of the places they hang out or meet up is in bars,” she replied.

So the media is presenting these 18 year olds with the idea that drinking is normal and easy to do. I can’t believe I’ve never considered the media’s influence on underage drinking; it’s such an obvious topic. Some people think that the media is a negative influence because it doesn’t tend to show the negative repercussions of overdrinking. On the other hand, from what I’ve seen this series doesn’t show the kids getting hammered and making awful decisions. Generally, they just have a drink or two at the bar and go home. This shows how drinking can be done responsibly. Do you think the media generally has a positive or negative influence on underage drinking? Yes, it can influence us to drink, but do you think it is positively or negatively?

Don't You Want To Be Taken Seriously?

So when revisiting all of the links I thought were important to my topic, I realized that one of the reasons no one in the government takes lowering the drinking age too seriously is because teenagers themselves aren’t taken seriously.

There is this preconceived notion that we are oblivious, ditzy teenagers that don’t know what is best for ourselves. Obviously there’s that bad egg in every case that seems to spoil the whole bunch, or in our case, all of the legitimate argument points. I can see where some people like MADD are coming from, there are some teenagers who feel that the drinking age should be lowered because “like drinking is like fun and like we should be allowed to like do it. Yayyyyyyyyyy!”. No! I don’t want that to be the stereotype for 18 year olds across the nation!

I ran across this organization that I now LOVE. It is serious, it justifies its opinions and claims, and most of all, it is fair and just. It is called the National Youth Rights Association and it has a whole chapter devoted to lowering the drinking age. This is created by intelligent kids who actually have their facts straight. These people are talking about human rights here, not just wanting to have fun by taking a couple shots. I found that their statistics and argument rebuttals were incredibly helpful for straightening out some of the facts provided by the anti-lowering-the-drinking-age groups. These kids are taken seriously (finally!) and help improve our rep. Muchas gracias for that one.

Annotated Links Post

Are you one of those basic, lets-cut-to-the-chase-here types of people? Well essentially this link provides 15 reasons the drinking age should be lowered. Obviously, my blog goes a tad bit more in depth to the topic, but if you’re eyeballs are aching at the thought of reading all my posts, I suggest you just simply look here to get the gist of the pro side of the argument of lowering the drinking age.

The National Youth Rights Association is a legitimate organization created by young people to help voice the opinions of all young people across the nation. This organization does not only talk about drinking age, it also brings up the problems with voting laws and curfews as well. If you want to hear the general opinions of the youth and their justifiable arguments for their stance on lowering the drinking age, you should check out their website.

If you were to Google “arguments against lowering the drinking age,” your computer screen would be covered in statistics about death and despair and how alcohol is the worst thing ever. This webpage provides examples of these statistics, de-bunks them, and then provides logical reasons, options, and solutions for underage drinking other than just saying WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO DRINK BECAUSE ALCOHOL IS FUN! (Yes, I have run across this once or twice). Check it outttttttt.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is one of the main organizations that strongly oppose the idea of lowering the drinking age. As with every argument, it is important to recognize and be knowledgeable about both sides. So regardless of your opinion, you should check this link out.

As I said in the previous paragraph, it is important to know every side to a story. The Amethyst Initiative is an organization that reasonably supports lowering the drinking age for logical reasons. I talk about this organization a lot in my blog because much of the drinking age debate focuses on who is right and wrong, but this provides a solution and a compromise.

One of my favorite links to the topic of the drinking age is this one right here. It is logical, objective, tells both sides of the argument, and puts new ideas on the table. PLUS it’s a video. No reading! Could life get any better? Thanks 60 Minutes.

Time Magazine Is Just So Smart.

Time agrees with me! Remember back a few blogs ago when I was talking about the culture of drinking and how making drinking more socially acceptable would prevent binge drinking? Well I ran across this article where this guy thinks the same thing!

In his words: “But there is a better way. At first it sounds a little nutty, but you might consider drinking with your kids. Incongruously, the way to produce fewer problem drinkers is to create more drinkers overall--that is, to begin to create a culture in which alcohol is not an alluring risk but part of quotidian family life. Of course, that's a mostly European approach to alcohol, but there's reason to think it could work here. And it may be the best way to solve the binge-drinking problem.”

The article also provides statistics and research pertaining to the issue. Would you ever consider drinking with your parents? Do you think this is healthier environment to learn about alcohol in than, say, with peers? Do you think parents would even be up for trying out this alternative? Give me your opinion!

What About You?

So I was considering the statistics about the amount of kids who drive with someone who has been drinking alcohol, and then I had a mini-realization. This is so obvious, I feel pretty stupid that I didn’t realize it before. If underage drinking was more accepted by society and less punished and frowned upon by the law and parents, kids would be three hundred times more likely to call their parents for a ride home. Duh! Silly 18equalsadult, why didn’t you realize this before??

Think about it: You are at a party, drunk. Not 21 (you little rebel!). There is a cop car outside but your friend Billy Bob is in the corner with keys and a truck out back (this is intended to sound far less sketch than it does). Although Billy Bob has had a couple beers, he’s a big guy. He can handle it. So what do you do? Walk (or shuffle) up to the cop and politely ask them for a safe ride home, or take your chances with Billy Bob and avoid getting that drinking ticket that looks oh-so-bad on your record? Sober you thinks: “Duh! Safe ride!” Drunk you: “Billy Bob’s got my back. Hell yeah for getting away with this!”

My hypothesis for this is that if there weren’t such negative repercussions for drinking, we would be far more likely to call our parents or find a safe way home. Since I was young my mom always told me no matter how drunk or young I was to always call her, in every situation. Do you think this is a realistic option? Do you think kids would actually take advantage of the safer options if it meant no tickets or the inevitable next day “why did you do that last night??” arguments with your parents? What about you, would you do it?

Implications Post

Topically, the issue of the drinking age doesn’t appear to have any world-altering implications. No countries will be blown up nor will the world end if this issue isn’t solved. Sometimes, however, the death of a family member does feel like the world ending to some people. This is, in the end, what is at risk with drinking age: the safety of teens.

Like I’ve discussed in all of my blogs, teens binge drink to defy the rules set up for them by the government. If you’d like to learn more about my argument as to why the drinking age should be lowered, just scroll on down. Lord knows there’s hundreds of sentences devoted to it. As I outline in those posts, the danger of underage drinking does not come with the alcohol consumption itself, just the lack of responsibility and safety that should come with it. If the idea of underage drinking is shunned by society like it is today, kids will go on being uneducated and unaware of the repercussions of their actions. Binge drinking is where the real danger comes in here, and without appropriate education that trend will continue. If this problem goes unsolved the teenage generation will continue using alcohol inappropriately and therefore endanger their own lives and the lives of others.