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Leo Tolstoy on why people drink (2014)

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Re: Leo Tolstoy on why people drink (2014)

#261

Post by z500 »

SergeAx wrote: post #238
Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's one important reason, but there's another one that is even more neglected: it just... tastes good (for those of us who like it, of course). For example, as a 90 kg man, for me drinking a single 33cl bottle of beer has pretty much the same effect as drinking water, i.e., I don't feel anything at all (note that I don't drive, in that context it would probably still be relevant). So when I have a single beer with…

I am not sure about good taste of alcohol. I can agree about some wines and brandys (although they are universally better to smell than to taste), but beer? Bitter liquid, enriched with CO2. Do you remember first time you tasted beer, probably at the age of 5-7 from the bottle of your father? I can't see anyone liking non-alcoholic beer outside social context.

Thankfully, brewers have discovered that there are other types of beer than IPAs.

Re: Leo Tolstoy on why people drink (2014)

#262

Post by d1sxeyes »

pfannkuchen wrote: post #253
icoder wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely agree with the taste aspect. I (male) went 0% when my gf went off of birth control and kept it that way throughout pregnancy until now (baby's 9 months) and I certainly miss some of the tastes (beers, wines, liqueur). My luck is that I enjoy drinking Heineken 0.0 and most of the 0.3%/0.5% IPA's they sell now (at least here, Netherlands). As for 0% alternatives for wines and liqueur, they haven't come close…

Was this for moral support or can it damage sperm somehow? Asking for a friend.

Alcohol interferes with your liver’s ability to process vitamin A, which in turn has a negative impact on sperm production. That said, moral support is also a pretty good reason.

Re: Leo Tolstoy on why people drink (2014)

#263

Post by piaste »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #156
circuit8 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the core of the issue. The thing is that in modern western societies shame is placed upon many activities that are normal and necessary for a human to enjoy a good life. It is shameful in many places for a person to sing, dance, and to express their true emotions. So we intoxicate ourselves, in order to escape from the overly rigid social conditioning we have all internalised.

modern western societies shame is placed upon many activities that are normal and necessary for a human to enjoy a good life Where are my Italians at? They don't do this. Probably Spaniards and Greeks also, but I have met far fewer.

And indeed, Mediterranean cultures tend to favour moderate (if steady) consumption of alcohol, rather than binge drinking.

Re: Leo Tolstoy on why people drink (2014)

#264

Post by WastingMyTime89 »

medo-bear wrote: post #250
Hendrikto wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which culture is that?

southern europe

In which part of Southern Europe do people excuse themselves when they are becoming intoxicated? Because that's not true in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal unless you have very prudish acquaintances.

Re: Leo Tolstoy on why people drink (2014)

#265

Post by Simon_O_Rourke »

jsmith99 wrote: post #240
Simon_O_Rourke wrote: post #140

Samuel Johnson had a more pithy quote on the same subject. "I called on Dr. Johnson one morning, when Mrs. Williams, the blind lady, was conversing with him. She was telling him where she had dined the day before. "There were several gentlemen there," said she, "and when some of them came to the tea-table, I found that there had been a good deal of hard drinking." She closed this observation with a common and trite m…

He was more enthusiastic about drugs for the poor: 'What signifies, says some one, giving halfpence to beggars? they only lay it out in gin or tobacco. "And why should they be denied such sweeteners of their existence (says Johnson)? it is surely very savage to refuse them every possible avenue to pleasure, reckoned too coarse for our own acceptance. Life is a pill which none of us can bear to swallow without gilding…

Sensible policies for a sensible society.

Re: Leo Tolstoy on why people drink (2014)

#266

Post by glonq »

Quekid5 wrote: post #33
glonq wrote: post #14

One of the reasons why I don't drink is that I like being me . Specifically... - I like who I am when I'm sober, and don't expect that I would like 'drunk me'. - I like being in full control over what I experience and how I experience it. - I also enjoy remembering (and not regretting) those experiences.

This meant with NO JUDGMENT WHATSOEVER, but I'm curious: > ... and don't expect that I would like 'drunk me'. Have you ever tried being drunk? I wouldn't recommend it if you're fine the way you are, but OTOH, I think people don't actually understand unless they've tried it. (I know that's kind of shitty, but ... that's life.)

I have not ever been drunk.

I grew up in a small white trash family who lived on an indian reservation. So I had front-row seats to all of the spectacular consequences of alcohol overindulgence, both in my own family and in my community.

Yeah, that certainly tainted my perspective on the pros and cons of drinking.

I'm humble and rational enough to acknowledge that me drinking would probably bring more negatives into my life than positives.

Re: Leo Tolstoy on why people drink (2014)

#267

Post by glonq »

Quekid5 wrote: post #95
yamazakiwi wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people I know that say the whole "I like being in control" have only drank a few times (maybe bad experiences) but like the idea of not drinking so they promote this narrative in their head. It's an excuse so they can compartmentalize drinking into the "Now I don't have to care about this because it's bad for my physical health anyway" box. Really it's just an easy excuse that doesn't need to be true because the…

See, that's the opposite of no judgment. Choosing not to drink or do drugs (or whatever) is a-okay.

> Choosing not to drink or do drugs (or whatever) is a-okay.

It should be. But people tend to get real defensive around teetotalers, maybe because many of them are judgy and preachy because they don't drink for religious reasons.

It seems to me that in western cultures, ex-drinkers get a lot more respect than never-drinkers.

Re: Leo Tolstoy on why people drink (2014)

#269

Post by PawgerZ »

bambax wrote: post #137
Blahah wrote: post #9

Drinking slows down my brain and reduces the number of threads running in parallel. Sometimes very useful to enable normal-passing interaction in social environments. Or just to be able to focus. Lots of people with ADHD drink to achieve a more single threaded experience. Edit to add: I don't meant to encourage drinking as a tool for managing ADHD. It works but it's a blunt and dangerous tool. If you're at that point…

Drinking drowns creativity. I can do many many things almost properly while drunk, but one thing I can't do is write anything good. It's possible that's what we're after when we drink: stop the flow of ideas. That's one meaning of "stupefy".

> Drinking drowns creativity.

No, drinking drowns your creativity.

Re: Leo Tolstoy on why people drink (2014)

#270

Post by dh2022 »

jalapenos wrote: post #248
moffkalast wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure Tolstoy isn't talking about a weekly beer, but the Russian type of alcoholism of downing an entire bottle of vodka every five minutes. See the wiki: > According to a 2011 report by the World Health Organization, annual per capita consumption of alcohol in Russia was about 15.76 litres of pure alcohol, the fourth-highest volume in Europe. > Alcoholism has been a problem throughout the country's history…

I feel like if I lived in Russia I'd have no difficulty meeting that number

That was my impression when I travelled in Moscow. Every where I looked there was a kiosk selling beer and little bottles of vodka - along with some tasty cold cuts. It was pretty hard not to stop by and get one of these little bottles of vodka. (On a side note, alcoholism in Moscow was on a different level then what I experienced. Middle aged men and women struggling to "walk" on their hands and legs at 10 in the morning was quite the experience for me.... This was on one of the Muscovite neighborhoods, not in the touristy places like Kremlin, Arbat, Tverskaya, etc..)
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