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America has a drinking problem

theatlantic.com

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Re: America has a drinking problem

#751

Post by 1123581321 »

NateEag wrote: post #730
dayvid wrote: post #721

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was in Japan, I met a guy who was a manager of a Japanese supermarket branch in Hawai’i for some time. He said in Japan, people are usually about the same. But in America, people are either really smart or really stupid.

It's hard to generalize correctly about a population of three hundred million. That's especially true when doing it based on personal experience.

Hawaii is a place where that might be fairly said, though. Setting aside island natives, Hawaii attracts a lot of people. The reasons for wanting to visit and preceding life situations vary quite a bit. The result is you do meet a lot of characters, at least on the big island.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#753

Post by boringg »

Sophistifunk wrote: post #423

People have the cause and effect backwards in my opinion. You know why "binge drinking" isn't a problem in Germany, except for when the Australians turn up for Oktoberfest? It's because you can just buy a beer on the side of the road with your currywurst, and drink it without being hassled. If you act up, you get arrested for acting up. Try openly having a few beers in the park in Australia or the US, you'll be run o…

This is the narrative that North America tells itself that the EU doesn't have a binge drinking problem as a result of a more liberal policy towards alcohol. It seems like a way to justify a more liberal policy here and it also sounds like a great sound bite people like to say that isn't validated.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#754

Post by golergka »

dougmwne wrote: post #743
Wxc2jjJmST9XWWL wrote: post #636

Whenever I explain the "USA" to (Eastern) Europeans, I always simply state the notion: "diverse country of the extremes". Yes, widespread obesity, but health obsessions also run deep in that country, gym memberships, elite universities with sports programs full of money. How many weird diet fads start basically in the US? Self-help books, alternative gurus, etc. Bad education? Yes, pretty much. But also some of the b…

I think a lot of this is just because the USA is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to the USA:) Plus, this is a country made up of a little piece of every other country in the world. "American identity" is an ex post facto rationalization. Not to mention that politically we often oper…

Russia is bigger in terms of area, just two times smaller in terms of population, but 10 times more uniform, at least. You wouldn't be able to tell apart two typical provincial Russian towns from the opposite sides of the country.

So, no, just the size itself doesn't seem like a complete explanation for this.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#755

Post by misiti3780 »

NationalPark wrote: post #689
misiti3780 wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, these articles are ridiculous. If you have alcoholism in your family -- dont drink. If you're overweight because drinking causes you to eat shitty food and not exercise -- stop drinking. If you have anxiety because of drinking -- stop drinking. If drinking makes you an asshole and is causing relationship problems (I know a lot of people in this category) -- stop drinking. If you like to go out on the weeks a…

The article is about Americans increasingly binge drinking alone though? How is it ridiculous to talk about this problem?

Because as long as I am not breaking the law, my drinking habits don't affect your life!

Re: America has a drinking problem

#756

Post by gilbetron »

capableweb wrote: post #656
Wxc2jjJmST9XWWL wrote: post #636

Whenever I explain the "USA" to (Eastern) Europeans, I always simply state the notion: "diverse country of the extremes". Yes, widespread obesity, but health obsessions also run deep in that country, gym memberships, elite universities with sports programs full of money. How many weird diet fads start basically in the US? Self-help books, alternative gurus, etc. Bad education? Yes, pretty much. But also some of the b…

Neither of the things you've listed sounds like diversity, it sounds like inequality. Why is half the country without proper education while the other ones are in the best research institutions in the world? And what does the people are those institutions spend their time on, if it's not helping the other half reaching the same position as themselves? The social experiment seems to be about how extreme you can really…

> Why is half the country without proper education

Some of it is inequality, but some of it is willful diversity. There is a strong undercurrent that education is bad - a counterculture of ignorance. It is something that bewilders me, and that has only become clear to me in the past 5 years or so. It isn't that some people lack access to education that they want, but rather do not want access to that education because they believe that if you can figure things out without relying on the knowledge humanity has built up over the years. I see it in my own father, who one day told me, "I've been thinking about climate change recently, and I just don't think it's a problem." He didn't research on it, he didn't read on it, he didn't perform experimentations, he just thought about it and came to his ironclad conclusion.

Likewise I see it in plenty of people, even people that are friends that I consider intelligent. They do not understand something, want to understand it, yet will do nothing to actually understand it. I had a friend that didn't understand an aspect of general relativity (he loves physics), which is totally understandable, it is complex stuff. He complained and argued with me about it for years. Finally I literally did a 1 minute search on youtube, found the first video on that specific topic and made him watch it. Then he finally got it.

Ok, I'm on a weird tangent ;) Back to the topic.

These people want to know and yet, for some reason, don't find the motivation to learn using the vast ocean of resources we have now. With the subculture of people in the US that think learning is offensive, an insult to their intellect, an assault on their freedom and independence, you have a problem of a whole other category.

I don't know how prevalent it is in other countries, but I think it occurs in the US because of this new "independent thinker" attitude that is a warped version of the skeptic. They take great pride in believing something other than what they are told.

As a skeptic and someone that likes to work things out for myself and who generally likes to examine the nuance of situations, I find this greatly frustrating.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#757

Post by NateEag »

mdarens wrote: post #740
NateEag wrote: post #717

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Walking out" of a job implies leaving the employer without warning in the middle of a workday, something many people in the US pride themselves on not doing (despite largely having the legal right to do so). It's related to strong senses of personal responsibility and pride in reliability and dependability, in my experience.

Anecdotally, I remember multiple instances of coworkers walking out in the middle of a shift when I worked as a cook in a chain restaurant due to the combination of high stress (including abuse from customers and management) and low wages.

I wasn't at all trying to say this doesn't happen.

I was trying to explain some of the common attitudes that might be related to the OP's response.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#758

Post by potatoman22 »

stephencanon wrote: post #725
Wxc2jjJmST9XWWL wrote: post #648

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My comment is not about giving the most nuanced picture of the US, but about the caricatures that seem to exist within, sometimes in stark contrast to one another. "USA USA USA" chants, american flag on the lawn, big pickup trucks, the possession of firearms, monster trucks, american football, people who attend WWE events, "Trump voters" and MAGA hats (let's throw it in there, because it's tied into that), there's a…

I would say that "nationalist" is the more accurate term for this behavior. There's nothing patriotic about it.

To be a nationalist is to be a patriot.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#759

Post by criddell »

refurb wrote: post #666
Wxc2jjJmST9XWWL wrote: post #636

Whenever I explain the "USA" to (Eastern) Europeans, I always simply state the notion: "diverse country of the extremes". Yes, widespread obesity, but health obsessions also run deep in that country, gym memberships, elite universities with sports programs full of money. How many weird diet fads start basically in the US? Self-help books, alternative gurus, etc. Bad education? Yes, pretty much. But also some of the b…

I think the media coverage has twisted your view of the US. As someone who immigrated to the US, if you travel the country it seems like any other country. Rich people and poor people. Left wing and right wing. Religious and the atheists. I mean Americans could list a similar number of stereotypes about the British (for example), but if you’ve ever visited there you’d realize they’re not that different than anyone el…

What are the British stereotypes?

The only one I can think of is from watching BBC produced television series. It seems like the British response to any trouble, minor or large, is to put the kettle on.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#760

Post by Cybotron5000 »

bumby wrote: post #716
netizen-936824 wrote: post #680

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People love to make excuses for shitty behavior, such as calling the US an experiment

The claim that the US is an experiment has a long precedent. > No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. -Thomas Jefferson, 1804

Jefferson really did write beautifully. I’m not a US citizen, but I do find his writing to be very uplifting and inspiring.
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